Our Palawan

OUR PALAWAN

The Scientific Journal of the Palawan Council for Sustainable Development Volume 1 Issue 1

June 2015

Editorial Board

Nelson P. Devanadera Executive Director

Lualhati E. Tabugon Director II, ECAN Planning, Policy and Knowledge Management

Josephine S. Matulac Director II, ECAN Operations

Technical Editors

Madrono P. Cabrestante Jr. Head, ECAN Knowledge Management

Marianne Faith G. Martinico-Perez Research Analyst, ECAN Knowledge Management

Alex S. Marcaida Head, ECAN Education and Information

Editorial Staff

Celso S. Quiling Rachel Ann J. Cariño Amelyn E. Dramayo

ISSN: 2423-222X ©Palawan Council for Sustainable Development

PCSD Building, Sports Complex Road, Sta. Monica Heights Puerto Princesa City, Palawan, 5300, Philippines

The Long Beach,San Vicente,Palawan. © Jenevieve Hara

OUR PALAWAN

The Scientific Journal of the Palawan Council for Sustainable Development Volume 1 Issue 1

June 2015

External Reviewers

Dr. Allaine T. Baaco Western Philippines University

Dr. Roger G. Dolorosa Western Philippines University

Dr. Benjamin J. Gonzales Western Philippines University

Dr. Cherry Myo Lwin Ritsumeikan University, Japan

Dr. Patrick A. Regoniel Palawan State University

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PCSD Chairman’s Message Editor’s Note About the Journal

Research and Analysis

1 Development of Indicators for Economy-Wide Material Flow Accounts (EW-MFA)in the Province of Palawan, PhilippinesMarianne Faith G. Martinico-Perez and Hiroki Tanikawa

13 Roxas Pride Campaign: Environmental and Social Marketing Strategy TowardsBehavioral Change for Sustainable Fisheries at Caramay Marine Protected Area (MPA) and Adjacent MPAs in Roxas, Palawan Ma. Christina Dalusung-Rodriguez

23 Collection and Trade Dynamics of Edible Nest Swiftlet (Aerodramus fuciphagus Thunberg, 1812) Nests in Northern Palawan, Philippines Glenda M. Cadigal

Forum and Conference Papers

37 Enhancing the Environmental Monitoring and Evaluation System of Palawan Biosphere Reserve, Philippines Madrono P. Cabrestante, Jr.

49 The Role of UNESCO’s Man and Biosphere Reserve in Climate Change Adaptation: Experience from Palawan Biosphere Reserve in the Philippines Ryan T. Fuentes, John Francisco A. Pontillas and Michael D. Pido

Research Bits

61 Research Presentations on the 1st Palawan Research and Policy Symposium 2013

64 Zero Carbon Resorts for Sustainable Tourism

65 Developing Sustainable Alternative in Coastal Fishing Communities in the Coral Triangle: Indonesia and Philippines

66 Capturing Coral Reef and Related Ecosystem Services (CCRES) Project

68 Philippine Wealth Accounting and Valuation of Ecosystem Services (Phil-WAVES) - Development of Ecosystem Accounts for Southern Palawan Pilot Area

About the Authors

Photo courtesy of Roxas PRIDE Campaign

PCSD CHAIRMAN’S MESSAGE

The future takes root at the crossroads of classic research and new technology, and I wish

that by the soonest time, Palawan will be ready. In this challenging world, where dependence on

environmental goods and services and consumption patterns are getting too demanding, leading to a

wide and faster change of the biological landscape, the situation is truly getting precarious. In

biodiversity, every species count; in a community, every individual matter; thus, judicious

decision is necessary. This is where I get my assurance, a decision that is anchored on scientific

reference. It leads to a rationalized decision that in most cases, leads to fruition.

With an optimistic purview, I congratulate the PCSD Staff and its partners in realizing this

publication, Our Palawan. Chronicling highlights to this journal supplement to the Palawan

Knowledge Platform, a huge push is being provided towards preparing Palawan to be ready with

the inevitable complexities ahead. As our national hero, Dr. Jose P. Rizal would note “Pen is

mightier than the sword”, this maybe one of the best legacies we can offer to students, planners,

policy makers and other stakeholders as we continuously face the challenge of development in the

midst of our effort to protect our environment pursuant to the goals of the SEP Law. It becomes

Palawan’s harbor and library of researches which is open to anyone at a snap of a finger.

Accessible and reliable information about Palawan’s biodiversity and environment will make

Palawan relevant to the world. And this is a dream come true.

Information is nothing when no one uses it. So I encourage everyone: the academe,

students, decision-makers, managers, businessmen, institutional partners and all to read and

contribute to this journal and visit its online version. Help us improve and make it even

substantial. Let’s access, share and use the same towards empowering and making the lives of our

people better.

We will continue to strengthen Palawan and its institutions; to record and take stock with

knowledge, to value its science and to provide benefits to its custodians and stewards in the future.

Congratulations!

JOSE Ch. ALVAREZ

Chairman, PCSD and

Governor, Province of Palawan

Information: Accessible, Reliable and Empowering

Information is power, and I believe so.

EDITORIAL

To create the necessary environmental, socio-cultural, economic and institutional

conditions towards the establishment of green economy in the province of Palawan, the Palawan

Council for Sustainable Development Staff (PCSDS) has formulated a specialized action plan for

the province of Palawan called the Palawan Sustainable Development Strategy and Action Plan

(PSDSAP). The PSDSAP contains menu of actions formulated in the context of poverty reduction

and biodiversity conservation. It covers ECAN-based actions in each strategic/core themes that

focuses on ten (10) major thematic areas within the ecological, economic and socio-cultural and

institutional infrastructures, namely, biological diversity; forest and watershed; coastal and marine

resources; food security; tourism; physical infrastructure; indigenous people; sustainable

development training, education, research, and monitoring; social development services; and

sustainable financing and partnership.

To address the need for scientific data and latest information carried out in these thematic

areas and other related issues, the Our Palawan was envisioned to become a flagship publication

that will feature not only full and brief research reports, but also opinion articles, conference papers,

notes and letters to editors that would serve as guide to the planners, policy makers, and general

public towards informed and researched-based decision making. This journal also serves as a

venue to publish and popularize the shared information and researches through the Palawan

Knowledge Platform for Biodiversity and Sustainable Development.

In behalf of the editorial board, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the external

reviewers and authors who shared their expertise towards the realization of this first and

pioneering issue of the PCSD Scientific Journal – Our Palawan. This issue contains substantial

and relevant research information on the environment and natural resources, and on the three (3)

thematic areas of PSDSAP such as biological diversity, coastal and marine resources and SD

training, education, research, and monitoring. We invite all the researchers from other government

agencies, private organizations and academe to share their research endeavors in the province of

Palawan through this medium.

NELSON P. DEVANADERA

Executive Director

ABOUT THE JOURNAL

The Our Palawan is an open access journal. It is made freely available for researchers, students, and other readers from private and government sectors that are interested in the sustainable management, protection, conservation and sustainable development of the province of Palawan. It is accessible online through the PCSD and PKP websites. Hard copies are also available in the PCSD Library and are distributed to the partner agencies, organizations, and academic institutions. The authors and readers can read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of published articles. The Our Palawan has two (2) major sections:

Research and Analysis. This section features articles that report findings from primary

research, from highly analytic to more policy-oriented subjects in the field of socio-economic and environment of the province of Palawan. Articles featured in this section were subjected to a double-blind peer review. The review process has basically three stages: (1) primary checking (the Editors make sure that the manuscript complies with the Author’s Guidelines); (2) review by the external reviewers involving an assessment of its suitability for publication (compatibility with Our Palawan’s aims and scopes, evidence of research, sufficiency of references to the international literature, and scientific soundness); and (3) proofreading and checking whether the article is written in compliance with the Author’s and Publishers Guidelines.

Forum/Conference Paper. This section features papers related to the review of policies of

strategic implications for the province of Palawan and unpublished full papers of presentations in local and international conferences. The Our Palawan also accepts and features brief description of the on-going researches in the Research Bits section. These include foreign-funded researches being undertaken by PCSDS, local government units, and/or its partners in the Palawan Knowledge Platform (www.pkp.pcsd.gov.ph) as the implementing partners in the province. Submission of Manuscript. Submission of manuscr ipts for the next issue is now open. Manuscripts should comply with the Author’s Guidelines which could be obtained by e-mail from editors at [email protected] or visit us at ECAN Knowledge Management Division, PCSD Building, Sports Complex Road, Sta. Monica Puerto Princesa City, Palawan. Copyright. The ar ticles for publications should not violate the other author ’s rights and copyright, fully or partially, through plagiarism (including self-plagiarism) or inclusion of elements (such as figures and photos) that do not belong to the author and for which no written consent to use is given by the owner. The author ensures that the paper has not been published or submitted for publication to any other journal and that the research described in the paper is original. The author also assumes full responsibility for the contents, correctness and originality of the paper.

Butterfly

(Papilio karna irauana).

This very beautiful butterfly

only lives in northern Palawan.

(©Jonah van Beijnen)

http://www.pkp.pcsd.gov.ph

©2015 Palawan Council for Sustainable Development 1

Our Palawan The Scientific Journal of the Palawan Council for Sustainable Development

Research and Analysis: Sustainable Development Research/Natural Resources

Available on-line at www.pkp.pcsd.gov.ph

Abstract

This study presents the first attempt to utilize the method of Economy-Wide Material Flow Analysis (EW-MFA) to examine the physical dimension and trends of resource extraction, consumption and material flow from 2000 to 2012 in an island province of Palawan, Philippines.Disaggregate presentation of EW-MFA indicators in terms of material categories such as fossil fuel, biomass, ore and industrial minerals, and construction minerals attempts to elucidate the resource utilization and management in the province. Results show that the domestic environment of Palawan provides 88% of the domestic material input (DMI) but only 45% of these are consumed by thedomestic socio-economic system while 55% are exported in terms of biomass, fossil fuels and metal ores to othersocio-economic systems in the Philippines as well as to other countries. Also, there is a shift in domestic material consumption (DMC) in Palawan from renewable materials as biomass (73% in 2000) to nonrenewable materials such as construction minerals (53% in 2012). In line with the Commission on Sustainable Development’s revisedindicators of sustainable development on the material consumption and production patterns theme, the results of this study are intended to assist in the evaluation of resource management policies in the province and topromote efficiency in the utilization of raw materials to lessen the adverse environmental threats due to the primary extraction, processing and utilization of natural resources.

