There are efforts in progress in the Philippines to address the above threat directly or indirectly. This section outlines the major investments and participants in biodiversity conservation and describes their strategic priorities and accomplishments.
The Global Environment Facility (World Bank as implementing agency): The World Bank is among the major active donors directly promoting protected area and natural resource management programs in the country for the purpose of biodiversity conservation and sustainable development.
Through a $20 million grant fund from the GEF, the World Bank has supported the CPPAP from 1994-2002, the first project in the country that embodied the Integrated Protected Areas System (IPAS) concept. The legal framework used for this effort was the National Integrated Protected Area System (NIPAS) Act of 1992, the first law on IPAS. This enabling legislation was designed to remedy the deficiencies of previous proclamations relating to national parks by ensuring that the existing protected areas be evaluated and reclassified, employing new classifications embodying management objectives and in accordance with internationally understood and recognized criteria, inclusion of indigenous and other local communities in management and recognition of the tenure of indigenous groups and long-established settlers. Because of this law, subsequent projects related to protected area management were implemented such as the EU-funded NIPAP project as well as the ADB buffer zone project in the country.
CPPAP led implementation of the NIPAS focusing on the first 10 priority IPAS areas, two of which (Batanes Landscape and Seascape and NSMNP) are found in the Sierra Madre Corridor and another two (Agusan Marsh Wildlife Sanctuary and Siargao Islands Protected Seascape and Landscape) in the Eastern Mindanao. Investment to the NIPAP project supports:
- legitimization of the priority sites as protected areas through a process that eventually leads to a legislative proclamation;
- organizational development for the establishment of the Protected Area Management Board (PAMB), a multi-stakeholder body mandated to manage the IPAS areas;
- site and resource management activities including the development of management plans for IPAS areas and improved enforcement of environmental protection laws;
- recognition of tenure rights of indigenous communities and settled migrants; and
- socioeconomic development.
A consortium of national NGOs, the NGOs for Integrated Protected Area (NIPA), is implementing the project with support from the DENR. This is the first and only major NGO-managed project outside of the medium-sized and small grants programs of the GEF. Success has been achieved in legitimizing the protected area status of some sites, organizing effective PAMBs and undertaking management and enforcement activities against illegal mining and logging operations, particularly in the NSMNP and around Lakes Kamansihan and Mantuod in the EMC. Implementation, however, is rather slow and marred by squabbles and bureaucracy within the NIPA at the national level and the PAMB at the site level. Technical and procedural problems have hampered the utilization of the livelihood fund and have prevented significant progress in implementing the socioeconomic development component of the program that is critical for sustainability.
Other donor support has been generated to complement the CPPAP. This includes Asian Development Bank technical assistance to establish buffer zones, and "Technical Assistance for Improving Biodiversity Conservation in Protected Areas," funded by DANIDA and the World Bank, which has developed an innovative Biodiversity Monitoring System now being implemented in many protected areas.
Other World Bank resource management projects addressing conservation include:
- The sectoral adjustment loan for the environment implemented by the DENR in Northern Luzon and Mindanao, covering the northern Sierra Madre Corridor (including all of Region 2) and the Eastern Mindanao (Agusan and Surigao del Norte). The program piloted forest watershed management initiatives involving strong community and LGU support, and developed the capabilities of DENR and civil society to monitor logging operations and enforce forestry regulations. In Northern Luzon strong and committed partnerships among various local stakeholders contributed to sustained natural resource management and the establishment of Multisectoral Forest Protection Committees resulted in the apprehension of illegal loggers and the empowerment of communities to manage their own watershed resources by providing alternative sources of livelihood. The problem, however, is sustaining these efforts after the project - especially the MFPCs, which need funds for ongoing operational expenses.
- The Water Resources Development Program administered by the World Bank, addressing the critical watersheds throughout the country through appropriate river basin planning and water management.
- The Community-Based Resource Management (CBRM) Program administered by the Department of Finance. This project has a $67.5 million budget over six years (1998-2003) to combat rural poverty and environmental degradation nationwide. It provides grants and loans to local governments on a demand-driven basis to develop and implement sub-projects in resource management. The bureaucratic procedures of the Department of Finance limit the capacity of LGUs to avail themselves of these funding opportunities.
Global Environment Facility (United Nations Development Program as implementing agency) Full- and Medium-Sized Projects and GEF Small Grants Program: The UNDP supports projects with active involvement of communities in the protection and sustainable management of natural resources and biodiversity conservation through its own funds or GEF conservation projects through the Small Grants Program (SGP).
