List of Protected Areas of the Philippines

Also known as: NIPAS list — the shorthand that resolves to the register (DBpedia's "NIPAS" redirects here) · Protected areas of the Philippines — also a redirect to the register · The Philippine protected-areas register

Government

Definition

The list of protected areas of the Philippines is the register of the parks, sanctuaries, reserves, landscapes, and seascapes held under the National Integrated Protected Areas System (NIPAS) — the framework of Republic Act No. 7586, approved June 1, 1992, as amended by the Expanded NIPAS Act, Republic Act No. 11038, approved June 22, 2018. The register is administered by the Biodiversity Management Bureau of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources; as of 2020 it carried 244 protected areas covering about 7,760,000 hectares — 15.4 percent of the Philippines’ total area. (Wikipedia — List of protected areas, LawPhil — RA 7586, LawPhil — RA 11038) RA 7586’s Section 3 sorts the register into categories — “a. Strict nature reserve; b. Natural park; c. Natural monument; d. Wildlife sanctuary; e. Protected landscapes and seascapes; f. Resource reserve; g. Natural biotic areas,” plus “other categories established by law, conventions or international agreements” to which the Philippines is signatory. (LawPhil — RA 7586)

The register’s modern spine is the E-NIPAS annex: RA 11038 declared its listed parcels “hereby established as protected areas within the classification of national park” in a table of ninety-four areas with NAMRIA-certified boundaries, from Kalbario-Patapat Natural Park in Ilocos Norte (3,903.19 hectares, entry one) onward — Congress having also legislated areas individually, from the Mt. Kanla-on act of 2001 to the statutes of 2022 and 2025. (LawPhil — RA 11038, Wikipedia — List of protected areas) On the same register sit the international designations: twelve ASEAN Heritage Parks, from Mount Apo in 1984 to the Balinsasayao Twin Lakes Natural Park in 2025, and ten Ramsar wetland sites from Olango Island to the Del Carmen Mangrove Reserve. (Wikipedia — ASEAN Heritage Parks, Wikipedia — List of Ramsar sites)

Identities

Source Type	Identity
Wikipedia	List of protected areas of the Philippines
Wikidata	list of protected areas of the Philippines (Q6635489) — Wikimedia list article
DBpedia	List_of_protected_areas_of_the_Philippines — resource exists, described “Wikimedia list article”; redirects “NIPAS” and “Protected_areas_of_the_Philippines” resolve to it (verified this session)
ProductOntology	N/A
Wiktionary	protected area (the generic English headword of the register’s object; no headword for the list)
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH)	N/A — LC authorities unreachable this session
MeSH	N/A
NCBI Taxonomy	N/A
AGROVOC	protected areas (c_37952) — the register’s governed concept
Google Scholar	protected areas Philippines NIPAS RA 7586 E-NIPAS RA 11038 natural park protected landscape seascape PAMB DENR ASEAN Heritage Parks Ramsar
ConceptNet	N/A — ConceptNet API unreachable this session
OpenCyc	N/A

Also Known As

NIPAS list — the shorthand that resolves to the register (DBpedia’s “NIPAS” redirects here)
Protected areas of the Philippines — also a redirect to the register
The Philippine protected-areas register

Examples and Analogies

A filing system with eight drawers: RA 7586’s categories sort the estate — strict nature reserve, natural park, natural monument, wildlife sanctuary, protected landscapes and seascapes, resource reserve, natural biotic area, and the international-agreement catch-all — each a legal classification, not a label. (LawPhil — RA 7586)
An enrolled inheritance: Section 5 made “all areas or islands in the Philippines proclaimed, designated or set aside, pursuant to a law, presidential decree,” proclamation or executive order initial components of the System — a century of reservations entered the register at once, pending study. (LawPhil — RA 7586)
The annex that legislated ninety-four areas at once: RA 11038 did piecemeal work wholesale — ninety-four declarations in one instrument, boundaries “made an integral part thereof,” the strongest tenure the system allows. (LawPhil — RA 11038)
International badges on a national register: twelve ASEAN Heritage Parks and ten Ramsar sites sit on areas already inside NIPAS, adding recognition without changing the national category. (Wikipedia — ASEAN Heritage Parks, Wikipedia — List of Ramsar sites)
Verified register data (as read in October 2026):
Total: 244 protected areas as of 2020, about 7,760,000 hectares, 15.4 percent of the country’s area (Wikipedia — List of protected areas)
E-NIPAS annex: 94 areas declared by RA 11038 (2018), NAMRIA-certified boundaries (LawPhil — RA 11038)
Register tables: national and natural parks are carried in companion lists; the rest are grouped by designation — roughly 40 protected landscapes, about 50 watershed forest reserves, and smaller sets of protected seascapes (3), natural monuments (4), natural biotic areas (5), marine reserves (4), resource reserves (2), and one managed resource protected area (El Nido) (Wikipedia — List of protected areas)
ASEAN Heritage Parks: 12 — Mount Apo and Mounts Iglit–Baco (1984); Kitanglad (2009); Malindang (2011); Makiling (2013); Hamiguitan and Tubbataha (2014); Timpoong and Hibok-Hibok (2015); Agusan Marsh (2018); Inayawan (2023); Pasonanca (2024); Balinsasayao Twin Lakes (2025) (Wikipedia — ASEAN Heritage Parks)
Ramsar sites: 10 — Agusan Marsh, Las Piñas–Parañaque Critical Habitat, Naujan Lake, Negros Occidental Coastal Wetlands, Olango Island, Puerto Princesa Subterranean River, Sasmuan Pampanga Coastal Wetlands, Tubbataha Reefs, Sibugay Wetland Nature Reserve, Del Carmen Mangrove Reserve (Wikipedia — List of Ramsar sites)