Development of Indicators for Economy-Wide Material Flow Accounts

(EW-MFA) in the Province of Palawan, Philippines

Marianne Faith G. Martinico-Perez1* and Hiroki Tanikawa2

Keywords:

domestic extraction material flow material consumption

economy−wide material flow analysis Palawan

M. F. Martinico-Perez and H. Tanikawa/ Our Palawan 1 (1):1-12

1Project Development Officer/ECAN Policy, Monitoring and Knowledge Management, PCSDS 2Graduate School of Environmental Studies, Nagoya University, Japan

*Address correspondence to: PCSD Building, Sports Complex Road, Sta. Monica Heights, Puerto Princesa City,

Palawan, P.O. Box 45, PPC 5300 Palawan, Philippines. Email: [email protected]

2 © 2015 Palawan Council for Sustainable Development

1. INTRODUCTION

Raw materials are continuously beingtaken from the natural environment to support the growing needs of the society. The uneven distribution and the finite supply of the natural resources are among the important limiting factors in the natural resource extraction and consumption. The rate of resource consumption has been rapidly increasing, with the industrialized and developed countries consuming greater amount of resources than the developing counterparts and more so if the developing countries, in the course of economic growth, would follow the trends of resource consumption in these developed regions (Giljum, 2010). Along the stages of extraction, processing and utilization, by-products are generated from these materials in various forms of wastes. Inevitably, these processes, if not carried out properly have consequent environmental impacts (Kovanda and Hak, 2007).

Figure 1 shows the basic scope of the exchange of materials from the domestic environment to socio-economic system and to other economies via import and export of

materials. Accounting for the resource consumption of the economy is a first step in addressing resource-related environmental issues towards sustainable development. The Economy-wide Material Flow Accounting/Analysis (EW-MFA) is one of the useful tool to determine the metabolic performance of economies (Bringezu, 2003).

There are two important types of material flows across the system boundaries in EW-MFA; first is the material flows between the national economy and the natural environment, comprised by the extraction of primary materials from and the release of materials to the natural environment in the form of wastes and by-products; and the material flows between the national economy and rest of the world (ROW)-economy manifested in the imports and exports (Eurostat, 2009).

The EW-MFA has been standardized (Eurostat, 2001; 2009; 2012; 2013) following the pioneering studies of the material flows of industrialized countries (Adriaanse et al., 1997; Matthews et al., 2000). Thus,utilization of EW-MFA has been expanding in recent years for both developed countries

Exchang e w ith o ther econom ies Exchang e w ith environm ent

Inp ut Econom y Outp ut

M ateria ls d om estica lly extracted

Exp ort to o ther econom ies

M ateria l Accum ulation

A ir em issions, water, d isp osal, etc.

Inp u t f rom other econom ies

Figure 1. Scope of economy-wide material flow accounts (Adapted from Eurostat 2009)



(e.g. Krausmann et al., 2011; Gierlinger and Krausmann, 2012; Schandl and West, 2012) as well as for economies in different stages of development, such as Latin American countries (Giljum, 2004; West and Schandl, 2013) and countries of the former Soviet Union (West et al., 2014). In Asia, much focus is directed at China and India (Hubacek et al., 2007; Wang et al., 2012; Giljum et al., 2010; Singh et al., 2012) while less attention has been paid so far to developing countries, especially in South and South-East Asia. Schandl and West (2010) examined the material flows in this area at the level of regions. One of the few first attempts to utilize the EW-MFA framework in South and South-East Asian developing countries was done in the comparative study of economy-wide material flow accounts and the economic implications in Myanmar, Bangladesh, and the Philippines (Maung et al., 2014). Comparing the totals of all material inflows, it revealed that the increasing resource extraction and consumption trends are influenced by the resource management policies and development patterns of these three countries. Rapera (2005) also examined the relationship of material flows and poverty in the Philippines, showing a slight positive effect of biomass flows in poverty alleviation from 1981 to 2000.

The environmental issues intrinsic to the resource extraction and economic growth are experienced worldwide, but most of these issues are effectively dealt with locally. In this view, it is important to explore a more detailed material flow in the local economy or at the provincial level. The province of Palawan was chosen to be the subject of pilot studies in the Philippines because of its emergingenvironmental and economic importance as it is bestowed with the pristine beauty of nature and rich mineral resources. In 1994, the first attempt to determine at sub-regional disaggregation of the GDP was done in Palawan, and in 1998, Palawan served as the pilot area for the institutionalization of the Philippine Economic-Environmental and Natural Resources Accounting (PEENRA) System at the provincial level (PCSD, 2000).

Palawan stands as the country’s largest province with its 1.5 million hectares land area. It is situated in the southwest part of the Philippine islands chain. Palawan is an archipelago within an archipelago, composed of 1,768 islands. The main island is a narrow strip, about 625 km in length and 40 km at its widest. In 2005, the forest cover of Palawan

was estimated at 666,338 hectares or about 46% of the land area (excluding mangroves), while 13.4% or 194,066 hectares were agricultural lands, 0.7% or 10,080 hectares were built-up areas and 39.5% or 572,000 hectares were devoted to other uses (PCSD, 2010).

Palawan is also a biodiversity hotspot in the Philippines. The province was declared as “Game Refuge and Bird Sanctuary” since 1967, and a “Mangrove Reserve” since 1981. The UNESCO declared the whole province a Man and Biosphere Reserve in 1990. Two (2) out of the 7 World Heritage Sites (WHS) in the Philippines are located in Palawan. These are classified under the criteria of natural environment namely; the Tubbataha Reef Marine Park in 1993 and the Puerto Princesa Subterranean River National Park orUnderground River in 1999. The Underground River also received a distinction as one of the New Seven Wonders of Nature in 2012.

Aside from the Philippine development policies and environmental laws covering the entire province, there is a law enacted exclusively for the province of Palawan. The Republic Act No. 7611 or the Strategic Environmental Plan (SEP) for Palawan Act was adopted in June 1992 as the province’s framework for sustainable development. It aims to ensure the preservation of the remaining forest areas, coral reefs and other fragile ecosystems as well as to promote the wise utilization of its natural resources. The SEP provides the framework for sustainable development for the province of Palawan. To achieve a balance between development and conservation, all programs and projects in Palawan should be consistent with the goals and objectives of the SEP. Complementary policies on the natural resource protection and management are likewise issued by the provincial and local government units in consonance with the SEP.

With the rich natural resources and biodiversity, Palawan has been regarded as one of the environment and economic assets of the Philippines. However, Palawan’s poverty incidence among families was 29.8% in 2006 and 24% in 2009. These values are higher than the Philippines’ poverty incidence among families with 21.1% in 2006 and 20.9% in 2009 (Economic Situationer Region IVB, 2012). Thus, there is an urgent need to assess and evaluate the current resource management strategies, socio-economic activities, policies



and environmental measures to protect the environmental integrity while aiming for a sustained and inclusive economic growth of the province.

The main objective of this research is to develop the indicators of the EW-MFA in Palawan to provide the basis and to aid in the policy formulation towards sustainable resource management and economicdevelopment. Specifically, this research aims to estimate the flow of materials and resources in the socio-economic system of Palawan. This is the first attempt to quantify the material flow using the method of EW-MFA in the province of Palawan covering the 12-year period (2000- 2012).

This study also compliments the previous joint national and local governments’ efforts on natural resource accounting to provide sound information that can be utilized for the future policy formulation on sustainable resource management that would guide and pave the way towards the sustainable development in the province and the country. Furthermore, the development of indicators of EW-MFA in Palawan is one of the pioneering efforts in line with the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development’s revised indicators of sustainable development (UN, 2007) on the material consumption and production patterns theme.

These indicators are intended to assist in the evaluation of resource management policies and to provide basis to promote efficiency in the utilization of raw materials and future development strategies that would conserve natural resources and lessen the

adverse environmental effect due to the primary extraction, processing and utilization towards the sustainable development in Palawan.

2. METHODOLOGY

Sources of Data

The methods for the estimation of the EW-MFA indicators and the material categories utilized in this study are based on the standardized and methodological guidebook by Eurostat (2001, revised 2009, 2012, 2013). Table 1 shows the four major resource types or categories of the materials accounted for in this research and the corresponding sources of data. The data for indicators of material flow accounts are presented in this level of disaggregation.

The quantity of all materials isexpressed in terms of their mass (weight in tonnes) per year. In this research, the physical material flow is determined with the focus on the direct material flow or the economically used resources only and covers the material flow accounts of Palawan from 2000 to 2012. Furthermore, the socio-economic data for the province of Palawan were taken from the Provincial Planning and Development Office. The quantity of import and export materials were taken from the Philippine PortsAuthority in Puerto Princesa City.

Estimation of Indicators of EW-MFA

To understand and quantify theexchange of materials from the environment to socio-economic system and vice versa, the


Material Category Sub categories Data Sources

Biomass Products from agriculture, forestry, and fishery

Philippine Yearbooks

Bureau of Agricultural Statistics

Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources

Fossil Fuels Fossil energy carriers such as coal, oil, natural gas, and others


Metal Ores andIndustrial Minerals

Precious metals and base metals ores, industrial mineral, and others

Philippine Statistical Yearbooks


Construction Minerals Sand and gravel, and others Philippine Statistical Yearbooks


Table 1. The four major mater ial categor ies and data sources of EW-MFA


indicators of EW-MFA are utilized to clearly understand the material stocks and flows. This study focuses on the development of the core indicators described and calculated based on the standardized and methodological guidebook by Eurostat (2001, revised 2009), as follows:

1. Domestic Extraction (DE)

This refers to the raw material extracted from the domestic environment (Figure 2) and classified into four (4) major material categories such as biomass, fossil fuels, metals ores and industrial minerals, and construction minerals. These materials enter directly the socio-economic system and are utilized in subsequent economic processing. DE is estimated using the equation below:

DE = Biomass + Metal Ores & Industrial Mineral +Construction Minerals + Fossil Fuels (Eq. 1)

2. Direct Material Input (DMI)

It is an input indicator and defined as the quantity of material inputs from domestic extraction and import of materials into the domestic economy. These materials undergo domestic processing into usable forms for domestic consumption or could be transported to other socio-economic systems. It is estimated as equivalent to the sum of amount of domestically extracted materials and the imported materials per category.

