The governments of the Philippines and Republic of Georgia signed yesterday a friendship and cooperation agreement for the conservation of biodiversity and management of protected areas between the two countries. The agreement was the first of its kind between the two nations with representatives from the Philippines’ Biodiversity Management Bureau (BMB), a staff bureau of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), and Georgia’s Agency of Protected Areas (APA) as signatories. BMB Director Theresa Mundita Lim, Ministry of Environment Protection of Georgia Deputy Minister Ekaterine Grigalva, and Honorary Consul of Georgia in the Philippines Thelmo Cunanan Jr. led the ceremonial signing of the Declaration of Friendship and Cooperation during simple rites at the Ninoy Aquino Parks and Wildlife Center in Quezon City. While the two countries are significantly different from each other as to geography and climate, both have common challenges when it come to biodiversity conservation and protected areas protection. Georgia has around 20 national parks, while the Philippines has about 240 national parks, Lim said. “We are convinced that this collective effort will lead to the enhancement of the management for protected areas and promote learnings toward effective protected area management and eco-tourism management, not only in terrestrial areas but also in other areas eventually. More importantly we hope to get a good grasp of what is on the ground in the different countries by way of parallel efforts in improving protected areas management playing an important role in providing ecosystem services to the minor landscape,” she added. “This promotes the value of conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity through the sharing of information and sharing best practices on ecotourism development, nature conservation, landscape protection, and community education and public awareness, as well as data management,” she also said. Under the agreement, BMB and APA commit to cooperate with each other in the fields of nature conservation information and data systems, as well as the management of protected areas, ecotourism and national parks. These include involvement of local stakeholders; identification of sites of national importance, inventory, data analysis and processing; and field training. The two agencies will adopt a “sister relationship” between the two countries to compare and enhance environment management and ecotourism approaches to identified sites. Grigalva said Cunanan has effectively promoted this partnership between the two countries, saying the signing of of cooperation is a perfect opportunity to come to the Philippines. She noted that Georgia does not have many partners in Asia, unlike in the United States and Europe where Georgia had some “sister protected areas.” Cunanan pointed out that this is the Philippines’ first friendship and cooperation agreement on biodiversity with Georgia. “We have common problems and challenges and through this cooperation, we can share expertise, learn from them, and join efforts to improve the management of protected areas,” he said. In the Philippines, Cunanan said they will be working on the establishment of sister protected areas in the coming months. “We have many projects that we can do and one of the things we are considering is the establishment of sister protected areas,” he added.