Usage Scenarios

1. Verifying an Area’s Protected Status

Researchers and proponents begin at the register: a listed area — by annex, individual act, or initial-component enrollment — carries the System’s protections and governance machinery. (Wikipedia — List of protected areas, LawPhil — RA 7586)

2. Determining Category and Governing Statute

The user checks the category against Section 3, then the area’s own act — since RA 11038, each entry’s operative law may be its own statute, the practice this wiki’s Republic Act No. 9154 entry models. (LawPhil — RA 7586, LawPhil — RA 11038)

3. Tracing International Designations

The ASEAN Heritage Park and Ramsar lists overlay the register for biodiversity reporting, the recognitions this wiki’s ASEAN Heritage Parks and Ramsar Convention entries document. (Wikipedia — ASEAN Heritage Parks, Wikipedia — List of Ramsar sites)

4. Following Expansion Legislation

The register is a legislative ledger — ninety-four areas in the 2018 annex, then further acts in 2022 and 2025 adding protected landscapes from Banao to Tirad Pass. (LawPhil — RA 11038, Wikipedia — List of protected areas)

5. Cross-Referencing This Wiki’s Site Entries

The register indexes this wiki’s cluster: Mount Kanlaon, Mount Apo, Tubbataha Reefs, Puerto Princesa Subterranean River, Olango Island, and Las Piñas–Parañaque each have their own entries.

Strategies

Enroll first, evaluate later: the initial-components rule put every existing reservation inside the System at once, pending suitability studies. (LawPhil — RA 7586)
Legislate the park for the strongest tenure: from Mt. Kanla-on (2001) to the 2018 annex, the trajectory runs from proclamation to statute. (LawPhil — RA 11038, LawPhil — RA 7586)
Layer international badges: ASEAN Heritage Park and Ramsar status stack recognition on areas already inside NIPAS. (Wikipedia — ASEAN Heritage Parks)

Security and Safety Measures

The clearance gate: no project or activity may proceed inside a protected area without prior clearance from its Protected Area Management Board, the safeguard this wiki’s Protected Area Management Board entry documents. (LawPhil — RA 11038)
The penalty ladder: Section 21 punishes prohibited acts with fines of ₱5,000 to ₱500,000 and imprisonment of one to six years, plus restoration and forfeiture. (LawPhil — RA 7586)
The energy fence: energy surveying is barred in strict nature reserves and natural parks, and exploitation of energy resources in any NIPAS area is “allowed only through a law passed by Congress.” (LawPhil — RA 7586)
The ancestral-lands guarantee: the Act recognizes ancestral lands and bars eviction or resettlement of indigenous communities without consent. (LawPhil — RA 7586)
For researchers: the headline count is dated 2020 and the article flags missing E-NIPAS detail — cite each area’s own statute, and date any count to its source. (Wikipedia — List of protected areas, LawPhil — RA 11038)

Historical Context

The register’s raw material predates the System by nine decades: the reservation era began with Act No. 648 of 1903 and the Forest Act of 1904, added the National Parks Act of 1932, and passed through the Revised Forestry Code of 1975 — proclamations without a unifying register, the “paper parks” era. (Wikipedia — List of protected areas) The NIPAS Act of June 1, 1992 consolidated the inheritance — every prior reservation an initial component, the eight categories, a management board per area — and Congress then legislated parks individually, Mt. Kanla-on’s act of August 11, 2001 among the first. (LawPhil — RA 7586)

The modern enlargement came on June 22, 2018, when RA 11038 amended the framework and annexed ninety-four declarations, with further acts following in 2022 and 2025. (LawPhil — RA 11038) The international layer grew in parallel: ASEAN recognition opened with Mount Apo and Mounts Iglit–Baco on November 29, 1984 and reached twelve parks with Pasonanca (2024) and Balinsasayao Twin Lakes (2025), while the Ramsar list — the treaty this wiki’s Ramsar Convention entry traces to Philippine accession in 1994 — reached ten sites with Sibugay and Del Carmen. (Wikipedia — ASEAN Heritage Parks, Wikipedia — List of Ramsar sites)

Challenges and Controversies

A Register with Two Counting Systems

The headline 244 areas (2020) and the annex’s 94 legislated areas answer different questions — one counts every administered designation, the other only congressional declarations — and the tables carry pre-NIPAS types (watershed forest reserves, game refuges, wilderness areas) whose status within the System varies; the article itself flags missing E-NIPAS information. (Wikipedia — List of protected areas, LawPhil — RA 11038)

Coverage Without Management

Enrollment is not management: the suitability studies required within three years left many areas in interim status, and the assessment cited in this wiki’s Biodiversity Management Bureau entry found expansion outrunning personnel and effectiveness — a critique the annex sharpened. (LawPhil — RA 7586, LawPhil — RA 11038)

Livelihoods and Energy Inside the Lines

The categories bar extractive uses while tenured migrants and indigenous communities live inside the boundaries — managed by zoning, buffer zones, and consent rules — and the energy fence keeps geothermal proposals a standing legislative question. (LawPhil — RA 7586)

Keeping the Register Current

The count is dated 2020, new areas arrive by statute, and companion park lists must be read alongside the tables — any use of “the” number must name its source and date. (Wikipedia — List of protected areas)