page_title: Apayao
section_title: Biodiversity and biosphere reserve
hierarchical_section_title: Apayao / History / Biodiversity and biosphere reserve
caption_attribution_description: Philippine Eagle at nest
context_page_description: Apayao is a landlocked province in the Philippines in the Cordillera Administrative Region in Luzon. Its capital town is Kabugao.
  The province borders Cagayan to the north and east, Abra and Ilocos Norte to the west, and Kalinga to the south. Prior to 1995, Kalinga and Apayao comprised a single province named Kalinga-Apayao, which was partitioned to better service the needs of individual ethnic groups.
  With a population of 119,184 covering an area of 4,413.35 square kilometres, Apayao is the least densely-populated province in the Philippines.
context_section_description: Apayao is biologically diverse. The province is sanctuary to 139 bird species, 61 of which are endemic and 4 threatened. It also has 43 species of wild food plants eaten by the indigenous people and 50 species of medicinal plants. The province is home to critically endangered rufous hornbills, lawaan or dipterocarp trees, Raflesia flowers, and the white-winged flying fox. 
  The Philippine Eagle Foundation began its search of eagles in Apayao in 2011 after reports of huge eagles were roaming the area for centuries. On March 22, 2013, scientists discovered the stronghold of critically endangered Philippine eagles, the country's national bird, in Luzon island within the vicinity of the Calanasan Lowland Forest. In January 2015, the town of Calanasan initiated a program which protected 3,000 hectares of forests under its jurisdiction. Additionally, the province of Apayao is one of the very few in the country that has an approved forest land use plan (FLUP). The first active Philippine eagle nest in Apayao was discovered in July 2015.
  On 9 July 2018, the provincial government of Apayao announced their intent for the province to be a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. The province, which possesses more than 286,000 hectares of virgin forests, also noted that they have sent four of their personnel to train in the United States under the US Foreign Service to hasten the declaration of the site. On January 16, 2019, the provincial government announced that they were doing "legwork for the inscription."
caption: A Philippine eagle nestling
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