The UNDP-GEF Small Grants Program currently supports four projects in the Sierra Madre Corridor (Quezon, Cagayan and Nueva Vizcaya) and four in Eastern Mindanao (Davao Oriental, Agusan del Norte, Dinagat and Siargao Islands in Surigao del Norte). In the Palawan the Community Management of Protected Areas Conservation, or COMPACT, is a joint project of the SGP and the United Nations Foundation situated in the Puerto Princesa St. Paul's Subterranean River National Park. The project aims to demonstrate how community-based initiatives can significantly increase effectiveness of biodiversity conservation in globally significant protected areas. Specifically, it provides grants to NGOs and People's Organizations for community-based activities that include sustainable livelihood initiatives and other community-level intervention that will reduce pressure on natural resources.
In general, the SGP projects are implemented through:
- strong partnership with local communities with the aim of establishing a "social fence" against threats;
- strengthening of participatory planning, process-response monitoring, surveillance and enforcement, conservation management capacities of communities and advocacy;
- assistance to the local people to develop conservation-compatible livelihoods;
- information, education and communication campaigns; and
- research and monitoring for effective community-based resource management planning.
These projects receive grants of up to $50,000 to support community-based organizations and NGOs for activities that address problems related to SGP areas of concern. The lessons learned from some completed projects suggest that partnerships between the local community, LGUs, the DENR, and other donor agencies are replicable.
Asian Development Bank: Through a technical assistance grant, ADB supported the study on "Buffer Zone Establishment in Protected Areas." This was intended to support the implementation of CPPAP by providing the criteria and process for defining buffer zones in protected areas considering the presence of indigenous communities and migrant settlers. Very recently, ADB also provided a small technical assistance grant on the "Implementation of the Convention on Biodiversity in the Philippines" by strengthening the National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan to guide government and other agencies, including donors and NGOs, in integrating biodiversity conservation in their work.
Other relevant ADB projects that support conservation include:
- formulation of the Philippine Forestry Master Plan in the 1990s which documented the state of Philippine forests and outlined strategies for sustainable forest management;
- Forestry Sector Program 1, which provided loans for implementation of community-based reforestation plans involving partnership between NGOs and Peoples' Organizations; and
- project preparation for a forest CBRM program focused in Mindanao.
The ADB provided loans for implementation of a nationwide Fishery Sector Program that was followed by another package, the Fishery Resource Management Program, with co-financing from JBIC. Both programs support sustainable coastal resource management, focusing on municipal coastal waters and using community-based approaches. Preparation is under way to package another investment in integrated coastal resource management. This proposed investment will incorporate all aspects of coastal resource management, including watershed protection, conservation and pollution control.
U.S. Agency for International Development: A major USAID investment which has strong linkages to biodiversity conservation is the Natural Resources Management Program, which has evolved over the years from the narrower Forest Resource Management Program, formerly called NRMP Phases 1 and 2) to include the Coastal Resource Management Program. Another strategic component of the program, slated for implementation in 2001, is the Ecological Governance Program - an integration and spinoff of FRMP, CRMP, and the USAID Program on Governance for Local Democracy (EcoGov) targeted at LGUs.
USAID invested some $39 million in grant funds for NRMP Phases 1 & 2 (now called FRMP) from 1990-1998 to provide policy and capacity building support to the DENR and partner institutions for sustainable forest management, with special focus on CBFM, biodiversity, and the forest products industry. Program initiatives included:
- drafting and advocacy of the Sustainable Forestry Management Act;
- formulation of policies to implement CBFM including integration of tenure instruments, individual property rights, and management planning;
- forest land use planning as a component of CLUP for local governments;
- local management of a protected area in Sierra Madre (Nueva Viscaya) under a memorandum of agreement between the DENR, the LGU and the local People's Organization;
- development of criteria and indicators for sustainable forest management leading to forest product certification; and
- federation of CBFM People's Organizations for upland technology sharing and forest protection advocacy.
USAID invested $1.4 million into the Sierra Madre Biodiversity Corridor Program aiming to conserve the region's endemic and relatively intact forest biodiversity. CI and partners will strengthen the management of the Northern Sierra Madre Natural Park, a key protected area that will form part of the core nuclei of the Sierra Madre Biodiversity Corridor. CI and partners will strengthen the baseline biological and socioeconomic data for the Park, capacitate local park management units, develop a park management plan and conduct a thorough legal analysis to challenge the validity of mineral and timber claims within and surrounding the Park. CI will also work with local institutions to develop and implement an awareness campaign for communities in the corridor.
