This report presents the findings of the Mindanao River Basin – Landscape Risk Assessment, undertaken to comprehensively assess the basin’s vulnerability to climate change and natural hazards and to inform the development of sustainable development strategies. Initiated in September 2024, the project has yielded critical insights into the escalating environmental challenges facing this vital ecosystem. Conducted by Xavier University, in partnership with the EU-funded ACCESS Project, Mindanao River Basin Management Council, Mindanao Development Authority, and PAGASA.
An Excerpt from the Document:
INTRODUCTION
CORAL reefs are among the most biodiverse ecosystems globally, and they support the provision of goods and services for approximately 500 million people in coastal communities (Hoegh-Guldberg et al. 2019). Yet, climate change threatens the sustainability of coral reefs. Increased ocean temperatures mean coral bleaching and mortality events are becoming more widespread (Wilkinson 2000; Speers et al. 2016). These changes are modifying food systems and decreasing fisheries productivity (Rogers et al. 2018), increasing the vulnerability of millions of people dependent on reefs for their livelihoods (Hoegh-Guldberg et al. 2019).
Within coral reef systems, the effects of social and ecological change are inequitably distributed (de la Torre-Castro et al. 2017; Lau et al. 2021a). Gender, the social meaning and expectations regarding what it is to be a woman or man, shapes how individuals experience opportunities and outcomes within social-ecological systems (Resurrección & Elmhirst 2008; Nightingale 2016). Women tend to face greater constraints than men in their capacities to respond to social-ecological change; men tend to have greater access to and control over assets (i.e., natural resources, income or technology) meaning they are generally better positioned to cope and recover from such change (Cohen et al. 2016; Locke et al. 2017). Moreover, in cases where social-ecological change has created food or economic insecurity, men are more likely to migrate to urban areas to find work, leaving women to bear the brunt of food provisioning, reproductive labour and experience the impacts of poverty more intensely (Rao et al. 2021).
Gender also shapes how people experience and engage with programmes and policies seeking to assist communities overcome social-ecological disturbance. In many cases, men are more able than women to access information and support, have greater flexibility to participate in alternative or adapted livelihoods, and greater autonomy in making strategic life decisions (Locke et al. 2014; Cohen et al. 2016; Lawless et al. 2019). To ensure both effective and equitable outcomes, it is critical that environmental development interventions consider, and work to address these inequities. Yet, analysis of gender approaches used by interventions within coastal social-ecological systems suggest that current efforts are falling short of catalyzing needed progress toward gender equality (Stacey et al. 2019; Lawless et al. 2021; Mangubhai & Lawless 2021).
How environmental interventions interact with gender can be situated along a spectrum from those that seek to ‘reach’, ‘benefit’ or ‘empower’ women and men (Johnson et al. 2018), to those that actively seek to ‘transform’ gender inequalities (Kleiber et al. 2019) (Figure 1)1. Research has shown that the majority of environmental interventions seek to ‘reach’ or ‘benefit’ participants (Danielsen et al. 2018; Mangubhai & Lawless 2021). ‘Reach’ approaches tend to focus on ensuring women are included in interventions, for example, equal numbers of women and men participating in activities or projects. ‘Benefit’ approaches focus on advancing individual access to resources, for example, as a means to increase productivity or income generation (Johnson et al. 2018; Kleiber et al. 2019). While these are important steps, these actions alone are unlikely to generate the profound gender and social change needed to drive equitable outcomes. Further along this spectrum, yet far less evident in environmental and conservation practice, are approaches that seek to ‘empower’ individuals. Essentially, these approaches focus on strengthening agency through expanding strategic freedoms or life choices, ultimately enhancing individual ability to make and act on decisions. Given women tend to have relatively less agency than men (Kabeer 1999; Muñoz Boudet et al. 2013), there is a tendency for ‘empower’ approaches to primarily focus on women.
Gender transformative approaches (GTAs) are considered the frontier of gender best practice. GTAs seek to surface and rebalance unequal norms, power relations and structures toward those that are considered gender equal (expanded in Section 2) (Wong et al. 2019; McDougall et al. 2020). They are distinct from approaches that only seek to address the symptoms of gender inequality (i.e., ‘reach’, ‘benefit’ or ‘empower’ approaches). GTAs are more ambitious and are designed to tackle the root causes of inequality (McDougall et al. 2020) and thus realize more transformative and longlasting progress towards gender equality across a range of scales. While the use of GTAs is emerging in environmental sectors, and specifically in food systems discourse, to date, there has been little guidance for their application in coral reef social-ecological systems.
