TACLOBAN CITY — Governors of Samar Island welcome the inclusion of the 300,000-hectare Samar Island Natural Park in the tentative list of the World Heritage List of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.

SINP is one of the 24 sites in the country that were included in the list based on the nomination by the country’s Permanent Delegation to UNESCO.

The Philippines already has six sites included in the World Heritage List which include the Baroque Churches, Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park in Palawan, Rice Terraces of the Cordilleras, the historic City of Vigan, Puerto Princesa Subterranean River National Park and Mount Hamiguitan Range Wildlife Sanctuary in Davao Oriental.

“World Heritage is the designation for places on Earth that are of outstanding universal value to humanity and as such, have been inscribed on the World Heritage List to be protected for future generations to appreciate and enjoy,” said the UNESCO in a statement.

 Those included in the World Heritage List enjoy legal protection by an international convention administered by the UNESCO. World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, scientific or other forms of significance.

UNESCO added that being listed as a World Heritage Site can positively affect the site, its environment, and interactions between them.

“A listed site gains international recognition and legal protection, and can obtain funds from among others the World Heritage Fund to facilitate its conservation under certain conditions,” said the UNESCO.

Northern Samar Governor Edwin Ongchuan said the inclusion of SINP in the short list is a great honor and responsibility for the people of Samar island.

“The gifts and wonders of our Samar Island Natural Park have been there from time immemorial. To be included in the tentative List of World UNESCO Heritage Sites, it is a great honor and, at the same time, a responsibility for all of us in the Island to really protect and preserve SINP, not only for this generation but the generations after us. That’s what heritage means - to pass it as a present to humanity,” Ongchuan said.

Meantime, Samar Governor Sharee Ann Tan said the inclusion of SINP in the list is “a proud moment for all Samarnon people.”

“In our long bid for SINP to become a UNESCO World Heritage Site, we are ecstatic to now be included in the Tentative Listing,” Tan said.

In its website, UNESCO describes SINP as “within the Eastern Visayas Bio-Geographic Zone and the Greater Mindanao Faunal Region and is considered the center of biological diversity in the Philippines.”

It said SINP is “home to the largest tract of relatively intact lowland forest in the Philippines and a rich population of dipterocarp species.”