DMI = DE + Physical Import (Eq. 2)

3. Domestic Material Consumption (DMC)

This indicator is classified as consumption indicator and refers to the total quantity of

materials input and directly used and remained in the socio-economic system after the quantity of export materials has been subtracted. The DMC considered in this study refers to the natural materials (excluding water and air) extracted or harvested within the domestic environment, processed, used and remained in economy together with the quantity of the imported materials after the exported materials are deducted. DMC can also be related to the potential waste production since thesematerials will eventually be converted to wastes. It is estimated using the following equation:

DMC = (DMI) – Physical Export (Eq. 3)

4. Physical Trade Balance (PTB)

It is classified as balancing indicator and is defined as the physical trade surplus or deficit of an economy. It indicates whether the economy is a provider of resources to other economies, as shown by the negative value of PTB (Import < Export) or resource dependent to other economies as indicated by the positive PTB (Import > Export). Depending on the systems under focus of the study, imports and exports refer to the international trade in the case of the Philippines. In the case of the province of Palawan, imports and exports refer to the materials crossing the geographical and administrative boundaries of the province. It is an important indicator concerning the trade and the environment where resource dependent economies tend to exert environmental pressure to the provider of resources. It is calculated using the following equation:

PTB = Physical Import–Physical Export (Eq. 4)


Figure 2. The Palawan’s terrestrial environment showing the Tamlang Catchment, Brookes Point

Palawan. (©PCSDS)


3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Domestic Extraction

Figure 3 shows the quantity of domestic extraction (DE) in Palawan in terms of four (4) material categories from 2000 to 2012. The DE increased significantly from 1.4 million tonnes (Mt) in 2000 to 7.0 Mt in 2012. In 2000, the quantity of biomass dominated other material categories with 0.8 Mt (57%), followed by metal ores and industrial mineral 0.5 Mt (33%), construction minerals (0.07 Mt) and fossil fuels (0.06 Mt). The offshore extraction of natural gas and condensate which started its operation in northern Palawan in 2002, resulted to the significant increase of fossil fuel extraction to 2.8 Mt in 2012. Similarly, there are newly opened metal ore mining operations in the last 12 years that resulted to the increase of mineral extraction to 1.5 Mt in 2012. Likewise, the quantity of construction minerals extracted from Palawan’s environment grew to 1.2 Mt, and the biomass, comprising of agricul-ture, forest and fishery products also grew to 1.5 Mt .

The largest deposit of oil and natural gas in the Philippines is found in Palawan, providing 18% of the country’s total power generating capacity in 2009 (PDP 2011 – 2016). In 2012, the extraction of fossil fuels comprised 40% of DE. The oil and natural gas production in Palawan could have been a significant source of tax revenues if the shares are remitted to the provincial government of Palawan. To date, the province is still fighting for the receipt of its legitimate share in the natural wealth amounting to Php 2 Billion a

Figure 3. Trend of domestic extraction in Palawan from 2000 to 2012


year starting 2003 (2012 Annual AuditReport, Province of Palawan). Thus, the huge volume of extracted materials is not translated to the socio-economic status of Palawan. Despite of the dominating volume of fossil fuels and metal ores and industrial minerals in the domestic extraction, the agriculture and fishery sectors are still regarded to form the economic backbone of the province (PPDO, 2012). In 2012, 14% of the Philippines’ total fishery production came from Palawan, with 637,305 metric tonnes (mt) out of the 4,858,097 mt (NEDA, 2012).

Generally, the extraction of materials can be regarded as an environmental pressure to the domestic environmental system. The effects associated with resource-intensiveextraction and processing industries are now diverted to the emerging economic systems or countries that are dependent on the naturalresources as the main strategies of an outward-oriented economic structure of development (Giljum, 2004).

Direct Material Input

The direct material input (DMI) comprises all materials entering the socio-economic system that are of economic value and directly used in production andconsumption activities. It is estimated based on the quantity of domestic extraction together with the imported materials. Figure 4a shows the sources of material inputs to Palawan’s socio-economic system and figure 4b shows the DMI in terms of material categories from 2000 to 2012. In 2000, the biomass (0.8 Mt) and construction minerals (0.6 Mt) had DMI shares


(a)

Figure 4. Direct mater ial input: (a) sources of mater ial input (b) per mater ial category

(b)

of 51% and 28%, respectively. The fossil fuel comprised 10% with 0.15 Mt and construction minerals had 11% (0.17 Mt).

With the active resource extraction, it resulted to the change in material composition of DMI since 2002 where fossil fuels dominated increasing up to 3 Mt or 38% in 2012. The construction minerals also increased to catch up with the requirements of the economy with 1.9 Mt in 2012, while biomass has 1.5 Mt, and metal ores and industrial minerals had 1.5 Mt. In 2012, the 88% of the domestic material inputs are extracted from Palawan’s domestic environment, while 12% are supplied from the import of materials (Figure 4b).


Domestic Material Consumption

The domestic material consumption (DMC) expresses the amount of materials that physically remained and consumed within Palawan’s socio-economic system after all of the exported materials were deducted. The domestic environment provides 88% of material inputs to the socio-economic system of Palawan, but the majority of these are exported, with only 45% of material inputs remained for domestic material consumption. Figure 5 shows the DMC per materialcategories where the total quantity increased from 1.4 Mt in 2000 to 3.6 Mt in 2012.

Figure 5. Domestic mater ial consumption in Palawan from 2000 to 2012


Table 2. Trend of domestic mater ial consumption in Palawan

The trends in DMC show that biomass had the highest share of 0.7 Mt (52%) in 2000. Biomass continued to increase and dominate the DMC until 2011. In 2012, the construction minerals was recorded to be the most consumed materials in Palawan’s economy with 1.9 Mt or 53% while biomass pegged at 1.4 Mt or 39%. While the DE trends show fossil fuel as the major material extracted from domestic environment, it is not yet manifested in the DMC trends of Palawan. The changing trends of material consumption in Palawan from 2000 and 2012 is shown in Table 2. The domestic consumption of con-struction minerals in Palawan (comprised mainly by sand and gravel) started to increase significantly from its 2000 value: by 30% in 2008 to 44% in 2009 and increased further to 53% in 2012. This could be related to theincreasing construction of the private buildings by 39% from 68,080 sq.m in 2006 to 112,478 sq.m. in 2010. Similarly, the construction of infrastructures such as commercial buildings increased from 15,888 sq.m in 2006 to 48,831 sq.m in 2010 (PY 2007, 2012).

The tourist receipts in the province that increased by 548% from 2000-2012 (PPDO, 2012), could have resulted to the development of infrastructures such as hotels, resorts and restaurants to cater the needs of the growing tourism industry. Similarly, road networks were also improved from rough roads (gravel surface) to asphalt and concrete road surface, thus, required abundant quantity of construction minerals such as sand and gravel and cement.

While the development of infrastructure is tantamount to economic growth, the consequent environmental impacts of extracting construction minerals from the environment should also be taken into consideration. In Palawan, sand and gravel quarry operations are usually undertaken along

Material Category 2000 2012

Mt % Mt %

Biomass 0.73 73 1.41 39

Construction Minerals 0.17 17 1.89 53

Fossil Fuels 0.10 10 0.16 4

Metal Ores and Industrial Minerals

0 0 0.13 4

or in the rivers, resulting to the deterioration of water quality and decrease the river’s beneficial usage to the communities that would lead to irreversible damage of river ecosystem (Martinico-Perez et al., 2014a). Furthermore, the materials consumed by the socio-economic system can be interpreted as a waste potential of the society that entail pressure to the environment if wastes disposal is not managed properly (Hashimoto et al., 2007). Moreover, although the consumption of biomass is considered to be less harmful to the environment than the consumption of nonrenewable resources (EEA, 2005), the increase in biomass production, which can be expected in the future, would exert larger pressures on biodiversity.

Physical Trade Balance

The physical trade balance (PTB)expresses whether resource imports to Palawan exceed resource exports to other economies and to what extent does the domesticconsumption is dependent on the domestic resource extraction or from imports. This indicator shows the significant role of the province of Palawan in terms of the export of resources. In general, Palawan serves as net exporter of natural resources to other socio-economic systems as the PTB increased from 0.38 Mt in 2000 to 3.45 Mt in 2012, as shown by the negative value in Figure 6. Fossil fuels comprise the major export materials in Palawan that grew from 0.06 Mt in 2000 to 2.83 Mt in 2012 followed by the ores and industrialminerals that increased from 0.46 Mt in 2000 to 1.41 Mt in 2012.

It is important to note that the only category with positive values of PTB, where the amount of imports is greater than the amount of exports is the construction minerals. Thus, more materials under this category are imported due to its inadequate supply or source


Mt = Million tonnes


Figure 6. The physical trade balance per mater ial category in Palawan from 2000 to 2012

The environmental pressure exerted by the resource dependent economies in a resource provider economy such as Palawan could be attributed to the consequent environmental disturbance in different degree and form accompanying the process of extraction of the natural resources.

The developed indicators of EW-MFA for Palawan is summarized in Table 3. The DE increased by four folds in twelve years. There is continuous increase in the material requirement as the economy and the population are growing. In 2012, Palawan’s DMC per capita was 3.4 kg/capita, lower than that of Philippines at 3.8 kg/capita in 2010. However, the growth trend of resource consumption from 2000 to 2010 was higher in Palawan than that of the Philippines (Martinico-Perez et al., 2014b).

The indicators of EW-MFA can be utilized as proxy indicators to quantify the trends and impacts of the activities in society to the environment.

Table 3. Indicators of Economy-wide Material Flow Account in Palawan

Indicator Type Indicator Unit 2000 2012

Extraction DE Million tonnes 1.4 7.0

DE/capita tonnes/capita 1.5 6.7

Input DMI Million tonnes 1.6 8.0

DMI/capita tonnes/capita 1.8 7.6

Consumption DMC Million tonnes 1.1 3.6

DMC/capita tonnes/capita 1.1 3.4

Balancing PTB Million tonnes -0.4 -3.5


in the province. The quantity of import of construction minerals increased from 0.1 Mt in 2000 to 0.7 Mt in 2012.

Although Palawan is highly dependent on the imported fossil fuels for domestic consumption, the quantity of extracted fossil fuel from the natural gas and oil reserves for export is far greater, resulting to the negative PTB for fossil fuels. Similarly, biomass has negative PTB as contributed mainly by the export of fishery products. Palawan is among of the major sources of country’s annual total fishery production with more than 10% since 2003 (PY, 2005, 2012).

The extracted metal ores are also exported to outside economies for further processing to finish products. The increasing quantity of export materials is significantly accounted from the increase of on-shore minerals and offshore fossil fuel extraction has been active in the province in the last decade.


This research explored the application of the framework of EW-MFA in the province of Palawan, Philippines. The method of EW-MFA is a suitable and useful tool in quantifying the material flows in the island province of Palawan, given the availability of the statistical data compiled by the local and national agencies. Palawan serves as resource provider in terms of biomass, fossil fuels and metal ores to other socio-economic systems in the Philippines as well as outside the country as indicated by 55% of the direct material input that goes out of the province as export materials. The quantity of domestic extraction increased by five folds while the domestic material consumption increased by four fold in a 12-year period.

The developed material flow indicators such as DE, DMI, DMC and PTB are quantified in order to assess changes in the pressure exerted by the society and economy on the environment. Since the environmental impacts associated with the particular resource groups can differ significantly, the disaggregation of these indicators in terms of four material categories provides information as to whether the socio-economic system of Palawan is dependent on the renewable (biomass) or nonrenewable such as fossil fuels, construction minerals (Figure 7), metal ores


4. CONCLUSION AND POLICY IMPLICATION

and industrial mineral resources. This research showed the shift in domestic material consump-tion in Palawan from biomass (73% in 2000) to construction minerals (53% in 2012). The DMC trend can be interpreted as a waste potential of the society that entail pressure to the environment if not managed properly.