The Sierra Madre Program will also aim to mobilize support for development of a new national park in Northern Aurora. CI and partners will conduct an assessment of the legal, political, institutional and other constraints to park declaration, consult stakeholders to generate interest, assess issues, and implement a communications strategy.
The initiatives under this Program can be sustained and replicated in the CEPF.
In the coastal ecosystem, the CBRM Program - with $21 million in grant funding over a seven-year period (1996-2002) focuses also on community-based resource management of coastal areas covering 3,000 kilometers of coastline in 29 municipalities. Its priorities include policy refinement, enterprise development, and training at the local level. This program is based in the northern part of Palawan; in the provinces of Cagayan, Isabela, Nueva Vizcaya, and Quirino in the Sierra Madre Corridor; and in Davao Oriental in Eastern Mindanao. The program shifts investment focus from the forest to the coastal zones, spinning off major coastal resource management projects - e.g. the ADB Fishery Sector Program and Fishery Resource Management Program.
EcoGov is a new program initiative under the NRMP and will be launched very soon. The program will address critical threats to the country's forests by reducing illegal logging and conversion of natural forests, over fishing, destructive fishing practices, and solid waste. It will promote good governance - including transparency and accountability - in awarding licenses, leases, and contracts and in collecting fees.
Delegation of the European Commission - European Union: The EU has provided a funding support of $12.7 million for a parallel program to the World Bank-funded CPPAP through the National Integrated Protected Areas Programme (NIPAP). This program covers seven IPAS areas over a six-year investment period (1995-2001). NIPAP provides support for a clear resource management planning through actual delineation of protected areas and buffer zones. In fact, NIPAP has substantially encouraged the use of the community-based planning tool merging GIS data and people's knowledge to produce a stand-alone relief model. The CEPF can build on this tested model of planning and project implementation. Like the World Bank project, NIPAP provides investments for livelihood and training. NIPAP sites include El Nido, Coron, and Malampaya Sound in northern Palawan. The NIPAP is implemented mainly by the DENR using the mechanisms provided under the NIPAS Act; the CPPAP is implemented by NIPA.
Another EU project is the Palawan Tropical Forest Protection Program, focused on the protection of 12 priority water catchments with components on agriculture and livelihood; mapping; capacity-building; and information, education, and communications campaigns. While the communications and mapping components are in advanced stages, less progress has been made toward participatory community-based management of these catchments. The sustainability of project efforts is a concern.
Denmark: The government of Denmark, through the World Bank, provided support to CPPAP involving the development of a biodiversity monitoring and evaluation system coupled with technical assistance that enhances the capacity of protected area management staff, local communities, and the national government. The project led to implementation guidelines for the Biodiversity Monitoring System in protected areas. However, the systematic implementation of BMS in PAWB and beyond the project remains to be seen. This second phase of the project (1999-2001) has a budget of $1.5 million and is being piloted in the three areas: Sierra Madre Natural Park in the Sierra Madre Corridor, Malampaya Sound and El Nido Protected Areas in Palawanand Siargao and Agusan Marsh Corridor in Eastern Mindanao. Advocacy and related activities in the terrestrial, marine, and wetland ecosystems in these three sites are also part of the project.
The Netherlands: The government of the Netherlands is supporting research programs that promote collaborative, participatory, and interdisciplinary research enabling sustainable use of biological resources, effective decision-making on biodiversity conservation, and improving livelihood and cultural opportunities of the local communities. The Dutch government also supports implementation of the NIPAS Law covering two sites: the El Nido Marine Park in the Palawanand the Palanan Wilderness in the Sierra Madre Corridor. Since 1996, the Dutch government has provided funds ($5.5 million) to Plan International for the NSMNP Conservation Project. The project has focused its operations on establishing a socioeconomic, ethnographic, and physical database of the Park; establishing the physical boundaries of the Park and management zones; strengthening the capacities of local stakeholders; and implementing the Integrated Environmental Management Plan and CBRM and Development Plans. The CEPF can build on the tested strategies and information developed through this project.
Germany, German Agency for Technical Cooperation (GTZ) and German Agency for Financial Cooperation (KfW): The government of Germany has made significant contributions to conservation in the Sierra Madre Corridor by providing technical assistance in the management of dipterocarp forests and upland development. This was made possible through KfW support for a CBRM project in the province of Quirino. For example, the Financing Cooperation Agency of the Federal Republic of Germany and the GTZ-KfW supported the Quirino Community-Based Forestry Program (a debt-for-nature swap) and the Philippine-German Community Forestry Project - Quirino covering the municipalities of Maddela, Nagtipunan, Aglipay, and Diffun. The project investment amounts to 30% of the $5.8 million debt. On the other hand, CFPQ aims to protect the forest within the project area through sustainable management practices, community organization and self-help. It has a total budget of $8.6 million and will end this year. This project is similar to the CBFM program funded by the USAID in terms of strong LGU participation building support for CBFM. However, sustainability of their interest in CBFM remains to be seen.
