Manila: A major geothermal firm entered into an agreement with the department of energy to adopt six wildlife endangered species found near its several geothermal sites nationwide, a local paper said.

Energy Development Corp. (EDC) president and chief operating officer Richard Tantoco signed a memorandum of agreement with Department of Energy and Natural Resources (DENR’s) Secretary Ramon Paje, to implement DENR’s Adopt-a-Wildlife Species programme, Paje told the Philippine Star.

EDC, the country’s leading producer of geothermal energy, vowed to protect the Philippine eagle (Pithecophaga jefferyi) in Leyte and Mindanao (central and southern Philippines; large flying fox (Pteropus vampyrus) and golden crowned flying fox (Acerodon jubatus) in Albay and Sorsogon, Negros Occidental and Negros Oriental (in southern Luzon and central Philippines; Philippine warty pig (Sus philippensis), Philippine brown deer (Cervus marianus) and the Philippine eagle owl (Bubo philippensis) in Albay and Sorsogon (southern Luzon), Tantoco also told the Star.

For the first year of EDC’s environmental project, it will provide an initial amount of P1.3 million (Dh108,333) to develop a detailed work and financial plan for its project, in coordination with Protected Areas and Wildlife Bureau (PAWB) which is implementing DENR’s five-year (wildlife) adoption scheme, said Tantoco.

“The health of the forest habitat will sustain our water based (geothermal) operation. Wildlife conservation is an integral part of our biodiversity program in all our project sites,” Tantoco explained.

He did not give more details such as EDC’s plan to help the six endangered wildlife species multiply.

The DENR will issue permits needed by EDC to implement its environmental project. It will also monitor and evaluate EDC’s project starting on its second year of implementation, said Paje, adding that DENR and EDC’s wildlife adoption agreement can be extended after five years.

DENR has been urging local governments, private sectors, non-government organisations, and civil society groups have been urged to participate in the national biodiversity conservation program for endangered species, so that they would not be extinct.

DENR’s Adopt-a-Wildlife Species programme began in June 2010.