The PTB shows the balance of theseenvironmental pressure shifts, where the negative value shows that other regions at given spatial unit exert pressure to Palawan through the demand and trade of materials from natural environment. The DE can be interpreted as the environmental pressure due to the extraction of materials. With respect to the DE of biomass, the environmental pressures induced by biomass production are loss of biodiversity and CO2 emissions associated with land use changes. The consumption of biomass is considered to be less harmful to the environment than the consumption of nonrenewable resources (EEA, 2005). However, the increase in the biomass production, which can be expected in the future, would exert larger pressures onbiodiversity. In mining of fossil fuels, metal ores and extraction of nonmetallic minerals, the most visible impact in the province of Palawan are the structural landscape changes and loss of biodiversity.

Figure 7. The Ibat-ong River in Quezon, Palawan. Aside from water, rivers are important source

of construction minerals such as rocks, sand and gravel. (©Jenevieve Hara)


In the midst of the current demand on natural resources, the efforts for conservation of natural resources and economic growth, it is important to put into consideration the past and current natural resource accounts and consumption of Palawan. The volume of extracted natural resources should be translated into financial profits towards inclusive economic growth in Palawan.

Furthermore, the developed indicators of EW-MFA in Palawan are in line with the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development’s revised indicators of sustainable development (UN, 2007) under the material consumption and production patterns theme. This study provides trends of the physical metabolism in Palawan that will be useful towards improving efficiency to maximize the productivity in the utilization of nonrenewable resources. It also complements the implementation of RA 7611 by providing appropriate information and sound basis in the evaluation of resource management policies and future development strategies that would conserve natural resources and lessen the adverse environmental effect due to the primary extraction, processing and utilization. It is a pioneering job to initiate sub-national database of EW-MFA indicators in the province of Palawan.

Acronyms:

DE = Domestic Extraction DMI = Direct Material Input DMC = Domestic Material Consumption PTB = Physical Trade Balance

Notes

One tonne (t) = 103 kilogram (kg, SI) ≈ 1.102 short tons

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

This research was financially supported by the Environment Research and Technology Development Fund (S-6-4, 1-1402, 2-1404) of the Ministry of Environment, Japan. Gratitude is also extended to the PCSDS, PPDO of Province of Palawan and PPA Puerto Princesa City for sharing the important data to complete this research.

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Economic Situationer with RDP. 2012. Region IVB. Accessed at http://mimaropa.neda.gov.ph/?page_id=669 on March 2014.

Eurostat. 2001. Economy-wide Material Flow Accounts and Derived Indicators: A

Methodological Guide. Luxembourg.

Eurostat. 2009. Economy-wide Material Flow Accounts and Derived Indicators: A Methodological Guide. Luxembourg.

Eurostat. 2012. Economy-wide Material Flow Accounts (EW-MFA), Compilation Guide. Luxembourg.

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Gierlinger, S., and Krausmann, F. 2012. The Physical Economy of the United States of America. Journal of Industrial Ecology 16(3): 365–377.

Giljum, S., Dittrich, M., Bringezu, S., Polzin, C., and Lutter S. 2010. Resource Use andResource Productivity in Asia. Trends Over the Past 25 Years. SERI Working Paper No 11. Sustainable EuropeResearch Institute (SERI). Vienna,Austria.

Giljum, S. 2004. Trade, material flows and economic development in the South: The example of Chile. Journal of Industrial

Ecology 8(1-2): 241-261.

Hashimoto, S., Tanikawa, H., and Moriguchi, Y. 2007. Where will large amounts of materials accumulated within economy go? A material flow analysis of construction minerals for Japan. Waste Management 27: 1725-1738.



Hubacek, K.., Guan, D., and Barua, A. 2007. Changing lifestyles and consumption patterns in developing countries: A scenario analysis for China and India. Fu-tures 39 (9): 1084 – 1096

Kovanda, J., and Hak, T. 2007. What are the possibilities for graphical presentation of decoupling? An example of economy-wide material flow indicators in the Czech Repub-lic. Ecological Indicators 7: 123–132

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Matthews, E., Amann, C., Bringezu, S., Fischer-Kowalski, M., Huttler, W., Kleijn, R., Moriguchi, Y., Ottke, C., Rodenburg, E., Rogich, D., Schandl, H., Schutz, H., vander Voet, E., and Weisz, H. 2000. The Weight of Nations: Material Outflows from Indus-trial Economies. World Resource Institute.

Martinico-Perez, M.F.G., Lwin, C.M.,Okuoka K., Tanikawa, H. 2014a. Evaluation of Ma-terial Stock of Roadways: The Case Study of the Philippines. Proceedings of the Japan Society of Civil Engineers. Chubu Branch Conference. 7 March 2014.

Martinico-Perez, M.F.G, Okuoka K., Tani-kawa, H. 2014b. Resource Consumption, Material Flow and Economic Growth in the Philippines. Proceedings of the Asian Conference on Sustainability, Environment and Energy. The International Academic Forum. Osaka, Japan. 12-14 June 2014.

Maung, K.N., Martinico-Perez, M.F.G., Ko-matsu T., Mohammad S., Murakami S., and Tanikawa H. 2014. Comparative Studies on Driving Factors of Resource Flow in My-anmar, the Philippines and Bangladesh. Journal of Environmental Economics and Policy Studies 16(2).

Medium Term Philippine Development Plans (MTPDP). 2004 – 2010. National Economic Development Authority (NEDA). Down-loaded at www.neda.gov.ph. Date accessed 10 June 2013.

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Wang, H., Hashimoto, S., Moriguchi, Y., Yue, Q., and Lu, Z. 2012. Resource use in growing China: Past trends, influence factors and future demand. Journal of Industrial Ecology 16(4): 481-492.



Roxas Pride Campaign: Environmental and Social Marketing Strategy Towards Behavioral Change for Sustainable Fisheries at Caramay Marine

Protected Area (MPA) and Adjacent MPAs in Roxas, Palawan

Ma. Christina Dalusung-Rodriguez1

Keywords:

Pride campaign social marketing marine protected

area behavior change theory of change

Abstract

The Roxas Pride Campaign is an environmental and social marketing campaign of the Palawan Council for Sustainable Development Staff in partnership with the local government unit of Roxas, Palawan and Rare, an international non-government organization based in Arlington, Virginia, USA. The campaign covered all of the 18 coastal barangays out of 31 barangays of the municipality of Roxas. Of the 18 coastal barangays, two are island barangays where fishing is considered as the major source of livelihood. As of 2014, there are 14 Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) in Roxas with the Barangay Caramay MPA as the focal site. There are three core zones within the Caramay MPA that are composed of mangrove, sea grass and coral reefs ecosystem. These serve as the habitats of green groupers (Epinephelus coioides), endangered dugong (Dugong dugon) and high priced lobster (Panulirus homarus). With threats such as illegal fishing practices in and around the MPA, the Roxas Pride Campaign aims to change the behavior of fishers to use the right gears/fishing methods at the right place in the MPA which is also geared towards the achievement of conservation result that is more healthy corals and increase the number of fish in the Caramay MPA. Campaign messages, mascots, billboards, social media and community events raised awareness about the MPA and strengthened the management structure of the Caramay MPA. Significant results were observed in terms of increase in Knowledge, Attitude and Practices (KAP) of fishers from 2012 baselines to 2014 post campaign survey. Parallel to this increase is the biophysical increase of coral cover from 20.6% in 2012 to 29.9% in 2014 and an increase in fish biomass from 14.7 MT (Metric tonnes)/km2 in 2012 to 35.5 MT/km2 in 2014.

1Project Development Officer/District Management Office – North, PCSDS

Address correspondence to: PCSD Building, Sports Complex Road, Sta. Monica Heights, Puerto Princesa City, Palawan

P.O. Box 45, PPC 5300 Palawan, Philippines. Email: [email protected]


Research and Analysis: Coastal and Marine Resources/Environmental Education


M. C. Rodriguez/Our Palawan 1 (1) :13-22


1. INTRODUCTION

The Philippines is at the center of the center of global marine biodiversity as referred by scientists (Carpenter and Springer, 2005). Its waters are home to whales, dolphins, 50 species of sea horses and over 2,000 species of fish, including the largest fish in the world, the whale shark (Rare 2007). Marine resources are also critical to the food security and livelihoods of Filipinos. Fish provides over 50% of their proteinrequirements and supports the livelihoods of millions of fishers and fish-related industries throughout the country (Rare, 2007). The Philippines is located in the Coral Triangle, a vast region in Southeast Asia made up of 18,500 islands and 647 million hectares of ocean (Figure 1). It is often referred to as the “nursery of the seas” because of the more than 500 species of coral and hundreds of thousands of hectares of seagrass and coastal mangrove forests that shelter and sustain a level of marine diversity unmatched anywhere on the planet (Rare, 2007).

Today, however, the global center of marine biodiversity is under extreme pressure. Over 40% of the reef and mangroves in the region have disappeared in the last 40 years (ADB 2014). Near-shore

overfishing is a serious threat to these natural resources, and reversing the effects will require a significant change in human behavior. Less than five percent of the Philippines’ coral reef ecosystems are still in pristine health, and in some fishing grounds, biomass is less than 10% of what it was 50 years ago (Rare, 2007). Most near-shore fishing is conducted by subsistence fishers in coastal communities although illegal intrusion by commercial fishers into municipal waters is a cause for concern.

Developing local people towards addressing the threat of overfishing is increasingly recognized as vital to long-term economic and environmental sustainability in the region. The vision behind this plan, and the Roxas Pride campaign developed under the Rare Pride Program in the Philippines, is to facilitate true community buy-in and ownership of the local marine protected areas. The ‘Rare Pride’ methodology for social marketing is used in implementing the campaign. Through this strategy, the objective is to get the local fisher population as well as the wider community in the barangays surrounding the MPA to treat MPAs as their own and understand the benefits of no-take-areas. Likewise, they should support essential management activities such as enforcement and governance of the MPA.

Figure 1. The Coral Tr iangle. (Source: www.coraltrianglecenter.org)



SITE-BASED THEORY OF CHANGE NARRATIVE

The Roxas Pride Campaign will help improve coral health and increase the number of

fish in the Caramay Marine Protected Area, by 2014. If the fishers from Caramay and

other barangays of Roxas will not always use proper fishing gears in the proper zones

of the Caramay Marine Protected Area, fish catch will continue to decline. This

campaign will help make our fishers use only the allowed fishing gears in the proper

zone. And we will address this problem by helping our fishers know more about the

allowed fishing gears in the proper zone; by then we can make them agree on

following the rules and regulations of the marine protected area, and then make them

talk more about the different fishing gears that are allowed. These efforts will then be

complemented by empowering the management committee, especially on monitoring

and enforcement as well as establishing permanent markers buoys for the different

zones of the Caramay marine protected area.