Japan International Cooperation Agency and Japan Bank for International Cooperation: In the Sierra Madre Corridor, JICA is currently funding the development of the Master Plan for Watershed Management in the Upper Magat and Cagayan River Basin, covering three provinces in the corridor. This project is intended to generate an investment program for watershed rehabilitation in priority areas for reforestation. It is also expected that the local people will play a vital role in this program as a source of primary information and in ascertaining the major constraints and opportunities for watershed rehabilitation.
JBIC provides loan assistance for the implementation of the Second Forestry Sector Program started by ADB, with sub-projects in each of the three corridors, using essentially the CBFM approach with addition of some small infrastructure support as part of watershed rehabilitation. Another recent JBIC investment in the northern Palawanis the Sustainable Environmental Management Project, a six-year project with a $25 million loan and three major components:
- Environmentally Critical Area Network Zoning, which involves mapping and zoning consistent with the SEP framework for Palawan, research in support of zoning activities, and capacity-building for the delineation and implementation of ECAN zones;
- Environmental Sustainable Tourism Development, which includes project management and planning for tourism development consistent with the ECAN zoning; and
- erosion control.
Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID): The Australian Government's Development Cooperation Program, managed by AusAID, has invested $32.2 million in 2000-2001 in efforts to reduce poverty and promote sustainable development. AusAID's assistance has focused on meeting the human development needs of the poor by improvements in the key livelihood areas of rural incomes, health, education, and environment. In addition, AusAID has supported good governance by assisting with the development and implementation of policies empowering poor and vulnerable groups, rural and urban, affected by structural and economic change. At present, AusAID has targeted provinces of Surigao del Norte, Agusan del Sur, and other areas within the Eastern Mindanao Corridor.
Canadian International Development Agency: CIDA in the Philippines has invested in local governance, environmental protection, and other basic services. In the environment sector, the agency has provided necessary assistance in responsible governance, including support for the multi-stakeholder collaborative solutions to local environmental problems in the forest, upland, coastal and urban areas using the facilitation skills of NGOs and technical assistance from their partners.
World Wide Fund for Nature: WWF - Philippines works to integrate conservation, protection, and development through biodiversity research. It also includes enterprise development and institution building by giving the local community and LGUs training and an active role in resource management, particularly in the coastal environment. For example, in the Palawan, WWF has invested in biodiversity research and monitoring, management and planning, enterprise development, institutional development, and technical assistance as exemplified by the biodiversity component of the El Nido Integrated Conservation and Development Project with a budget of $477,000. Given these types of investment, CEPF projects can build on science-based research initiated by the WWF and provide information necessary for conservation.
Foundation for the Philippine Environment: The FPE was incorporated in 1992 through the collective efforts of the Philippine government, NGOs and the U.S. government. The financial base of FPE is an endowment fund established through a debt-for-nature swap. The financing came from USAID through the Natural Resources Management Program (NRMP) amounting to about $22 million. The FPE has been supporting NGO activities to empower local communities and their People's Organizations to carry out conservation projects for the last eight years. The FPE has also secured the support of international NGOs like the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and the Keidanren Conservation Fund. Several donors like the UNDP-GEF and SGP also made grants with the FPE as a conduit to distribute large funds to NGOs and People's Organizations and for technical assistance. The CEPF can leverage the FDE and complement and strengthen these existing arrangements by setting up a small grants mechanism hosted by an in-country organization.
The FPE uses CBRM as a main strategy with four main components: community organizing, resource management, livelihood, and advocacy. In the Sierra Madre Corridor, FPE, through its partners, has been able to empower communities to implement conservation projects promoting sustainable development. The foundation has invested in four projects in the corridor: Biak na Bato National Park Conservation Project in Bulacan; Bolos Point CBRM Project in Gattaran, Cagayan; CBRM at Santa Margarita, Baggao, Cagayan; and CBRM for Mt. Banahaw and San Cristobal. In addition, in Eastern Mindanao, the FPE has supported the Lanuza Bay Area Community-Based Coastal Resource Management Program; the Lake Mainit Biodiversity Conservation Project; Biodiversity Corridors as an Option for Biodiversity Conservation in Mindanao; and Dinagat Island CBRM. These projects are based on the seven-year CBRM framework of the Foundation. The FPE provides grants to NGOs ranging from $2,000 to $19,000.