A recent literature review (Lau & Ruano-Chamorro 2021) found that although attention to gender and fisheries, and marine environments is increasing (Harper et al. 2013, 2020; Gopal et al. 2014; Kleiber 2014; Frangoudes & Gerrard 2018; Frangoudes et al. 2019), studies of gender are more nascent in tropical seascapes (de la Torre-Castro et al. 2017; de la Torre-Castro 2019), and gender transformative approaches are rarely applied. There is thus considerable scope to enhance gender equality outcomes by elucidating what applying a GTA entails in this context.
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This report was written by Andrew Hattle with contributions by Christopher Roy and Hans Peter Dejgaard of INKA Consult and by John Nordbo and
Bart Weijs of CARE.
The study was commissioned by CARE Denmark and CARE Netherlands, under the guidance of John Nordbo, Bart Weijs, Obed Koringo and Camilla
Schramek. Sven Harmeling and Inge Vianen provided input.
The views expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of CARE International.
The research and analysis used to produce this report are based on six national reports published by civil-society organisations partnered with
CARE in Ethiopia, Ghana, Nepal, the Philippines, Vietnam and Uganda. Sincere thanks to the following researchers and contributors: Sileshi Zewdie
(CARE), Neima Aliyi (CARE), Yonas Gebru (CCC-E), Yoseph Arega (CCC-E), Meskir Tesfaye (CCC-E), Alazar Daka (CCC-E), Abdul-Razak Saeed (Destreza
Consult), Elvis Oppong-Mensah (Civic Response), Jonathan Gokah (KASA Ghana), Vincent Awotwe-Pratt (Biodiversity Advocates), Chibeze Ezekiel
(Strategic Youth Network for Development), Godlove Otoo (Institute of Green Growth Solutions), Fati Seidu Tambro (SUNG Foundation), Albert
Katako (Civic Response), Raju Pandit Chhetri (Prakriti Resources Centre), Sneha Rai (Prakriti Resources Centre), Binay Dhital (Prakriti Resources
Centre), Athena Denise Gepte (ACCORD), Kairos de la Cruz (ICSC), Aarjan Dixit (CARE), Elainne Lopez, Danica Supnet (ICSC), Janssen Martinez (ICSC),
Isabella Mendoza (ICSC), Angelika David (ICSC), Nguyen Thi Yen (CARE), Vu Minh Hai (CARE), Vu Cong Lan (SRD), Nguyen Thi Tho (SRD), Thuan
Sarzynski (SRD), Robert Bakiika (EMLI), Christine Mbatuusa (EMLI), Jaliah Namubiru (EMLI), Zerubabeeli Naturinda (Consultant), Joshua Zake
(Environmental Alert), Gaster Kiyingi (Tree Talk Plus), Margaret Barihaihi (Consultant), Monica Anguparu (CARE), Annet Kandole (CARE), Robert
Otim (CARE), Emmanuel Musa Kyeyune (EMLI).
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Research Background
In the Bangsamoro region of the Philippines, FGM/C is commonly called ‘pag sunnat’ (‘sunnat’ refers to the traditions and practices of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, that constitute a model for Muslims to follow) or ‘pag Islam,’ connoting that the practice is deeply connected to the Islamic faith. In Moro (Muslim) communities in the region, the procedure is typically performed on females between 3-4 years old or before their first menstruation (menarche).
It is usually initiated by an elderly, female TBA or ‘panday’. In other areas, she may be a ‘pakil’, a respected woman who cleanses Muslim women’s bodies before the final burial takes place and recites Qur’anic verses during the rituals.
The World Health Organization estimates that worldwide, 200 million women and girls have been subjected to FGM/C, and each year, an additional 3 million girls are at risk.4 FGM/C has no health benefits, and may even result in serious immediate and long term harm. Adverse effects on women and girls’ health include, but are not limited to: pain, hemorrhage, infection (including HIV spread through using the same instruments in multiple FGM/C operations), sepsis, shock, urinary and menstrual problems, sexual dysfunction, psychological trauma and even death. Reproductive health complications include a heightened risk of obstructed labour causing obstetric fistula or postpartum hemorrhage, both of which are major contributors to maternal mortality.