2. METHODOLOGY

The Roxas Pride campaign is based upon the Theory of Change, a specific and measurable description of a social change initiative that forms the basis for strategic planning, on-going decision-making, and evaluation. Rare uses this tool to clearly articulate how shifting behaviors and social norms will reduce threats to biodiversity, set targets and measure success, provide a roadmap for Pride Campaign execution, and to ensure strategic alignment among all MPA site stakeholders (Figure 2) (Rare, 2007). The Theory of Change model has been used for more than 20 years by multiple disciplines, but

has been adapted by Rare to better link social change to biodiversity threat reduction (Butler et al., 2013). This Theory of Change is customized for the Roxas Pride Campaign as seen in Figure 1 where the SMART objectives goals of the campaign are developed from. Both qualitative and quantitative research methods were used to answer the 11 general research questions shown in Table 1. Specific data collection methods are identified for both types of research during the planning phase. The Caramay MPA management committee performance was assessed through the Management Effectiveness Assessment Tool (MEAT).

Figure 2. Site-Based Theory of Change Narrative (Roxas Pride Campaign Research Plan 2012)


General research

question

Research question

Data collection type

When collected

Campaign decision affected

Why is the target

audience carrying

out their current

behavior(s)?

Why are fishers intruding into the MPA core zones?

Why are fishers

using prohibited

gears in the buffer

zone?

Qualitative: observational

research,

in-depth

interviews and/

or focus groups

Pre-work;

Planning

Phase

AudienceSegmentation

Marketing Mix(5 P’s)

Creative Brief

Are there multiple

audiences that need

to change their

behavior(s)?

Are there differences among fishers that require furthersegmentation?

Are there any other

fishers who fish in

the Caramay MPA?

Qualitative: in-depth

interviews and/

or focus group

discussions

Planning Phase

QuantitativeSurvey question development


Marketing Mix

Are there

audiences that have

major influence

over your primary

audience (i.e key

influencers)

Are there any

individual(s) or

group(s) that has

major influence

over the behavior

of fishers?


interviews and/

or focus groups

Planning

Phase Target

individuals forcampaignoutreach andsupport


CommunityMobilization

Promotion (5

P’s)

What does your

target audience(s)

perceive as the

barrier(s) to taking

on the new

behavior(s)?

What are the perceived barriers for fishers to stop intruding into the MPA core zone?

What are the

perceived barriers

for fishers to stop

using prohibited

fishing gears in the

MPA buffer zone?


interviews and/

or focus groups

Planning

Phase Benefits

exchangedefinition

Price (5 P’s)

Refined KAP

Surveys

Table 1. Research Methodology Overview


These variables are known as the marketing mix that is Product, Price, Place, Promotion, and Position.



General research question

Research question

Data collection type

When collected

Campaign decision affected

What does your target audience(s) perceive as the benefit(s) in carrying out the new behavior(s)

What information source(s) do fishers rely on for informing their behavior decision-making?

Qualitative: in-depthinterviews and/or focus groups

Planning Phase

Placement(5 P’s)

Position (5 P’s)

What information source(s) do the target audience(s) look to when it comes to the target behavior?

What information source(s) do fishers rely on for informing their behavior decision making?


Planning Phase

Promotion Placement

Who does the target audience(s) trust as an information source?

Who do the fishers trust for information about their fishing practices?


Planning Phase

Promotion Placement Message

development

What is the current state of Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practice (and Stage of Behavior Change, BC) for the target audience(s) and how has that shifted inresponse to Pride?

What is the current state of KAP among the fishers and how has that shifted in response to the Pride campaign?

Quantitative: KAP survey Logbooks Other means of verification

Pre/Post campaign surveys (Planning Phase and Implementa-tion Phase)

Materialdevelopment

Pre/Post impactassessment(KAP SurveyQuestionnaire)

What evidence do we have that barrier removal is working?

What evidence do we have that the fishers know the MPA core zone boundaries?

What evidence do we have that the fishers know the MPA buffer zone boundaries?

Quantitative: KAP survey Number of fishers who know where the MPA core & buffer zones

Pre/post campaign surveys; monthly monitoring

BarrierRemovaleffectivenesstracking

Impactassessment

Marketing Mix

What evidence do we have that target audience(s) are adopting the new behavior(s)?

What evidence do we have that the fishers do not intrude into the MPA core zone? What evidence do we have that the fishers do not use prohibited fishing gears in the buffer zone?

Quantitative: KAP survey, Logbooks

Pre/post campaign surveys; monthly monitoring

Impactassessment onBehaviorChange

Table 1. Research Methodology Overview (continuation)



During the onset of the campaign, itwas observed and evident in the survey results that they are not talking about the benefits of the MPA and the right gears to use when fishing in the buffer zone. A Pride Campaign is still needed because interpersonal communication of the fishers is still very low during the pre-campaign stage. Based on the behavior change continuum (shown in Figure 5), the validation stage registered lowest. With the campaign activities focusing on knowledge driven activities, it created a great buzz and the fishers at the validation stage significantly increased in the post-campaign stage.

After developing strategies, conducting various activities and producing good social marketing materials, the knowledge of fishers on restricted activities in the core zone increased by 12.4 percent. The awareness on the presence of markers in the core zone and buffer zone increased by 16.5 percentage point. This was supported by the increase in attendance of fishers in various campaign activities such as meetings, assemblies and information and education campaign (IEC) caravan.

There is a significant increase in the positive attitude of fishers, wherein increase in those who agree that it is important to follow the MPA rules and regulations increased by 4.9 percentage point. Based on the Knowledge-Attitude-Practice (KAP) Survey and analysis of qualitative data, the number of fishers who agreed that fish catch will decline if the MPA has no markers significantly increased. The data monitoring tool also showed increase

General

research question

Research ques-

tion

Data collection

type

When collected Campaign

decision affected

What are the long-

term effects on

Threat Reduction

(TR) and

Conservation Result

(CR) Objectives?

What evidence

do we have that

there is increase

in coral health

and fish density

in the MPA?

Quantitative: Biophysical

assessment

TR-monthly up to 5 years; CR- pre/post up to 5 years

Impact

assessment on

CR

in support among fishers who volunteered their services in various MPA related activities specially watching over the MPA when they are out fishing.

The element where most significant change is realized is interpersonal communication. The fishers became more expressive about the importance of not fishing inside the MPA core zone and the importance of respecting the markers of the MPA core zone. The Pride Campaign Launching events, both municipal-wide and at the focal barangay, are the triggering activity for the fishers to talk more about the MPA. This was followed by IEC activities in almost all of the coastalbarangays. The pride campaign ambassadors, Mikoy the Lobster, Digong the Dugong and Coco the Green Grouper represented the corals, seagrass and mangroves ecosystems that the community is protecting (Figure 3).

The increases in fishers’ knowledge, attitude and interpersonal communication have led to maintaining the behaviors of fishers to use the right gears at the right place. Results of the MEAT showed an increase in the total scores from 38 in 2012 to 60 in 2014 thus, the MPA attained MEAT Level 2 status from pre-level in 2012. Moreover, there are significant increases in 5 of the 9 management focus of the MEAT. The significant increases verified are in the Management Body (from 18.2% to 100%), IEC (from 28.6% to 37.1%), Enforcement (from 50% to 85%), Monitoring and Evaluation (from 18.8% to 37.5%) and Site Development (from 50% to 100%). The MEAT focus on Management Body had the highest increase at 81.8%. This increase may be attributed to the identification, formation


Table 1. Research Methodology Overview (continuation)


Figure 3. Roxas Pr ide Campaign Mascots (a) as shown from left to r ight: Digong the Dugong, Mikoy the Lobster and Coco the Green Grouper; (b) during the Caramay MPA Guardhouse and Patrol Boat Launching


and clarification of the functions and roles of the management body supported by an executive order. Four of the 9 MEAT management focus remained the same. These include Management Plan (66.7%), Legal Instrument (100%), Financing (38.3%) and Community Participation (100%).

While the Caramay MPA scored 100% in Level 2 evaluation using the MEAT, this was hindered by the five-year continued enforcement requirement which fell short to

achieving a Level 3 status. This should be worked out in the next five years considering the following: participatory monitoring, sustainable financing, socio-economic, and data management.

As for the biophysical results of the study, a significant increase in coral cover (from 20.6% to 29.9%) (Figure 4), fish abundance (from 195 to 370), species richness (from 94 to 136) and fish biomass from 14.7 to 35.3) of the Caramay MPA took place.

(a)

(b)


Table 2. Site-Based Results for the Theory of Change



Figure 4. Hard corals seen in Caramay MPA core zone. (Photo courtesy of MERF 2014)

Based from KAP survey, the fishers in Roxas are already at the Maintenance Stage (Figure 5). Fishers already know where the buffer and core zones of the MPA

are and that they are not allowed to fish inside the core zone. They also know the allowed fish-ing gears to use when fishing at the buffer zone of the MPA.

Baseline 98.6%

Post-campaign 97.1%

Figure 5. Behavior Change Continuum Illustration



4. CONCLUSION AND POLICYIMPLICATIONS

After the two-year implementation ofthe Roxas Pride Campaign, the PCSD-RARE-LGU campaign was able to shape the behavior of fishers particularly in the Action/Maintenance stage as the initiativesignificantly increased the fishers’ knowledge about the allowed fishing gears in the Caramay MPA buffer zone. This alsoinspired them to follow the rules and regulations of the MPA. Moreover, the campaign activities increased interaction between the fishers and their peers, relatives and families about fishing in the MPAs. This may have contributed towards achieving the targeted conservation results indicated by increased fish biomass and live coral cover.

The initiatives in the Caramay MPA can be replicated municipal-wide through the network of MPAs that will be formalized and be known as CLARX or the Coastal Law Alliance in Roxas. Replication will be done through conducting assistance in coaching on how to manage the MPAs, demarcate areas of each MPA, install signage for each MPA as well as conduct IEC regarding the benefits of MPAs and the rules and regulations for every MPA. This could be done through collaborative efforts with the local government unit of Roxas. Moreover, replication in other municipalities is also possible through partnership with the local government units and other NGOs working in particular municipalities. To further the advocacy for conservation and sustainable management of resources, the Strategic

Environmental Plan (SEP) and Environmentally Critical Areas Network (ECAN) principles in particular must be incorporated in these campaigns to ensure that the communities become more aware and change their attitudes and practices towards sustainable development.

REFERENCES

Asian Development Bank (ADB). 2014. State of Coral Triangle: Philippines.Mandaluyong City, Philippines.

Butler, P., Green, K. and Galvin, D. 2013. The Principles of Pride: The sciencebehind the mascots. Arlington, VA: Rare.

Carpenter, K.E. and Springer, V.G. 2005. Environmental Biology of Fishes 72: 467-480.

National CTI Coordinating Committee. 2011. Marine Protected Area Management Effectiveness Assessment Tool.Diliman, Quezon City, Philippines

Rare. 2007. Rare Pride Handbook, A Guide for Inspiring Conservation in Your Community. Arlington,Virginia.

