“I used to help cut and transport logs illegally,” revealed Epifanio Obidos, a boat guide. “For generations, we used traditional torpedo shaped canoes called balugo to transport timber. We would get orders to cut down hardwood trees like banuyo, narra or kamagong. One balugo can transport over 100 board feet of wood.”
Samar is among the poorest provinces in the country. In 2015, the Philippine Statistics Authority disclosed that 45 percent of all families in Samar lived below the poverty line.
“The hardest part was that even when we’d risk run-ins with the law by transporting illegally-cut timber, we’d still have barely enough cash to survive. Often we’d borrow money from financiers to buy gas and other provisions to transport the logs they ordered. Even after getting paid, we’d still be in debt,” Obidos recalled in a UNDP Biofin news release.
Things have steadily improved. Samar’s poverty incidence dropped to 30 percent by 2018, mostly because of small businesses, one of which is the Ulot River Torpedo Extreme Boat Adventure, where boats go bow-to-bow with raging rapids.
“In 2008, to veer away from illegal activities, we started using our torpedo-shaped balugo for tourism to showcase the natural beauty of Samar. We mostly employed locals who formerly worked as illegal loggers or log haulers,” Obidos explained.
“Back then we only had 12 people and a few old boats. But traversing rivers was a way of life for us, since we’ve been using it for transportation long before Samar’s road network was developed,” he recounted.
Each torpedo boat has a three-man crew, comprised of a boat operator, tour guide and a point man, who sits at the bow or front of a boat, deftly using a paddle or pole to keep rocks at bay.
“Now our once-small operation has over 20 boats and employs 70 local people,” he beamed.
In 2018, their group, Tour Guides and Boat Operators for River Protection and Environmental Development Organization (Torpedo), was recognized by the Department of Tourism for its responsible, community-based operations.
The Ulot River is part of the Samar Island Natural Park (SINP), the country’s largest land-based protected area.
“The Philippines hosts 247 protected areas and practically all of them give locals employment,” explained Director Natividad Bernardino of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources Biodiversity Management Bureau.
The stories of many of these protected areas are similar to Obidos’s—of loggers turned into tour guides, hunters turned into rangers, blast fishers transformed into dive guides.
“For all this to continue, there must be a steady stream of clients,” noteed SINP Superintendent Eires Mate.
“The Covid-19 lockdowns hit the world’s protected areas hard, generating all-time visitor revenue lows. Many people were laid off and operations were drastically scaled-down. With our parks again open for business, we invite adventurers to visit the Ulot River and our country’s other beautiful protected areas,” Mae explained
Launched in May of 2022, the Year of the Protected Areas (Yopa) aims not just to educate people on the need to conserve protected areas, but to encourage them to visit the sites themselves.
Yopa hopes to generate funds from tourists to ensure continued management for areas hard-hit by Covid-19 budget cuts.
Declaring natural sites as PAs is among the best ways to protect natural capital.
“The jobs generated by sustainable and ethical tourism activities act as economic and social safety nets for locals who might otherwise turn to illegal means to support their families,” said Selva Ramachandran, United Nations Development Programme resident representative.
“You know, if not for ecotourism, I would most probably be dead,” Obidos said as we quietly glide back to shore. “The authorities would have definitely caught me, like they caught others. I might have starved to death, been shot by the cops or been hauled off to jail.”
He looks up, just a bit teary-eyed. “In a very real way, ecotourism saved my life,” he said.
Image credits: Gregg Yan, UNDP Biofin