IT?S not easy work, but they know why they?re doing it. For the eighth time now since 2008, Mila Sucaldito, a biologist of the environmental organization Conservation International (CI) ? Philippines, based in the Sierra Madre Biodiversity Corridor in Tuguegarao City, and a team of other scientists and local volunteers have made the 45-minute drive and seven-hour trek to Mount Hamut in Baliuag, Peñablanca, Cagayan to spend from seven to 10 days watching birds ? in particular, one enigmatic creature that carries the hope of a nation on its magnificent wings.

?It?s really something else,? Sucaldito says of the Philippine eagle, the country?s star raptor ? that means ?bird of prey? ? whose main habitat is primary dipterocarp forests. These are forests of large, old species of trees, above which the eagle likes to soar, building its two meter-wide nest on cliffs and tree branches as high as 2,000 meters above sea level.

?I still feel a different emotion when I see it,? she adds. ?It?s a national symbol. And as a bird, it?s a valuable indicator of patterns in biodiversity conservation, because it is very sensitive to environmental changes.?

If more forests mean more birds, then there?s a reason the Philippine eagle (Pithecophaga jefferyi) has been classified as critically endangered by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), which monitors the state of species worldwide. The Philippine eagle is listed in Appendix I, which includes flora and fauna on the verge of extinction. In fact, based on research, only 500 pairs remain in the Philippines ? a country with an alarming 3 percent primary forest cover left.

Peñablanca, where Sucaldito and her colleagues have been observing a pair of eagles since 2008, is located at the foot of the Sierra Madre Mountains, where a quarter of the Philippines? forests and the largest remaining expanses of natural rainforest are hanging on.

The Philippines itself is one of 17 countries in the world known as megadiversity areas, known for extremely high biodiversity ? and is also one of the most vulnerable hotspots and key conservation areas where this same biodiversity is under grave threat. About 3,500 species of plants have been recorded in the Sierra Madre region, CI reports, of which 58 percent are found nowhere else in the world. There are some 293 species of birds, 84 of them endemic to the country or found only here, and 19 of them are classified as threatened.

Indeed, many people who have lived and worked in Peñablanca for generations remember a time when the forests were rich and humming with life.

?When we first came here, the forests were huge. There were few people, there were creeks, and the kalaw would come down here and stay in the big trees,? recalls Ernesto Sison, 77, whose family moved to Bugatay in Peñablanca from Ilocos in 1947, in search of a better life after the Japanese occupation. The colorful kalaw or Rufous hornbill is now classified as vulnerable by CITES.

?And then the trees were cut to make houses and charcoal, and the kalaw left to live up in the Sierra Madres,? Sison says. ?I hope they come back.?

One thing standing between the remaining trees and various threats, such as illegal logging and forest-intensive livelihood activities like firewood collection and charcoal-making, is the fact that the Sierra Madre mountain range also covers a 118,000-hectare expanse from forest to sea known as the Peñablanca Protected Landscape and Seascape (PPLS), declared a Protected Area by the Philippine government on Oct. 6, 2003.

Now, biologists like Sucaldito have another reason to hope that the wildlife will return with the trees. In September 2007, CI and corporate partner-donor Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC), with technical assistance from local government units of Peñablanca and the Department of the Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), launched the Philippine Peñablanca Sustainable Reforestation Project (PPSRP). The 2,943-hectare project area covers five barangay ? Bugatay, Cabasan, Manga, San Roque, and Sisim ? where local farmers and barangay (village) residents were recruited to plant trees in new areas or add on to previously planted stretches of land.

The project?s goals are to restore and conserve Peñablanca?s precious forests and provide alternative livelihoods to residents through reforestation and agroforestry, to wean them away from less sustainable occupations like charcoal-making.

Another aim is to protect the biodiversity such forests support ? a goal that has turned out to be more compatible with the ?human factor? than many expected. ?We?ve always been strong on the science, species, and biodiversity aspects, but we?ve also learned to highlight what?s important to stakeholders,? says CI Country Executive Director Romy Trono. ?Sometimes if you just say, ?Save the Philippine eagle,? people may think, so what? But if you say, ?Let?s make sure we have food security through healthy ecosystems,? then you?ll get the appreciation and support of communities, politicians, and decision-makers. In the process, you save the eagle by protecting the ecosystems required for it to survive.?

As the locals are discovering, sustainability can pay, indeed. By working as forest guards, planting seedlings, and beginning their own agroforestry projects with mango seedlings provided by CI, former charcoal-makers and firewood collectors are making enough to see marked improvements in their lives, like concrete houses and college education for their children.

?One industrious farmer who planted a lot of seedlings earned some P15,000 in a month,? recounts Frank Dalin, CI Project Technical Assistant. ?He told me, ?I?ve been making and selling charcoal for 10 years, and I?ve never earned this much!??

Phase I of the PPSRP began in 2007 and ends this year, and the team has met the target of 912 hectares reforested, 300 hectares for enhancement planting, and over 560 hectares planted to mangoes and other fruit trees. Phase II will run until 2013.

Corporate maverick and automotive giant Toyota Motor Corporation first got involved in reforestation projects to fight desertification in Harbin, China in 2001. Meanwhile, CI, the 23-year-old conservation organization that is working in 30 countries, began work in the Sierra Madre Biodiversity Corridor the same year. TMC?s experience and knowledge of sustainable reforestation technology, matched with CI?s expertise as lead project implementor, have given their local partners, the local government units and the DENR, the private sector muscle and funding they need to change lives.

Already, more trees are making a difference. Water supply is more consistent, the climate is less erratic ? and some animals have begun to come back. ?In one far-off barangay, they?re talking about their ?mini-piggery,?? says DENR Protected Area Superintendent (PASu) Tito Mangantulao, ?because they?re seeing so many baboy-damo (Philippine warty pigs) again.?

As for the Philippine eagle, it was declared our national bird via a presidential proclamation in 1995, and Republic Act 9147 prohibits anyone from capturing or killing it ? or you could face up to 12 years in jail or a whopping P1million fine. And rightly so, says Sucaldito, who is emphatic about the need to let it soar again.

?It?s our responsibility to protect the eagle, because it is part of our legacy. But I am very optimistic. With our collaborative effort, we can bring it back.? ?