Rodriguez, M.C.D. 2014. Roxas Pride Campaign Learning Report. Retrieved November 2014 from http://campaigntracker.rare.org/

Rodriguez, M.C.D. 2012. Roxas PrideCampaign Research Plan. Retrieved November 2014 from.http://campaigntracker.rare.org/


Mural paintings as part of Roxas Pride campaign (Photo courtesy of Roxas Pride Campaign)



Research and Analysis: Sustainable Development Research/Biological Diversity


1Project Development Officer, ECAN Zones Management Division, PCSDS

Address correspondence to: PCSD Building, Sports, Complex Road, Sta. Monica Heights, Puerto Princesa City,

Palawan P.O. Box 45 PPC 5300 Palawan, Philippines. Email: [email protected]

Keywords:

edible birds nest Nido swiftlets

Abstract

This paper seeks to describe, assess and evaluate the collection and trade of edible birds nest in theMunicipalities of Taytay and El Nido, areas stronghold of edible nest production in the province of Palawan, Philippines. Determining the swiftlet species,evaluating the nest collection, trade practices and existing regulatory mechanisms against thegovernment provisions on the conservation and management of caves resources and wildlife are the goals of the study. Such research objective aims to translate findings into policy recommendations for sustainable resource production and management. Issues and challenges such as overharvesting and poaching; declining nest production and quality; declining quality of bird residential habitat and food supply source due to (a) change in land use (conversion of forest to upland agriculture, plantations and clearing); (b) conflicting land use options against nest collection; and (c) use of pesticides from adjacent agriculture areas and tourism were documented. Establishment and implementation of open and close season for harvesting of edible nest is highlyrecommended to ensure sustainability of harvest and bird population.

Collection and Trade Dynamics of Edible Nest Swiftlet (Aerodramus fuciphagus Thunberg, 1812) Nest in Northern Palawan, Philippines

Glenda M. Cadigal1

G. M. Cadigal/Our Palawan 1 (1): 23-34


1. INTRODUCTION

Palawan Province, home to majorprotected areas and a declared UNESCO Man and the Biosphere Reserve (MAB) is safeguarded by a special law, Republic Act 7611 or the Strategic Environmental Plan (SEP) catering to the islands’ fragile configuration. SEP Law for Palawan evolve around the sustainable development concept as its resource management strategy.

Among the province’s unique ecosystem is the El Nido – Taytay Managed Resource Protected Area (ENTMRPA) in the municipalities of Taytay and El Nido in North Palawan. Unique limestone cliff of karst formation makes up most of the local islands, preferred habitats of the edible nest producing swiftlets providing one of the world’s most sought after and expensive animal products consumed by humans for over 400 years (Hobbs, 2004). The Edible Bird’s Nest (EBN) is highly popular to the Chinese forpharmaceutical applications and a delicacy believed to promote beauty and longevity (Lim, 2011 pers com).

The nests are built during the birds’ breeding season from December to June (Sheshnarayan, 2009) as the birds prepare for egg laying, using its interwoven saliva as the building block for nest weaving until it takes the shape of a shallow cup stuck to the cave wall.

Nest collection has been a practice in these areas for centuries. However, the actual volume of harvested products shipped out of the province has never been declared including the flow of monetary transaction and how much the industry is worth. The government’s laws, policies and conservation action on nest regulation and management is also not clear.

In the Philippines, there are two (2)national laws significant on birds and its habitat, Caves (RA 9072) and Wildlife (RA 9147). In April and May 2001 respectively, the administrative mandate for the implementation of these laws is relied to the Palawan Council for Sustainable Development (PCSD).However, strict compliance to the provisions of these laws need to be examined in the view of sustainable development and species survival amidst anecdotal reports of declining nest supply and quality. The impending threat of a collapsing edible bird’s nest industry prompted this research in its attempt to provide the much needed answers for species conservation.

2. METHODOLOGY

This research is mainly a descriptiveand evaluative study. The study analyzed the practice of permitting regulation, nest collection and trade by the gatherers, concession holders, buyers and traders, and the local government units (LGU). Research inputs include the taxonomic identification of the swiftlet species by actual specimen collection and identification.

Cave locations were determined using a Global Positioning System to come up with an edible birds nest active caves map. The study sites covered the islands of Pandan, Pabellon Pequeno and Pabellon Grande in Taytay (Figure 1); Estar and Imorigue Cave Complex in Barangay Maytigued and Barangays New Ibajay and Bebeladan in El Nido, Palawan (Figure 2).

Figure 1. Location Map of Municipalities

of Taytay and El Nido, Palawan,

(2011)



Figure 2. Barangays of New Ibajay and Bebeladan in El Nido and Bgy.Maytigued, Taytay, Palawan asfocused study sites (Taytay and El Nido, Palawan, 2011)

of solidified saliva weaved for 35 days (Encyclopedia of Life, 2014; Jordan, 2004) and is collected to make bird's nest soup (Figure 3). Local respondents from the study site observed that nests are made by both male and female birds in a simultaneous manner, each working on two (2) ends of the nest cup.

As a group, Aerodramus swiftlets are distributed very broadly, with species occurring in southern continental Asia, the Philippines, Indo-Australian archipelago, to north Australia, west and southwest Pacific and on islands in the South Pacific and Indian Oceans (Government of Italy, 1994; EOL, 2014). The species is native to Brunei, Cambodia, Mainland China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Timor Leste and Vietnam in which all are reported to be extant.


Figure 3. (a) Nest of edible-nest swiftlet and (b) nest and eggs (Photos courtesy of Jovic Fabello )


The edible-nest swiftlet (Aerodramus fuciphagus) is a small bird of the swift family found in South-east Asia. These swallow-like birds are closely related to hummingbirds, which are able to navigate through dark caves using echolocation. The bird produces nest attached on the walls of caves made

The study utilized interview approach using a semi-structured questionnaire, Focus Group Discussion (FGD) and Key Informant Survey (KIS). All three (3) concession contract holders in Taytay and El Nido and 36 gatherers and traders served as respondents for study.

(b)

(a)


Considered as the most aerial of birds, a common swift can cruise at a maximum speed of 31 meters per second or 112 km/hr, 70 mph (Piper, 2007). The legs, as with many swifts, are very short, preventing the birds from perching, but allowing them to cling to vertical surfaces. The flight is mainly gliding due to very long primary feathers and small breast muscles. Aerodramus swiftlets, depend-ing on species, weigh 8–35 grams (0.28–1.23 oz) and are 9–16 centimetres (0.28–1.23 inches) long (EOL, 2014; Chantler and Driessens, 2000).

Aerodramus are aerial insectivores, which take prey on insects such as flies, attacking on the wings. They roost and breed in caves; during the day they leave the caves to forage for food, and return to roost at night. They are monogamous and both partners take part in caring for the nestlings. The breeding season overlaps the wet season, which corresponds to an increased insect population (EOL, 2014; Chantler and Driessens, 2000). In the Philippines, observed breeding season occurs from the months of May to November during the wet periods. An observed fidelity to the roosting site was documented based on anecdotal information from respondents, wherein the same pair will construct the nest exactly where it was first created. The same spot will be continuously utilized as long as it is not disturbed and remain in the cave and birds do not migrate (EOL, 2014). No population trend has been recorded for the species, however, the population is suspected to be in decline owing to over harvesting of eggs and nestlings (Birdlife, 2014; Del Hoyo et al., 1999).

Birdlife International in 2014 estimated the extent of area covered by the bird utilized for breeding / residence to cover as much as 1,650,000 square kilometers (km2). The species soars at cave locations with an altitude of 0-2,800 meters above sea level for breeding. Sea cliffs and rocky offshore islands, subtropical/tropical moist lowland areas, subtropical/tropical moist montane, and tropical dry shrub lands are mostly utilized for residence including feeding. Based on Langham’s assessment in 2008, it can be described that 2.74 to 4.12 hours per day are spent foraging on aerial insects. Microhabitat use are of >10 m above forest canopy, or >30 m above ground elevation. Therefore, deforestation near and distant from caves used by swiftlets for breeding can severely affect the wild population of the species (Manchi

and Sankaran, 2010) by dictating the level of availability of food sources. Information on the habitat preference, feeding and breeding requirements of the species contributes in determining site species factors that dictate species breeding success. This information will provide management conservation solutions to re-engineer the conservation efforts for the species.

The breeding seasonality of theedible–nest swiftlets is strongly linked with rainfall (Sheshnarayan, 2009). Northern Palawan’s condition is of Type I climate wherein there are two pronounced seasons, wet and dry, with maximum rain period from June to September and a dry season which lasts from 3 to 6 months (Moog, 2005). Here, rainfall occurs mostly during the southwest monsoon (“Habagat”) season prevailing during the rainy months of June to September. Sheshnarayan’s study in 2009 showed that the species mostly copulate on the nest producing 2 eggs as a nor-mal clutch with many birds laying second clutches (75%) and some third clutches (15-4%) using the same nest (Langham, 2008). Incubation period is 23 ± 3days, while fledging periods is 43 + 6 day. Total days requirement from incubation to fledging is 78 ± 3 days or almost 2.6 months.

Protection Status

Aerodramus fuciphagus (Figure 4) is classified under Least Concern by IUCN justified by its extremely large range, and hence does not approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the range size criterion (Extent of


Figure 4. Edible Nest Swiftlet (A. fuciphagus) (Source: planetbirds.blogspot.com)


twenty percent (20%) for the PCSDS for the purpose of providing administrative and technical assistance and information dissemination campaign; (b) management contracts with birds nest concessionaires/managers must be through competitive bidding or expression of interest to conserve, manage and utilize/collect edible birds nest subject to the terms and conditions of PCSD; and (c) PCSD to issue a final approval of permits for the collection and removal of cave resources including edible birds nest. However, PCSD approval and issuance of collection permits is not being fully implemented.

Likewise, there is no provision on collection quota or collection schedule imposed to the concessionaires. A prescribed collection season, however, was documented from the issuance by the Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources Administrative Order No. 1 approved on July 31, 1929 by Governor General Dwight F. Davis imposing a close season for nest collection beginning May 01 to June 30. The Department of Environment and Natural Resources – Community Environment and Natural Resources Officer (DENR-CENRO)- Taytay, based on several communications to Taytay LGU in 1986, likewise prescribed a close season of 01 April to June 30 of every year.

In Taytay, a concession contract is awarded to a sole concessionaire, while in El Nido, aside from a concession contract, individual collection permits are issued by the LGU. For both municipalities, there is usually a financier funding the payment of lease contracts. The concessionaire acts as a manager of the concession and serves as the legal personality to enter into an agreement with the LGU. The manager/concessionaire maintains a set of his/her collectors and initially provides for their food and other needs while in the concession areas. During harvests, the busyadors or nest collectors sell the entire harvest to the concessionaire who will deduct the expenses for food and other cash advances by the collectors. The concessionaire makes an average of Php 10.00 per gram profit upon selling to the financier. Security is also being maintained to guard the caves, which are either paid by the busyadors or they guard the islands themselves.

