IMPLEMENTING PARTNERS
• ESSC
• PWG
• ESSC-V
Environmental Science for Social Change (ESSC)
Closure Of Open Access Forest Areas: Field Research In The Upper Chico, Cordillera Region, Philippines
ESSC is researching, documenting, and facilitating community-based resource management planning in the Upper Chico Watershed. Working closely with watershed communities and local government, ESSC hopes to assist in the development of a long-term strategy the watershed and its forests from further degradation. The approach will involve the exploration of ways to close open access forest to illegal logging, mining, and land clearing while encouraging the regeneration of degraded ecosystems and related biodiversity.
The project will synthesize information gathered during field interactions and develop a picture of current social, economic, political, and cultural realities. Key elements to be considered in the development of the strategy will be the incorporation of the social and cultural mechanisms presently operative and local government's role definition and political willingness to assume the responsibility and accountability for natural resource stewardship.
Contributing To Natural Resource Management Agenda-Setting In The Philippines
In an effort to influence national policy on community forest management and natural regeneration in the Philippines, ESSC will facilitate a series of meetings to bring together a group of individuals with concerns and authoritative roles pertaining to natural resource management. The group will be composed of government advisers, policy planners and practitioners, local government representatives, business and industry personages, development agency members, media personages, former environment department secretaries, academicians, and non-government organization members. The cross-cutting group will be asked to discuss the national NRM situation, propose strategies for planning and implementation, and craft a NRM agenda which integrates previous progressive efforts with learnings and developments from actual community-level experience. To give initial focus, the following topics are proposed:
- Identifying effective social mechanisms that can be developed, and those that are already operative.
- Identifying appropriate target groups for social investments.
- Ensuring an effective policy environment for revitalizing community forest management and for exacting accountability.
- Identifying genuine and workable options for small enterprise development.
Other key areas for discussion are likely to arise in these meetings and will be incorporated where appropriate. The outcome of these discussions will then be presented through the Philippine Working Group so that national government may respond more appropriately to the current natural resource management situation in the country.
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Philippine Working Group (PWG)
National CBFM Experiences 1997-2001 And The Role Of The Philippine Working Group
Since the adoption of Community Based Forest Management (CBFM) as a national strategy in 1995, forest-related communities and agencies have had to slowly adapt to the changes that CBFM has brought about in terms of forest management. Environmental policies have changed as well as the relations between national environment agencies and forest-dependent communities and it is important to understand and assess the impact of these changes if the success of CBFM as a strategy is to be ensured.
The Philippine Working Group for Sustainable Resource Management (PWG) was set up specifically to review and recommend natural resource management policies in the country. PWG is currently documenting and facilitating transitions in CBFM in the Philippines. The documentation will review the evolution of forest management with special attention to the shifts that occurred through the succession of national government administrations.
The review will also examine how national CBFM policies were implemented by examining a diverse range of field experiences. Primary information will be drawn from PWG's site documentation reports, meetings and discussions with participating groups and individuals, and experiences from community mapping activities and local government planning exercises.
The findings will provide national planners, policy makers, NGOs and academics with a concise assessment of the impact of the national CBFM strategy, drawing on the wealth of information to be collected by PWG. Furthermore, the synthesis report is expected to contribute strategically to current efforts to support and promote community based natural resource management. These experiences and learnings will then be fed into international dialogues to give a better perspective on CBFM in Asia and benefit other national working groups who are also in the process of seeking and designing appropriate CBFM responses and strategies.
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Environmental Science for Social Change (ESSC) - Visayas
Comparative Assessment Between Upland And Coastal Communities In Community-Based Forest Management Implementation For Better Resources Management
Since upland and coastal areas within a watershed are dynamically linked especially in terms of their ecological, social, and economic impact on the communities who depend on the resources in these areas, a management plan for a particular upland-coastal watershed must adopt strategies which take both these zones and their existing ecosystems into consideration. ESSC's research will document the different resource use practices in the uplands and those of the coastal communities and assess their impact on a watershed as a whole. This research will include resource utilization orientation, organizational capacity, government and non-government support, economic and social benefits, and the participation of communities in policy review and formulation.
The findings from this research will be shared with communities in order to build their capacity to manage their natural resources. The assessment will also include recommendations for policy review and formulation of local ordinances. ESSC will also facilitate management dialog processes between local communities and LGUs and other stakeholders to enable them to appreciate the value of their own management planning strategies and directions to manage their resources better.
Bohol Natural Resources Management
With the learnings gained from the above research, ESSC-Visayas plans to strengthen interest of, and collaboration between communities, LGUs, the DENR area offices and other line agencies in the province of Bohol, and link them to broader mechanisms for natural resource management by providing venues for exchange where agreements can be forged. Socio-economic benefits for communities will be the goal of these exchanges and will hopefully:
- Develop PO capacity to articulate ideas, analyze issues and concerns, and plan appropriate steps and actions.
- Heighten responsiveness, awareness, and commitment of LGUs to natural resources management policies, specifically CBFM.
- Increase efficiency in the development and management of watershed resources.
- Ensure the effectiveness of line agencies in responding to the needs of communities and LGUs.
The support activity will engage watershed stakeholders at different levels: community, municipal, inter-municipal, provincial and even the national level. Consultations and dialogues at these levels are meant to gather inputs for policy recommendations locally as well as for national application. Specifically, the workshops and participatory processes of this engagement seek to enhance the capacity of POs to effectively articulate and document CBFM experiences and issues and respond to resource management concerns. Aside from multi-level meetings, workshops and consultations, forums and dialogues, this engagement will also include production of thematic maps as analytical tools, policy and resource management plan review, and staff development for the ESSC facilitating team.
The effort will be for stakeholders to concretely respond to these issues directly or strategically. Among the activities to be conducted towards this end are ongoing consultations, meetings and workshops with individual POs to review community resource management plans, PO forums and dialogues on NRM concerns, a review of CBFM implementation in the province through a consultation with the Philippine Working Group (PWG) on Community-Based Natural Resource Management (CBNRM), and meetings of the CWMC and provincial NRM bodies coordinated by the Bohol Environment Management Office (BEMO).
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