Sibuyan Island
Encyclopedia
Sibuyan siːbuˈjɑːn is a crescent
-shaped island of Romblon Province
, Philippines
. It has an area of 445 km². The island has two prominent peaks, Mount Guiting-Guiting
with a height of 2,058 m and Mount Nailog
with a height of 789 m. It has been dubbed by some local and international natural scientists as "the Galapagos of Asia".
The people speak the Sibuyanon
dialect of Romblomanon
, a Visayan
language.
Sibuyan has lived in isolation from the rest of the world since its birth. Never in its geological history has it ever been connected with any part of the Philippine archipelago. Seismic forces pushed up a 2,000-meter peak from the earth’s crust, forming a series of smaller peaks and slopes. The peak is Mt. Guiting-guiting (literally means "the saw-toothed mountain", in reference to its jagged ridge). Because of the steep slopes, much of its original forest remains untouched, and the rest is the island as we find it today. On June 21, 2008, a ferry named MV Princess of the Stars
shipwrecked off the coast of San Fernando resulting in the deaths of of hundreds of people.
Primary forests cover 140 square kilometres, which is 33% of the land area of Sibuyan. However, most of the lower altitude forest has been logged or is secondary. Mt. Guiting-guiting Natural Park (equivalent to the IUCN category of National Park) was established to protect these forests, which are mainly in the centre and north of the island, and covers an area of 157 km² out of Sibuyan’s total area of 445 km². The park is remarkable for its outstandingly scenic landscape with twin towering peaks set amidst closed canopy forest
s. Its forests remain largely intact, and include the entire elevational gradient from lowland dipterocarp forest (at 200 to 900 m) and mangrove
s, through montane forest (above 700 m) to mossy forest, heathland and montane grassland around the peaks.
species on the island. Nepenthes sibuyanensis
, a pitcher plant species, is also endemic as its scientific name suggests.
There are 131 species of birds and ten species of fruit bats, and many dwelling mammals, reptiles, and rodents yet to be fully catalogued. Three subspecies are endemic to Sibuyan: Colasisi Loriculus philippensis bournsi, the Philippine Pygmy-woodpecker Dendrocopos maculatus menagei, and the Orange-bellied Flowerpecker Dicaeum trigonostigma sibuyanicum, all of which were recorded there in the early 1990s. Five species of threatened mammals, one fruit bat and four rodents, are endemic to Sibuyan, and the critically endangered
fruit bat
Nyctimene rabori occurs there.
advocacy group, with the Sibuyan Island Sentinels League for Environment Inc. (Sibuyan ISLE), has been fighting for the conservation and protection of the island against mining activities considering its vast impact on the ecology, culture and society of the island.
Crescent
In art and symbolism, a crescent is generally the shape produced when a circular disk has a segment of another circle removed from its edge, so that what remains is a shape enclosed by two circular arcs of different diameters which intersect at two points .In astronomy, a crescent...
-shaped island of Romblon Province
Romblon
Romblon is an island province of the Philippines located in the MIMAROPA region. It lies south of Marinduque and Quezon, east of Mindoro, north of Aklan and Capiz, and west of Masbate. Its capital is also named Romblon....
, Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
. It has an area of 445 km². The island has two prominent peaks, Mount Guiting-Guiting
Mount Guiting-Guiting
Mount Guiting-Guiting is a mountain located in the heart of Sibuyan Island, one of the seven islands of Romblon Province in the Philippines. Guiting-Guiting, in the local dialect, means "jagged"...
with a height of 2,058 m and Mount Nailog
Mount Nailog
Mount Nailog is one of the two prominent peaks of Sibuyan Island, Philippines with a height of 789 m....
with a height of 789 m. It has been dubbed by some local and international natural scientists as "the Galapagos of Asia".
The people speak the Sibuyanon
Sibuyanon
Sibuyanon, also called Mangyan tagabukid, is a term for the indigenous people of the island of Sibuyan, in the Philippines.Sibuyanon is also the name of the dialect of Romblomanon spoken on the island of Sibuyan....
dialect of Romblomanon
Romblomanon language
Romblomanon is a Visayan language spoken, along with the Asi and Onhan languages, in the province of Romblon in the Philippines. The language is also called Ini, Tiyad Ini, Basi, Niromblon, Sibuyanon, and Bisaya....