There are four types of FGM/C:
The most common form practiced in Bangsamoro is Type 4.
In general, there is very little research that explores the issue of FGM/Cs and its impacts on the well-being of girls and women in the Philippines. There is a dearth of information, experiential accounts, and ultimately, formal research on FGM/C in this particular geographic area and community. FGM/C is not well known nor widely acknowledged in the Philippines, and learning more about the practice (and its relation to traditional religious beliefs) is critical in understanding the beliefs associated with it. A 2009 study found that women are only considered to be truly “Islamic” or a Muslim when they are ‘circumcised’ or cut. However, research by Islamic scholars elsewhere challenges such connections to Islam and strongly condemns FGM/C in all forms. ch 8 A descriptive study on the Yakan, an ethnolinguistic group settled in the province of Basilan (in Bangsamoro), focused on the procedural aspects of FGM/C.
This study is an exploratory action research on the controversial practice of female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) in the Philippines in the predominantly Muslim, Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Mindanao. Despite limited research on the practice and a lack of awareness among international and national stakeholders on the occurrence of FGM in the Philippines, the study confirmed that the practice is still widespread in Bangsamoro. Alternative, non-harmful practices are gradually replacing FGM in a few areas, as driven by local leadership.
Methodology
Exploratory action research is a participatory form of qualitative research that engages communities to devise solutions to challenges they identify. The study used focus group discussions (FGDs) and key informant interviews (KIIs) to surface the perspectives and experiences of girls, traditional birth attendants (TBAs), Moro Muslim religious leaders (MRLs), traditional and local leaders, health workers, and social workers. A total of 458 individuals (413 females and 45 males) from three municipalities of five Bangsamoro provinces participated in the study. These provinces were: Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao, Basilan, Sulu, and Tawi-Tawi; with a municipality in the province of Sarangani as a pilot study. The study was conducted from March to November 2020. The Research Team applied thematic and content analyses to the participants’ responses.
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Despite the wealth of data about disasters in Metro Manila, no dedicated study has holistically examined the risks associated with the Malabon-Navotas-Tullahan-Tinajeros river system (MANATUTI), especially in an urban landscape perspective. A pilot risk assessment of the river system was conducted using the integrated risk management, landscape, and urban resilience 190 approaches. Document analyses, key informant interviews, focus group discussions, and field visits were done to identify and analyze the hazards that pose threats to the communities along MANATUTI, especially the urban poor, and how vulnerabilities aggravate and capacities mitigate these risks, especially in the socio-economic, environmental, infrastructural, institutional, and governance aspects of the river system. Communities in the river system face severe risk to compound hazards such as flooding exacerbated by ground subsidence, sea-level rise, and storm surge, fire and liquefaction resulting from earthquake, and public health outbreaks made favorable by increasing temperature, environmental pollution, and congestion, among others. These are worsened by extreme poverty and the powerlessness of the greater population and the highly fragmented urban planning and risk management efforts in the landscape. Nevertheless, the inclination of the communities toward collaboration and transformation, alongside expansive rooms for improved governance, are important capacities that may enhance their resilience to disaster. A formal, well-supported, landscape-wide, inter-community governing institution that practices equitable distribution of responsibilities and resources is deemed essential to realize a comprehensive and effective disaster risk reduction and management in the river system in the face of rapidly changing climate and environment.
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Thesis Report by: Lieke Brackel
ABSTRACT
Inhabitants of Metro Manila are confronted with challenges such as the overall congestion of the fast-growing city, ecological degradation, and aggravated exposure to natural hazards due to climate change. Stakeholders present in- and around Manila Bay have different interests and perspectives on how the coastline should develop, resulting in fierce competition.
This research focusses on two groups of stakeholders in particular: the urban poor and small-scale fisherfolk living along the waterways in Navotas. They express environmental justice concerns about decreased access to the bay and space for social housing (distribution), persistence of negative stigma and disregard for resource-based livelihoods (recognition), lacking representation, consultation, and information provision (participation), and the overall degradation of the Manila Bay ecosystem (ecological integrity). Most importantly, they experience distress as they are uncertain how their livelihoods and homes are influenced by development projects requiring land reclamations, construction of the dyke, and/or relocations.