Nest Collection and Preparation

Harvesting or collection of nests commences upon the awarding of the lease


occurrence <20,000 km2). There was, however, an attempt to include the species under CITES in 1994 but received oppositions from nest producing countries. Currently, the only protection of the species in the Philippines is provided under Republic Act 9147 otherwise known as the Wildlife Protection and Conservation Act which provides for the regulated collection, possession and trade of threatened, non-threatened wildlife and wildlife by-products and derivatives in the entire country without appropriate permit.

Edible Nest Importance, Uses and Benefits

A full cup size edible birds nest approximately weigh 14-15 grams and measures 3 to 4 inches in its entire length. Nest class are classified into four (4) as follows: Class A - First (1st) Class, also called “Primera” and commands the highest market value; Class AB - Second (2nd) Class, also called “Buena”; Class B - Third (3rd) Class, also called “Segunda”; Class C- Fourth (4th) Class; and Class D (5th class) or “Sinisa” bits and pieces of nest and what is left off as a result of the cleaning process. Anecdotal accounts of the research respondents show that the color or clarity of the nest is dependent on the depth of the nesting site, the deeper and the darker the caves, the higher the quality of the nest the birds will produce.

Nest Collection Regulation

Available literature shows that edible birds nest collection in Taytay, Palawan are practiced as early as or even before 1927 when Act No. 3379 which authorized the municipalities to impose license taxes from the privilege of gathering edible bird’s nests, was enacted on December 3, 1927. Thus, the local governments of Taytay and El Nido had been entering into concession agreements through bidding of concession contracts for the exclusive privilege to collect/gather edible birds nest. However, following the enactment of the Wildlife Act (Republic Act 9147) and Caves Act (Republic Act 9072) in 2001, these laws mandated the management of wildlife, caves and cave resources in the province of Palawan to the Palawan Council for Sustainable Development (PCSD). The LGUs of Taytay and El Nido and PCSD entered into a Memorandum of Agreement in 2005 authorizing the LGUs to issue concession contracts subject to the following: (a) the revenue derived from the gathering and utilization of edible birds nest shall accrue in a General Fund Special Account of the Municipal Government to be allocated as follows: eighty percent (80%) LGU share and


agreement between the LGU and the winning bidder which usually happens in December. In Taytay, collection starts in January of each year. There are seven (7) collection periods as practiced, observing a 15 days interval between harvests. First harvest is made between January 18-21 followed by February 6-8; February 25-27; March 15-17; March 31-April 2; April 15-17 and April 30- May 2 for the second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh harvest respectively. After the 7th collection, the busyadors refrain from further collection and observes a rest period called as “palipad”. During the palipad, the birds are allowed to continuously lay their eggs until fledging. The next collection resumes on the last week of December called as “limpiada” meaning to clean. During limpiada, the nests utilized by the birds for hatching are removed. Given that the birds will be utilizing the same spot for nesting, the area is intended to be free from the old utilized nest in preparation for the next harvest season.

The busyadors refer to the process of actual collection as suot. The deep and dark crevices are manually penetrated using bamboo ladders, ropes, lighted bamboo poles or flashlight tied to the head and a makeshift stick with a bended fork with string on one end is used to remove the attached nest from wall. There is no safety equipment provided for the collectors considering the hazards of collection. After each collection, the busyadors prepare the “sahing” or a lighted pagsahingin (Canarium asperium var asperium) resin stuck and lighted on one end of a stick and made to exude smoke. The smoke is believed to remove the smell of the busyadors who entered which deters the birds to build nest in the nesting areas. Similarly, busyadors in Taytay mentioned that they do not allow gatherers to enter the caves if they are wearing perfumes.

During harvest period, the caves are well guarded to prevent nest poaching. However, it is believed that it is also the busyadors who are stealing the nest and selling to other buyers, because it is they who are knowledgeable on the location and the actual number of nests per cave hole. The busyadors are forced to steal the nest because of cash advances from the concessionaire. If they will wait for the timed harvesting period, they are forced to sell their harvests to the concessionaire who will automatically deduct such cash advanced, therefore, there will be very little amount left for their family. Nest stealing is the major problem identified by both the concessionaires and the

busyadors. This is also the reason that the harvesting interval is shortened to 15 days. A prolonged harvesting interval requires employing guards adding up on cost. It was also mentioned by individual collectors inBarangay Bebeladan that they prefer to advance nest collection than be stolen from them.However, with this practice, the birds are forced to reconstruct the nests. which (a) leads to further stress to the wildlife which may affect its health condition; (b) will not allow the bird to lay a clutch in the absence of a nest; and (c) will not give ample time for the chicks to fledge, therefore, will not provide a replacement generation of nest-producing birds.

On the other hand, nest collection in El Nido particularly in Estar/Star Cave Complex concession starts with the limpiada done in January. All collected nests are sold to the financier. First harvesting starts in the 3rd week of February, between February 20-23. During this time, the nest collected is about 1 inch in width by 2.5 inches in length. Harvest takes an approximately four (4) days to cover an entire concession. The busyadors will return for the second to sixth harvest every after 15 days until the last week of May, particularly during March 15-18; March 30-Apri 1; April 15-18 and May 30-June 1. After the last harvest of June until the last week of August, the birds will be allowed to breed to observe palipad. The seventh collection will be made between September 1-3 which is called “naliparan” or abandoned nests, after which, the caves are left to rest until December. The use of “sahing” is also practiced in El Nido. Collection in Imorigue Island concession in Taytay is made every 15th day of the month starting fromJanuary 15 to July 15 completing a seven harvesting period with 30 days interval.

Individual nest collection isconcentrated in Barangay Bebeladan. Here, gatherers collect nest size of just over one (1) centimeter in width, weaved for approximately 10 days, which they called “ballpen”, adopting from the diameter of a ball point pen. This is said to be practiced in times when they cannot afford to pay for guards to look after the caves. They felt that if they do not collect the nests, someone else will, so they became thieves themselves. Harvesting season in Bebeladan is more intense than that of the other concession areas in El Nido. Here, collection starts in the last week of January, then followed by the second collection during the last week of February. However, succeeding collections start mid of March until June completing the 10



collection period observing a 15 days interval in between harvests.

Volume of Nest Collection

The volume of total nest collected is never officially reported, neither the concessionaire nor the individual collectors to either the local government or to the PCSD. There is also no reporting mechanism requiring the concessionaires to comply. As such, the actual volume of collected nests produced from each cave cannot be precisely determined. Therefore, the estimated volume of production were derived from: (a) harvest record of busyadors sold to the concessionaire; and (b) record of caves with active nest holes frequented by birds as documented by past concessionaires. Records of nest sites were used to extrapolate the volume of harvest using 3.33 grams per nest estimate.

Based on the extrapolated information from the survey results, the total volume of harvested edible birds nest in Taytay is 80.5 kilograms (kg) and 62.03 kg in 2011 and 2014, respectively. However, concentrating in Pabellon islands alone, the total harvest is recorded at 63 kg and 62.03 kg in 2011 and 2014, respectively. The total estimated bird population in Taytay in 2011 and 2014 is 5,400 individuals and 5,316 individuals, respectively, with a computed decline of 1.55% in three (3)


years. Neither the global, nor regional (country or province) population of Aerodramus fuciphagus has been quantified (IUCN, 2014). As such, IUCN in its latest assessment version 3.1 in 2001 classified the species as Least Concern due to the species’ extremely large range of occurrence. It was however, recognized that the harvesting of nests remains a threat to the species and the population trend is decreasing.

Nest Production, and Marketing

The famous Edible Bird’s Nest harvestedin Taytay and El Nido, Palawan is highly sought for in the market. El Nido in particular was able to set its branding on the product as source of high quality nests and thus commands high price (E. Lim, 2011, pers comm). As such, even the bird’s nest collected from Sabah in Malaysia enters Palawan through the backdoor passing through El Nido and declared as El Nido “Balinsasayaw” nests (Maximo 2011, pers comm.). The process of nest cleaning is usually done by the women members of the family of the busyadors. Nest are either sold as is (as collected) or cleaned. Nest cleaning starts by soaking in water to loosen the strands. Then using a tweezor or a forceps will manually remove the feathers and other impurities. The nests are then air dried and are ready for trade. The selling and buying ranges and averages is shown in Table 1.

Seller Gatherers / Busyador

Buyer Local Concessionaire/

Buyer/Trader

Nest Class A AB/B C

Price Range (PHP) / kg 70,000 - 150,000 60,000-100,000 30,000-90,000

Average Price (PHP)/ kg 100,000 70,000 50,000

Seller Local Concessionaire/

Buyer/Trader

Buyer

Local Financiers / Chinatown/ Chinese

Clients in Manila

Nest Class A AB/B C

Price Range (PHP) / kg 150,000-175,000 90,000-140,000 80,000-90,000

Average Price (PHP)/ kg, (A) 160,000 120,000 85,000

Profit Margin (%)based on (A) 37.50 41.67 41.18

Traha (%) 30 40 - 50 70

Resiko (%) 70 40 - 50 30

Note: Traha pertains to percentage weight loss; Resiko pertains to the net weight left

Table 1. Selling and Buying Rates of Edible Birds Nest (EBN) in Taytay and El Nido, Palawan (2014)


Nest collected by the busyadors are directly sold to the concessionaires. The concessionaire then sells the nests to thefinanciers with additional Php 10.00/gram or Php 10,000/kg mark up. The financiers sell the nest to Chinese families or directly delivered to Chinatown in Binondo, Manila at an average price of Php 160,000/kg, Php 120,000/kg and Php 85,000/kg for Class A, AB/B and C respectively. The traders enjoy an average of 37% profit for Class A and 41% for Class AB/B and C (Figure 3). The buying price is dictated by the buyer. In weighing nests, the buyer deducts percentage losses called “traha” to cover losses from moisture and other impurities. What is left will be the net weight called “resiko”.

Trade Routes and Product Destination

Most of the EBN collected fromTaytay and El Nido are mainly brought toChinatown in Binondo, Manila and are sold to either the local market or to other international destinations. A small percentage however is either (a) directly ordered by wealthy Chinese families in the City of Puerto Princesa or in Metro Manila; or (b) shipped by small boats to the neighboring province of Mindoro and Batangas before transporting to Manila. Nest collected from other municipalities of Palawan such as Coron and Busuanga in the Calamianes Group of Islands are either directly flown to Manila by plane or by boat or transported to El Nido before going to Manila. This is somehow practiced to tag the commodity as El Nido harvest if it is delivered to clients coming from El Nido.

Similarly, harvests from Tawi-Tawi are transported to Brooke’s Point in South Palawan and shipped to Puerto Princesa City or El Nido before transporting to Manila. This is also true for products from Sabah, Malaysia which arrive in Balabac, Palawan or Rio Tuba in Bataraza, Palawan then moved to Puerto Princesa or El Nido before transporting to Manila. In the absence of declared transport data of EBN, a detailed production trend cannot be established. The only available trade volume is those passing through the regulation mechanism of PCSD which started in 2012. The figures are actual volume issued with local transport permit (LTP) from nine (9) PCSD-issued Wildlife Special Use Permit holders. Annual total traded volume recorded is 29.914 kg; 130.825 kg and 200.403 kg for 2012, 2013 and 2014 respectively. The volume however includes nests coming from Tawi-Tawi and

transported to Manila passing through Palawan. Further, an additional 32.557 kg of imported birds nest from Malaysia was also recorded.

