Tamaraw (bubalus mindorensis) conservation gets into high gear as the consortium of Mindoro Biodiversity Conservation Foundation Inc. (MBCFI), D’Aboville Foundation and Demo Farm Inc. (DAF), Re:wild (formerly Global Wildlife Conservation) and government/local partners entered into a partnership with the Occidental Mindoro State College (OMSC) for the protection of the endangered species’ habitat through community engagement, monitoring and law enforcement.

MBCFI executive director Kathy Lene S. Cielo, DAF program director Emmanuel Schütz and OMSC president III Dr. Elbert C. Edaniol signed on 4 June 2026 the memorandum of agreement (MOA) to implement the tamaraw conservation work plan over several years. The MOA sets coordination protocol and how partners would share responsibilities, communicate and mobilize resources for tamaraw conservation.

The critically endangered tamaraw are endemic in Mindoro island with concentration in Mt. Iglit-Baco Natural Park. DAF estimated the population of the world’s smallest buffalo at 300 heads.

Anchored on the “Thriving Together with Tamaraw” program supported through the British Government’s Darwin Initiative, the partnership strengthens joint efforts in research, extension, capacity building, biodiversity conservation, Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Practices documentation, and sustainable governance of tamaraw landscapes in Mindoro.

Meanwhile, the double observer estimator method, combined with point count (direct field observations), was introduced at Mt. Iglit-Baco Natural Park to count the critically endangered tamaraw in Mindoro, according to DAF.

The DAF has supported local authorities in implementing the census approach to refine estimates of the true number of tamaraw within the core monitoring zone of the protected area. Since 2022, this operation has been conducted in parallel with the annual tamaraw population count, which lacks the capacity to provide confidence intervals.

The traditional count consistently overestimates tamaraw numbers.

The population is closer to 260 animals, with an uncertainty margin of ±60.