, a Visayan
Visayan languages
The Visayan languages of the Philippines, along with Tagalog and Bikol, are part of the Central Philippine languages...
language.
MV Princess of the Stars
MV Princess of the Stars was a ferry owned by Filipino shipping company Sulpicio Lines that capsized off the coast of San Fernando, Romblon at the height of Typhoon Fengshen on June 21, 2008...
shipwrecked off the coast of San Fernando resulting in the deaths of of hundreds of people.
Primary forests cover 140 square kilometres, which is 33% of the land area of Sibuyan. However, most of the lower altitude forest has been logged or is secondary. Mt. Guiting-guiting Natural Park (equivalent to the IUCN category of National Park) was established to protect these forests, which are mainly in the centre and north of the island, and covers an area of 157 km² out of Sibuyan’s total area of 445 km². The park is remarkable for its outstandingly scenic landscape with twin towering peaks set amidst closed canopy forest
Canopy (forest)
In biology, the canopy is the aboveground portion of a plant community or crop, formed by plant crowns.For forests, canopy also refers to the upper layer or habitat zone, formed by mature tree crowns and including other biological organisms .Sometimes the term canopy is used to refer to the extent...
s. Its forests remain largely intact, and include the entire elevational gradient from lowland dipterocarp forest (at 200 to 900 m) and mangrove
Mangrove
Mangroves are various kinds of trees up to medium height and shrubs that grow in saline coastal sediment habitats in the tropics and subtropics – mainly between latitudes N and S...
s, through montane forest (above 700 m) to mossy forest, heathland and montane grassland around the peaks.
Biodiversity
Sibuyan has a rich biodiversity of flora and fauna which are threatened by an emerging aggressive promotion of mining industry by the country government. Exact figures on numbers of total plant species are hard to give, as biologists stumble upon species yet unidentified by the scientific community. In one study, the National Museum identified 1,551 trees in a single hectare, with 123 species of trees, and of this number, 54 are found nowhere else in the world. Hence, it has been proclaimed as one of the world’s most diverse and dense forest. There are estimated to be 700 vascular plantVascular plant
Vascular plants are those plants that have lignified tissues for conducting water, minerals, and photosynthetic products through the plant. Vascular plants include the clubmosses, Equisetum, ferns, gymnosperms and angiosperms...
species on the island. Nepenthes sibuyanensis
Nepenthes sibuyanensis
Nepenthes sibuyanensis is a tropical pitcher plant endemic to Sibuyan Island in the Philippines, after which it is named.-Botanical history:...
, a pitcher plant species, is also endemic as its scientific name suggests.
There are 131 species of birds and ten species of fruit bats, and many dwelling mammals, reptiles, and rodents yet to be fully catalogued. Three subspecies are endemic to Sibuyan: Colasisi Loriculus philippensis bournsi, the Philippine Pygmy-woodpecker Dendrocopos maculatus menagei, and the Orange-bellied Flowerpecker Dicaeum trigonostigma sibuyanicum, all of which were recorded there in the early 1990s. Five species of threatened mammals, one fruit bat and four rodents, are endemic to Sibuyan, and the critically endangered
Critically endangered
Version 2010.3 of the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species identified 3744 Critically Endangered species, subspecies and varieties, stocks and subpopulations.Critically Endangered by kingdom:*1993 Animalia*2 Fungi*1745 Plantae*4 Protista-References:...
fruit bat
Fruit Bat
Fruit Bat can refer to:* Megabats, a species of bat which eats fruit* Les "Fruitbat" Carter, guitarist of Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine* Fruit Bats , an American band...
Nyctimene rabori occurs there.
Current environmental issue
The Sibuyanons Against MiningSibuyanons Against Mining
Sibuyanons Against Mining is an environmental advocacy group organized primarily by Sibuyanons.It has been fighting for mining moratorium in Sibuyan Island...
advocacy group, with the Sibuyan Island Sentinels League for Environment Inc. (Sibuyan ISLE), has been fighting for the conservation and protection of the island against mining activities considering its vast impact on the ecology, culture and society of the island.