Ecosystem Management & Restoration

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.

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.

Early Warning Systems (EWS) equipment were officially turned over to the community members and barangay officials of Natonin and Barlig, Mt. Province last September 8 and 9, 2021.

EWS equipment includes basic emergency and first aid equipment such as generators, spine boards with strap, two-way radios, amplifiers, public awareness devices, bells, rope, sets of BP apparatus, first aid kits, among others. All of which were identified by community members who were actively engaged in community risk assessments and contingency planning workshops conducted as part of the INCREASE: Increasing the Resilience to Natural Hazards project. Along with the equipment, household-level flyers about the specific hazards in their community and the evacuation plan, and EWS signage containing warning signals and actions for community members were also handed over during the turnover ceremony.

In Barlig, barangay officials and representatives from INCREASE covered barangays, Kaleo, Chupac, Lunas, and Ogo-og, and Indigenous Peoples Mandatory Representative were present during the turn-over ceremony. Female household heads who were the main participants of the Resilient Livelihood activities of INCREASE, also attended the ceremony and offered a song of appreciation to CARE Philippines and Cordillera Disaster Response and Development Services representatives. In Natonin, the Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction Management (DRRM) Officer along with Barangay Balangao and Alonugan officials and female household heads received the equipment and IEC materials.

People-Centered EWS

EWS is an adaptive measure for climate change, using integrated communication systems to help communities prepare for hazardous climate-related events. This means that through EWS, community members receive relevant and timely information in a systematic way prior to a disaster in order to make informed decisions and take action. A successful EWS can save lives and livelihood. To be effective, EWS needs to actively involve the communities at risk, facilitate public education and awareness of risks, effectively disseminate messages and warnings and ensure there is a constant state of preparedness.

During INCREASE workshops, risk information and the necessary equipment to relay warning signals were identified. This information was identified by the community members and barangay officials and was documented and translated into IEC materials to make sure that warnings are understandable by all members of the community.

The Need for EWS Equipment

Typhoon Rosita hit our area, we thought it was the end. The experience awakened our community. We exhausted every means to prepare for the next disaster. Thanks to INCREASE Project, we were able to identify early warning devices needed in our area to better respond to natural hazards,” shared Brgy. Balangao Chairperson Conrado Limangan, upon receiving the EWS equipment.

Recalling the worst typhoon in their memory, community members mentioned that since they had no equipment back then, members of the Barangay DRRM Council would only be shouting to instruct community members to evacuate their homes. Power and communication lines were interrupted then, hence they identified a generator as one of the main EWS equipment needed in their area. Natonin Municipal DRRM Officer Soledad Nasudman recognizes this and shared, “Thank you for bringing the project nearer to us. Even if the BDRRMC officials are capacitated, if equipment is not available, response and preparedness would not be as effective.”

nowledge that they need to find a funding source for the purchase and installment of EWS. Barangay Chupac Chairperson, Benedicto Nabunat shared, “We express our deepest appreciation to the INCREASE team for the equipment because we know that our barangay’s budget can’t afford to provide these. We are thankful because it’s rare that a project reaches an isolated area like ours.” In addition to these equipment, risk maps plotting the community facilities, houses, forests, and farmlands, their level of susceptibility to several hazards that can affect them will be put up. To test the early actions and preparedness capacities of the officials and community members, a drill will also be conducted as part of the INCREASE Project.

Natonin and Barlig are both prone to typhoons and landslides. During their community risk assessments and contingency planning workshops, community members shared that they experience at least 3 to 4 typhoons in a year. One barangay was also named as the “Home of Rain” since rain is nonstop in the area for almost the whole year. While community members recognize the need for EWS equipment and IEC materials, they also ack

INCREASE aims to increase the resilience of 45,000 women and men small-scale farmers and fishers, including 720 extremely poor female-headed households, to natural hazards and the effects of climate change. It is present in 4 provinces, 8 municipalities, and 33 barangays. CARE Philippines and CorDis RDS lead its implementation in Mt. Province.

Women and men farmers in INCREASE areas were capacitated to build communal and household-level resilient livelihoods. Among these livelihoods is swine production. This manual was created in particular, as a supplementary to the training sessions held in the communities to further boost the knowledge, skills, and attitude of the participants in organic agriculture production in accordance with the industry standards. The manual contains useful tips in the designing of pigpens, preparation of organic feeds, fermentation of feeds, beddings, and silage for raising organic hogs.

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INCREASE or “Philippines – Increasing Resilience to Natural Hazards” aims to increase the resilience of 45,00 women and men small scale farmers and fishers, including 720 extremely poor female-headed households, to natural hazards and the effect of climate change. The project will run from 2019-2021 in different parts of the Philippines, namely 36 barangays across 8 municipalities in the provinces of Cagayan, Mt. Province, Northern Samar, and Surigao del Sur. Its project components and activities include early warning systems, alternative livelihood, and climate and disaster governance.

In celebration of #WorldHumanitarianDay (WHD) last August 19th, the INCREASE project held another virtual iteration of the Cross-Learning Platform for Resilience-Building (CLPRB) today. This is the second overall CLPRB, following the first session on remote tabletop exercises last June.

