bioRxiv preprint doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/861815; this version posted December 3, 2019. The copyright holder for this preprint (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under aCC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license. Assessing the impacts of agriculture and its trade on Philippine biodiversity Andrea Monica D. Ortiz1* and Justine Nicole V. Torres2* 1 Institute for Sustainable Resources, University College London, London, UK 2 Parabukas, Inc., Manila, Philippines *joint first-authors. Correspondence to
[email protected] or
[email protected]. Abstract The Philippines is home to a high number of unique species that can be found nowhere else in the world. However, its unique species and ecosystems are at high risk because of habitat loss and degradation. Agricultural land use and land use change are major drivers of biodiversity loss in the Philippines. In the Philippines, an important area that requires focus is plantation agriculture (monocropping) for high-value crops such as banana and pineapple, which are grown widely in the country, particularly in the island of Mindanao. The intensive nature of plantation agriculture means that it has many adverse effects on the environment while producing goods and commodities that are typically for trade and export with international partners. This means that local biodiversity losses may be driven by countries thousands of kilometers away. While many global studies have attempted to understand how biodiversity impacts are embodied within agricultural goods, there are few studies that have investigated the Philippines specifically.