Haribon Foundation: Haribon Foundation for Conservation of Natural Resources, established in 1972, has been regarded as a pioneer in the Philippine environmental movement and one of the most active environmental organizations in the country. Haribon aims to promote community-based resource management strategies; conduct scientific and socioeconomic research; and build a national constituency for conservation. For example, with the support of FPE, Haribon has supported CBRM projects in Palawan. The Foundation has made the conservation of Important Bird Areas (a concept and global tool of BirdLife International) a significant component of its program; there are eight IBAs in the Sierra Madre Corridor, 10 in Palawan (including the islands), and nine in Eastern Mindanao (including Dinagat and Siargao).
Conservation International - Philippines: CI - Philippines initiated conservation projects in the country with USAID funding to mobilize a biodiversity corridor approach in Sierra Madre, aiming to reconnect habitats by extending protection and promoting land uses compatible with conservation. In the Sierra Madre Corridor, CI - Philippines has invested in strategic partnerships with key stakeholders to build support frameworks and coordinate activities in the field. CI - Philippines also aims to build a database, compile conservation and planning maps using GIS, and conduct information and education campaigns in order to build consensus among stakeholders in natural resource management. In the Palawan, CI - Philippines is providing technical assistance in the establishment of ECAN zones, recruiting local communities, LGUs, the Palawan Council for Sustainable Development, and other government agencies as partners. Other investments include the Mangrove Interpretive Project, promoting environmental education and conservation of the mangrove ecosystem; the Cashew Enterprise Project, providing supplemental income to the local Tagbanua community; and Calamianes Marine Corridor Management, introducing integrative planning and conservation management in the marine corridor based on the ECAN strategy.
Other international and local NGOs: Foreign NGOs supporting conservation efforts in the Sierra Madre and Palawans include Plan International, Zoologischer Garten Berlin, Zoological Society of London, Aage V. Jensen Charity Foundation, Bristol Zoo. These organizations' efforts include community-based or participatory research; survey and assessment of the biodiversity and habitats in the Sierra Madre Mountains; local biodiversity workshops; in situ conservation; and field surveys of the Philippine bleeding-heart pigeons and cloud rats in the southern part of the Corridor. In the Palawan, Shell Philippines Exploration, Espace Zoologique (France), the FPE, and CI - Philippines are very active. Shell Philippines Exploration has been involved in ecological research on Malampaya Sound in partnership with NIPAP-DENR, ESSC, LGUs and BFAR. The project has a budget of $200,000 and will end this year. Species conservation has been the focus of Espace Zoologique with funding from the Loro Parque Fundacion which has implemented a project on the conservation of the Philippine Cockatoo. This institution also supports research, protection, and restoration activities in the cockatoo's habitat.
Department of Environment and Natural Resources-Ecosystems Research and Development Bureau (DENR-ERDB) and Department of Science and Technology - Philippine Council for Agriculture, Forestry and Natural Resources Research and Development (PCARRD): As of April 2000, there were 12 biodiversity-related special projects being implemented by the DENR local offices and its research arm, the ERDB, with an approved budget of $248,000. On the other hand, 57 regular biodiversity-related projects were implemented from 1989-2000, four still in progress and 53 completed. PAWB, the unit of DENR directly responsible for conservation work, also monitors 20 biodiversity projects implemented with donor assistance. Projects handled by PAWB-DENR include community-based resource management and development; livelihood development; information and education campaigns; research and development; and technical assistance. For PCARRD projects and private organizations (e.g. the Paper Industry Corporation of the Philippines), most biodiversity-related efforts focus on scientific research assessing and monitoring the timber stand and growth yield in adequately stocked residual dipterocarp forests and other logged-over areas, or studies of indigenous forest species with significant biodiversity values.
Other biodiversity efforts of the DENR include:
- implementation of the National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (NBSAP) for the Philippines;
- advocacy for the Wildlife Act, which empowers the DENR to delineate critical terrestrial and marine habitats;
- advocacy for the Sustainable Forest Management Act, which provides for, among other measures, forest demarcation; and
- advocacy for the Land Use Act, which will manage land development and protect biodiversity.
The Philippines National Museum and Herbarium, Manila, has conducted extensive botanical and zoological research throughout the country for exactly a century. The Flora of the Philippines project - backed by the National Science Foundation (United States), USAID, and the MacArthur Foundation - has collected in and compiled floral checklists for all three target regions since 1990.
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