A friend and avid birdwatcher shared some facts reportedly from the Philippine Native Plants Conservation Society that mahogany forests are harmful, rather than helpful, to the Philippines’ environment. Mahogany, not being a native species to Philippine soil, is basically an alien, and thus, native organisms do not recognize those trees and do not thrive in such forests. “Didn’t you notice there are no birds?” she told me. “It’s so pretty but it’s a silent and dead forest.” No wonder Bilar Forest was so quiet. The result is ten hectares of mahogany in a biodiversity-dead zone. There are no birds, no insects, only a nearly dead soil due to the lethal chemicals that leak from the rotting leaves (emphasis mine). Native species are rarely found as seedlings beneath the canopy, and so, most significantly, there is no future for ten hectares of mahogany.”
Posted on: Thu, 15 Jan 2015 21:42:51 +0000