The Manila Bay Sustainable Development Masterplan (MBSDMP) is initiated- and partly funded by the Dutch government. This consultancy project aims to advise decision-makers within the Philippine government to steer the development of Manila Bay into a more ‘sustainable’ and‘inclusive’ direction. The expectation has been raised, that the MBSDMP would be conducted in a ‘participatory’ manner, referring to the Dutch Delta Approach. Explicitly also including the small-scale fisherfolk and urban poor. And for that local view, you have to zoom in.
However, choosing to plan for the scale of ‘Manila Bay’ can (unintentionally) influence the rules of the game and/or be used as an active instrument to win that game. In line with political ecology, this thesis uses the theoretical frame of scalar politics to explore what the MBSDMP case-study could reveal about the main research question: ‘How does high-level, ecological delineated, and long-term planning relate to locally expressed environmental justice concerns?’
This qualitative explorative research project attempted to connect the local barangay level in Navotas with the high-level MBDSMP planning process: zooming in and out. Findings are based on a three-month fieldwork period in the Philippines including ethnographic observations of key events, document analysis, and 37 interviews. By literally jumping between these layers of governance, tensions and diverging expectations were encountered about the role of participation in- and the objectives and scope of the MBSDMP.
Moreover, this thesis describes how strategic master planning risks aggravating- instead of addressing environmental justice concerns as expressed by small-scale fisherfolk and urban poor. Issues most important to these groups can become sidelined by the choice for the bay-wide scale of governance. On the other hand, actors can try to use the created invited spaces of participation in the MBSDMP to bring back the human-perspective in strategic master planning. This is especially relevant considering the centralizing and militaristic trends in the Philippine planning context. Still, the high-level, ecologically delineated, and long-term orientation of the planning exercise does pose challenges for the practical organization of participation. Hence, it depends on the theory of change assumptions of actors involved whether (and if so, how) they believe the MBSDMP could be a useful instrument to address environmental injustices. This thesis does not draw final conclusions about the particular case of the MBSDMP, as the planning process was highly dynamic and still evolving when the fieldwork period ended. Yet, the dilemma’s described can inform and support general reflection by scientists and practitioners on the politics of choosing ecological boundaries as scale of governance, also in other strategic master planning processes. This thesis emphasizes the need to not only zoom out, but also zoom in.
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Excerpt: Introduction
Climate change is increasing the risk of extreme events and disasters.1 While disaster risk reduction (DRR) offers an important opportunity to adapt to current climate variability, in order to be successful, DRR efforts must also take into account changing climate‐related risks in the medium to long term. Many national climate change adaptation plans consider the need to plan over various timescales and acknowledge the essential role of local communities2 in addressing these changing risks. The Minimum Standards for climate‐smart disaster risk reduction were created to serve as an essential bridge between national climate policy and local capacities for DRR. The standards are not idealized solutions, but rather practical approaches to implementing climate‐smart DRR activities in a way that is achievable by many communities with relatively limited external support.
The Minimum Standards are presented in two tables: The first table outlines standards meant to guide local leaders, oftentimes selected by their community (e.g. Red Cross local disaster preparedness volunteers), to inform and facilitate resilience building across the wider community. The second table focuses on the role of national and provincial civil society organizations (CSOs) in providing supplemental guidance for improving the flow of information between various types of scientific ‘knowledge centres’ and vulnerable communities, to enable implementation of climate‐smart DRR. For local actors and their counterparts in CSOs, the Minimum Standards are intended as a practical tool, allowing them to integrate changing climate risks into their efforts to support communities reduce risk to extreme events and disasters. When the Minimum Standards are met, local DRR actions can be considered to be climate-smart and contribute to climate change adaptation. This lends importance to the Minimum Standards for national actors as well, who may use the standards to guide integration of community‐level action on DRR into national adaptation and climate risk management strategies. National strategies that consider these standards will be able to go to scale, knowing that they are realistic and achievable. Overall, these standards provide assurance that DRR goes beyond business as usual and truly addresses changing climate‐related risks.
The minimum standards are based on ample local experience and consultation, including lessons learned during the first years of the Partners for Resilience program, the largest program of its kind focusing on local‐level climate‐smart DRR. The Minimum Standards are a living document that should continue to be
discussed, tested, revised and validated through local‐level activities around the world.
