Guidebook on Ecosystem Accounting

Southern Palawan is one of the two test sites in the Philippines for the wealth accounting and the valuation of ecosystem services (WAVES) project. Southern Palawan has a significant remaining forest cover including mangroves, extensive coral reefs, and fishing grounds. Challenges in natural resource management in Southern Palawan include: (i) the increasing conversion of forest lands for plantation development and shifting cultivation; (ii) intensive mineral extension; (iii) illegal timber logging and hunting; and (iv) destruction of coastal ecosystem and overfishing. A comprehensive understanding of the natural capital of Southern Palawan is important to manage the competing interests on natural resources and to support economic development