Project Title & Location
Eco-Tourism Project
Caramoan National Park
Caramoan, Camarines Sur

Client
Provincial Government of Camarines Sur

Project Completion
July 2005 - April 2006

Associated Firms
ENR

Services Provided
- Ecological Profiling
- Eco-Tourism Master Planning
- Site Development Plans

The Caramoan National Park is a 4,000-hectare protected zone declared as such in July 20, 1938. Some 298 hectares have been relinquished by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) to the Province of Camarines Sur for the latter's development and management. As expressed in the Memorandum of Agreement of both agencies, a master and management plan will be required to operationalize the provisions under the agreement. The province is undertaking plans to set-up an eco-tourism facility in the area.

The environmental characterization of the site reveals that the park has a fragile ecosystem. It has limited areas for intense development. Thus the level of access and use shall be controlled in accordance with carrying capacity estimates of specific sites. This approach becomes necessary in order to protect and minimize adverse impacts on the site's eco-tourism resources.

In the master plan, priority areas for site development include Gota Beach, Hunungan Beach, Matukad Island and Pitogo Island. Various types of accommodation facilities and support utilities are envisioned for the developable areas.

The Poblacion of Caramoan shall be utilized as the service center for the nature complex. It is also envisioned that a network of roadways and/or trails shall link the poblacion with other settlements and tourism destinations in the peninsula. To augment community incomes in the area, the population shall be provided with training programs to support eco-tourism activities, particularly in food handling, home hosting and in acting as guides and docents. Adequate transport operations will be handled to systematize people-movement in the complex.