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This study was commissioned to analyse development programs in an urban context in order to identify key principles for future programs on urban resilience building. The study focused on the experiences of development practitioners working in an urban context. The methods of analysis included a context analysis and program analysis to identify urban context characteristics, good practices and lessons learned from experiences of practitioners who work within the CARE International foundation. Furthermore, this study contains a SWOT analysis on the Integrated Risk Management (IRM) programs in the Philippines to identify which characteristics of the IRM approach contributes to urban resilience. Lastly, a comparison was made between the general experiences of development practitioners working in an urban context and the SWOT outcomes. Which was used to develop a set of key principles, providing a way for development programs to increase resilience in an urban context, especially for the urban poor. 
The study highlights the impact of the high population density of urban areas. These populated areas consist of highly diverse communities, who have very diverse livelihood strategies, needs and vulnerabilities. Land shortage is a common problem in urban areas, and many practitioner indicated that as a result, they faced challenges with resilience building due to land right, trust and power relations issues. Furthermore, operating in an urban area can be challenging due to the variety of actors and interests, integrated urban systems and dynamics and the multi-faceted risks. Another characteristic of poor communities in urban areas is that they are ‘time poor’ because they have to find new sources of livelihood on a daily basis. This makes it difficult to involve urban poor people in resilience trainings and workshops.
However, it was found that the urban context provides many opportunities for resilience building, if the right practices are used by development organisations. As a result of the analysed good practices, lessons learned, strengths and weaknesses from the experience of practitioners, the following key principles were identified and recommended for future development programs on urban resilience:
• Be flexible
• Support local ideas and use local systems
• Identify and empower champions within each stakeholder group
• Develop a holistic approach
• Promote collaboration
• Involve the private sector
• Organise the community
• Create platforms for dialogue
• Invest time in an extensive context analysis
Furthermore, the IRM approach, which was developed for and until now mostly used in rural areas, has proven to have a positive contribution in urban resilience building because it integrates disciplines, focuses on both short term risks and long term change, recognizes multiple scales and invests in an extensive context analysis. However, there are still some concerns about how to define the urban ecosystem and integrate all the facets of the IRM approach in short term programs. Lastly, the researcher recommends that non-government organisations develop an overall strategy on how they want to and can contribute to urban resilience. This strategy should be specific on which facets of urban resilience it focuses on as well as embracing the expertise of the organisation. The ‘five Ws of urban resilience’ can be a useful tool to develop a strategy in such a way.
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The global pandemic coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has affected millions worldwide. Presently in the Philippines, there are more than 250,000 cases, with more than 58,000 active cases, and 4,000 dead. The government responded to the crisis using public health measures including travel restrictions, strict community quarantine protocols, work suspension, and promotion of proper hygiene and a strong immune system.
Metro Manila is the center of COVID-19 crisis in the Philippines. At least 54% of the total number of cases in the country is found in Metro Manila. The protracted quarantine measures resulted in severe consequences for urban poor communities. This includes economic displacement particularly for daily wage earners and workers in the informal sector, limited access to basic services, and issues with safety and security. Restrictions were also met with difficulties as urban settlements are often densely packed, overcrowded, and often lacking basic facilities, thereby increasing the risk to spread infection.
The COVID-19 Philippines Inter-Agency Rapid GenderAssessment (RGA), of which the NCR RGA is a part, was conducted to document stories of women, men, and other vulnerable sectors from urban poor communities in Metro Manila. It is a collaborative study aimed at identifying the different needs, risks, capacities, and coping strategies of women, men, girls, and boys in the COVID-19 crisis. The research design was developed by GBV Sub-cluster member agencies UNFPA, Plan, CARE, and Oxfam.
The NCR Rapid Gender Analysis was conducted from 15 April- 27 May 2020 in six cities in Metro Manila. A total of 145 participants from multiple sectors form part of the study. Semi-structured phone interviews were used as the primary data collection method to ensure the safety of both partner organizations and participants.
The NCR RGA is structured to surface stories according to eight (8) key areas of inquiry: 1) Gender Roles and Responsibilities, 2) Access to Basic Services, 3) Impact of Interventions, 4) Access to Information and Technology, 5) Coping Strategies and Capacities, 6) Addressing Social Stigma, 7) Protection and SRHR Issues, and 8) Leadership and Participation. The NCR RGA is an inter-agency initiative coordinated by CARE, with participating INGOs Oxfam Pilipinas, Plan International, Asmae; local organizations ACCORD Inc., ChildHope, Kanlungan sa Er-ma Ministry Inc.; and individual volunteers from DFAT.
View and download the full Rapid Gender Analysis Report here.