This session focused on the capacity-building of INCREASE partners and relevant municipal local government staff in navigating the Local Climate Change Action Plan or LCCAP and its updating. By the end of the event, participants shared how their learnings and reflections include the importance of advocacy and CDRA, the process of the LCCAP, and that tools and templates are available for utilization.

This was followed by a Partner-Level Learning Exchange on Incorporating DRR and CCA in Sustainable Livelihoods provided an opportunity for INCREASE partners to share updates, best practices, challenges, and lessons learned from their respective approaches in implementing sustainable livelihood initiatives. You may view the presentation deck used during the partner-level learning session by clicking here.

This year’s WHD is focused on highlighting and emphasizing the urgency and gravity of the climate crisis. Many organizations and projects, including RILHUB and its partners, echo the call for commitment to climate adaptation and mitigation in line with keeping the global warming threshold at 1.5 °C. In addition to this call, INCREASE and RILHUB aim to continue providing avenues for cross-learning and capacity building on disaster risk reduction, climate change adaptation, and ecosystem management and restoration.

CLPRB is the manifestation of the project’s commitment to holding four (4) learning exchanges engaging local implementing partners and partner communities across provinces to share DRR-CCA and/or IRM good practices, ideas for sustainability and upscaling, innovations, and evidence from which these are based. Similarly, the project has also committed to producing four (4) research briefs or communication materials, or case stories, from DRR-CCA / IRM good practices and innovations that have been documented; these are to be published and disseminated through RILHUB.

#TheHumanRace #WHD2021

The Natural Farming System Guidebook promotes reducing dependence on off-form inputs to women and men farmers in INCREASE areas. It offers practical guide to make bio-organic inputs that have much potential in terms of food production and environmental conservation. Moreover, food security is increased and additional incomes are generated.

INCREASE recognizes the key role that local communities play in preparing for disastrous events. Hence, it conducts community-based disaster risk management (CBDRM) training sessions to reduce vulnerabilities and strengthen people’s capacity to cope with hazards. As a supplementary material, this tarpaulin was created to remind local communities of the features of CBDRM.

INCREASE or “Philippines – Increasing Resilience to Natural Hazards” aims to aims to increase the resilience of 45,00 women and men small scale farmers and fishers, including 720 extremely poor female-headed households, to natural hazards and the effect of climate change. The project will run from 2019-2021 in different parts of the Philippines, namely 36 barangays across 8 municipalities in the provinces of Cagayan, Mt. Province, Northern Samar, and Surigao del Sur. Its project components and activities include early warning systems, alternative livelihood, and climate and disaster governance.

INCREASE conducts contingency planning workshops along with local actors and vulnerable sectors to enable timely, effective, and appropriate response in the event of a disaster. The characteristics of a good contingency plan were summarized in this IEC material so community members and leaders can recall the concepts and apply them accordingly.

The Moving Urban Poor Communities in Mindanao towards Resilience Project (MOVE UP-Mindanao) is an urban resilience project aimed at contributing to the resilience building of urban poor populations to withstand and manage the impact of disasters. It seeks to strengthen the urban disaster preparedness, response, and management capacity of the national, sub-national, and local government units (LGUs) and other stakeholders through the adaption and replication of tested urban resilience strategies.

In partnership with the Department of the Interior and Local Government-Local Government Academy (DILG-LGA), the project intends to share its lessons learned, good practices, and innovations gathered and tested from its experience working with urban poor communities, municipalities, and provinces to contribute to the large-scale resilience-building effort.

MOVE UP Mindanao is implemented by a consortium of international non-government organizations which includes Plan International Philippines, Action Against Hunger, and CARE Philippines with its local partner ACCORD Inc. Funded by the European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (ECHO), the project is currently being implemented in nine (9) local government units (LGUs) in Mindanao.

The Resilience Knowledge Exchange Series (RKES) Session covering this topic was held on May 27, 2021 which aimed to :

This presentation on Mainstreaming Integrated Risk Management in the Local Government Units’ Planning System was created and presented by Ms. Sindhy Obias, Executive Director, ACCORD, Inc.

The Resilience Knowledge Exchange Series (RKES) Session covering this topic was held on May 27, 2021 which aimed to :

Invited offices from the Malabon LGU (City Planning and Development Department, Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office, and City Environmental and Natural Resources Office) presented their institutional mandates and their engagement with CARE’s and ACCORD’s projects in the past. They also described their practice in mainstreaming DRR and CCA in their local plans before working with CARE and ACCORD. Furthermore, these offices shared Integrated Risk Management (IRM) value in their local plans and planning processes.

These presentations on Mainstreaming Integrated Risk Management in the Local Government Units’ Planning System in the context of Malabon City were created and presented by Ms. Ma. Lina Punzalan, Mr. Roderick Tongol, Ms. Elizabeth Gutierrez, and Ms. Mariedel Barbin, respectively.

To access a soft copy of the presentation from Brgy. Potrero, please click here.