Elders, conservationists race to record fading sacred ties to Philippines' endemic birds

The Center for Conservation Innovations Philippines is helping Iraya Mangyan knowledge holders in Puerto Galera document the cultural significance and ecological knowledge tied to endemic bird species—including the Mindoro racket-tail, boobook, and scops owl—that guide weather prediction, farming decisions, and spiritual practices, with findings to inform the community's ancestral domain management plan.

This is a documentation and planning effort; implementation of the ancestral domain plan remains in progress.