“Solutions indeed, can be found in nature,” said the Asean Centre for Biodiversity (ACB) in a statement as it congratulated the University of the Philippines Los Baños and its team of researchers who has recently isolated 30 bacterial species from Mount Mayon’s volcanic soils and found potential antibiotic and anti-colorectal cancer properties.
The bacterial isolates may be turned into potentially useful antibiotics and anti-cancer drugs.
Considering that the World Health Organization (WHO) has declared antimicrobial resistance as one of the top 10 global threats to public health while colorectal cancers are currently the third leading site of malignancy in the Philippines, this discovery is a breakthrough for the Philippines and the Asean, the ACB said.
In the early 1950s, the Philippines was also the source of a useful antibiotic, the ilosone, which was found in the soils around Iloilo City and vicinities. The drug became commercially successful worldwide.
“As a Party to the Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit-Sharing, the Philippines is orientated to enhance the contribution of biodiversity to development and human well-being as well as to ensure the fair and equitable sharing of benefits from the use of its genetic resources,” the ACB added.
Through further research and development, this innovation could be poised to have potential commercial and non-commercial benefits that will accrue to the people living in the vicinity of Mayon Volcano and the rest of the country, it added.
Mount Mayon, known worldwide for its perfect shape and majestic beauty, is also rich in biodiversity, serving as home to 156 floral species, and 104 species of land vertebrates.
The immense beauty, as well as its valuable role as habitats for endemic and indigenous species is among Mount Mayon’s merits in its inclusion in the tentative list of Unesco World Heritage Sites.
“This discovery also underscores the importance of mainstreaming biodiversity considerations into health while showing the need to prioritise the continuing assessment and monitoring of our soil biodiversity along the 2020-2030 International Initiative For The Conservation and Sustainable Use of Soil Biodiversity of the Convention on Biological Diversity,” it said.
“May this exciting research inspire us all to do our part in saving our biodiversity! Together, let us ensure a safer and healthier future by acting now. We are all part of the solution, because #WeAreASEANBiodiversity,” ACB added.