Issues and Challenges to the Edible Birds Nest Industry in Palawan

a. Uncontrolled Nest Harvesting by poaching

Nest poaching is the major problemreported by all respondents. However, nest poachers continue to collect even during the breeding season, forcing the birds to continuously rebuild its nest, thereby exhausting its energy that would have been utilized for foraging and breeding.

b. Declining nest production

A 54.95% decrease in bird population was documented in Imorigue Island from 2000 to 2011. However, an increase of 67% was recorded in Estar/Cave Complex. Since the two (2) caves are located in the same barangay, it may be true to the claim of some respondents that the birds migrate to other areas if disturbed in their original nesting site. However, the population increase in one area is not


Figure 3. Edible nests (a) Class A; and (b) Class C, ready for trade (Photos courtesy of Jovic Fabello)

(a)

(b)


commensurate to the decrease in another to establish site migration.

c. Change in land use (from forest to uplandagriculture, plantations and clearing) affecting the quality of residential habitat and food supply

Destruction of the adjacent forest area by slash and burn and clear cutting or conversion of forest to agriculture may have contributed to altering the foraging grounds of the birds. Habitat fragmentation forces the birds to consume more energy to transfer to suitable foraging areas thus uses up energy that may be utilized for breeding activities such as nest building. The birds are also forced to travel long distances in search of food for themselves and for their chicks. Long flight onwards to the foraging areas and on their way back consumes energy of the parent and prevents them from feeding their chicks in time which may result to death and or delayed fledging.

d. Conflicting Land Use

The presence of an adjacent tourism establishment in Barangay Bebeladan, specifically El Nido Resorts by Ten Knots Development Corporation is seen by the respondents as a deterrent to the bird population. It was observed by the respondents that the population of the birds decreased when the resort conducted its regular fogging activities to minimize the population of mosquitoes. Some caves frequented by tourist are also said to be disturbed and caused the birds to leave the nesting sites. Use of fertilizers and pesticide on variety of insects preyed by birds may also have negative effects on the swiftlets population and thus needs further studies.

e. Unregulated collection

There is no definite conservation action that needs to be complied as a condition of the lease contract. Specifically, a black and white provision on the observance of a close harvesting season has not been mentioned. Though the concessionaires are required to submit a monthly collection report to the LGU and the PCSD, this has not been complied and monitored by both government agencies.

f. Lax implementation of government policiesand regulations on cave and cave resources conservation

In spite of the allocation of a portion of government income from cave concessions, the local government units have not initiated any

concrete cave conservation programs to ensure the sustainability of the industry. The PCSD on the other hand has started initial assessment of edible bird’s active caves in 2011 but the action was limited to the identification of economically important caves for edible birds nest. Such identification needs PCSD adoption for declaration but has not yet been acted upon to date. Formulation of cave management plans is also lacking. The PCSD is likewise bounded to ensure that nest collection shall be subjected to a permit, however, only one (1) out of the three (3) concessionaires has been issued a collection permit. Further, though some traders have been issued trade permits, few are still engaging in collection and trade without PCSD permits. The PCSD started to regulate the collection and transport of edible birds nest in Palawan in 2012. At present, there are nine (9) Wildlife Special Use Permit (WSUP) holders for collection and direct trade; one (1) trader and one (1) concessionaire. However, per Section 19 of PCSD AO 12, before an economically important non-threatened wildlife is regulated for collection and trade, the PCSD needs to declare the species as an economically important wildlife. Unless the PCSD identifies the species as such, the issu-ance of a WSUP for the collection and direct trade of the EBN stands as incongruent to the provision of the Wildlife Act or R.A.9147.

4. CONCLUSION AND POLICYIMPLICATION

The links between environment and

people’s well-being is straight forward; it is clear that the environment plays a complex but crucial part in livelihood strategies. Therefore, many of the pressures on the environment that threaten the survival of the birds, their habitats and biodiversity will also have adverse effects on local communities dependent on them.Unsustainable use of natural resources can deepen poverty as essential resources are exhausted and services and functions of natural ecosystems are destroyed or diminished.

Such is the case of the edible–nest swiftlets in which the impending threat of system collapse is not far in the future should the current harvesting pattern is not addressed. There is a need, therefore, to prioritize the conservation of the swiftlets and sustainable harvest of their nests. The valuable resource of the edible birds’ nests therefore, cannot be managed sustainably in an environment of greed and neglect. Recognizing this premise, the following recommendations are herein presented as conservation options:



Management and Governance

The goal of management should be to ensure the conservation of swiftlets and that nest harvest is sustainable. Annual recruitment of cave populations is necessary to achieve sustainability, and that each pair should be able to produce at the least, one brood fledging per year at the optimal season.

1. Extended contract leases

Consideration should be given, for the granting of clearly defined, long-termrights e.g. minimum of five (5) years to concessionaires. Short-term renewal of lease for collection contracts will only drive the concessionaires to harvest as many as possible to maximize profit within the short life span of the contract and when there is no possibility or assurance of obtaining future lease contracts, there is no incentive for conservation.

2. Review of basis for LGU prescribed bidaward

The opening bid amount should be reviewed and be able to provide sound justification for its prescription. Production records could provide useful information in determining the trend of species population and

volume. Gatherers, to be able to meet the contracted amount, will be forced to collect nest at every opportunity to compensate for the financial obligations to the government, and at the same time earn a profit.

3. Imposition of an Open and CloseCollection Season with strict collection schedule

A collection season will allow the birds sufficient time to complete the breeding cycle and maximize clutch development. A collection calendar is herein presented in Table 2 for this purpose. The close season is there-fore proposed to commence every last week of April until third week of December. The birds may produce up to a maximum of three (3) clutches with a minimum of 2.6 months requirement for incubation and fledging, and additional weeks for mating and egg laying at which all stages utilize the nest. Collection timing is recommended to a maximum of three (3) harvests at four (4) weeks interval. This is to allow the birds to complete the average 35 days to complete building a full cup nest without much pressure to rebuild a new one every time an uncompleted nest is taken.

Table 2. Recommended EBN Harvesting Calendar for Taytay and El Nido (2014)


Table 2. Recommended Edible Bird's Nest Harvesting Calendar for Taytay and El Nido, 2014January February March April May June July August September October November December

Activities w1 w2w3 w4 w1 w2 w4w3w4 w1w2 w3 w4 w1 w2 w3 w4 w1 w2 w3 w4 w1w2 w3 w4 w1 w2 w3 w4 w1 w2 w3 w4 w1 w2 w3 w4 w1 w2 w3 w4 w1 w2 w3 w4 w1 w2 w3 w4

"Unang

Suot"/

First

Harvest

"Pangalaw

ang Suot"

/ 2nd

Harvest

"Pangatlo

ng Suot"

/ 3rd

Harvest

Close

Season

Limpiada

OPEN SEASON December 4th week to April 4th week with three (3) prescribed collections

CLOSE SEASON April 4th week to December 3rd week


Administration

1. The Bureau of Customs or the Department ofTrade and Industry and other relevantgovernment agency maintaining trade statistics should strictly monitor international trade to secure data that may be used as inputs for management interventions.

2. The PCSD as the mandated agency for theimplementation of Wildlife Act should be the lead agency for administering legislation, controlling the harvest and trade regulation of the edible birds nest to be assisted by the LGUs. To this effect, the existing MOA between the LGUs and PCSD crafted in 2005 should be revisited to ensure compliance.

3. The PCSD should start the process of thedeclaration of the species as Economically Important to conform to the provisions of RA 9147 on the issuance of collection and trade permit. A thorough inventory and evaluation of edible birds nest concessionaires, collectors, buyer and traders should be made and to impose the “no wildlife permit, no operation” scheme.

4. Standardize nest classification should becrafted alongside with price regulation along the market chain to ensure distribution of equal benefits especially for the marginalized nest collectors.

Industry

An organized group of EBN industry players in each municipality must be created to constitute a unified representation of the EBN gatherers, concessionaires, buyers and traders. The same group will represent an organized entity in dealing with the government thatissues applicable harvesting regulation instrument and which will police themselves. The organized group may be affiliated with other regional and international organizations of nest producers to be able to share knowledge on good practices and product handling among others.

Education and Awareness

The need to inform the community on the welfare and importance of the species at the moment is highly warranted. Conservation is more effective and sustainable with the engagement of the government and the support of local people.


Species Management

1. Monitoring of cave populations

Trade data or number of nesting harvests gives minimum estimates of total population size. Population estimates will provide management of monitoring information leading to appropriate intervention. Once a stable population can be established as a result of monitoring and sustainable harvests, other options such as venturing into birds nest farming can be explored. Nest farming captures existing bird population, providing alternative breeding areas through luring by bird calls. Venturing into these initiatives without ensuring a stable population will just lure the same bird population to migrate into commercial bird houses.

2. Protection of the foraging habitats

Strict protection of adjacent forest areas vegetation is desirable to ensure available food source for the birds owing to a richer source of aerial insects in the forest (Hobbs, 2003). This may also be related to the observed population decline due to birds feeding from agriculture areas loaded with pesticides in the absence of contiguous vegetation.

3. Inclusion of the species in CITES Appendix II for trade regulation

The PCSD as the CITES Management Authority of the Philippines for Palawan may revive the 1994 proposal for the species’ inclusion to CITES Appendix II. Species under CITES II are provided with trade quota and requires source certification that the species was collected in a sustainable manner non-detrimental to its survival. Further, illegal trade may be lessened if not totally curtailed with the assistance of other CITES member countries.

4. Added Value for Nest Post Harvests

The birds’ nest industry should collaborate with government agencies and the academe to explore nest post-harvest processing to include value added product intervention and ensuring product safety and quality considering that the product is intended for human consumption. This will also provide additional income for the community and will elevate the participation of local gath-erers from nest collectors to product handler. Product certification should be explored to lessen the risk for product quality failure in the international market.



ACKNOWLEDGMENT

The author wishes to express her utmost gratitude to the following:

PCSDS family: Office of the Executive Director, Director Lualhati E. Tabugon, the ECAN Policy and Research Division – J. Pontillas, J. Fabello, R.Cruz, M.Dela Cruz and C.Jalover, R.Maximo of Taytay and El Nido District Management Office;

Office of the Mayor and Sangguniang Bayan of Taytay and El Nido; the concession-aires, gatherers and traders of Taytay and El Nido; the Barangay officials of New Ibajay, Bebeladan and Maytigued;

Thesis committee Dr. Ramon Docto, Dr. Ronald Edilberto Ona, Prof and Dean Sonia Banagua; and adviser Dr. Patrick Regoniel.

REFERENCES

Anon. 2014. Benefits of consuming bird’s nest, a treasured health supplement. www.longchue birdsnest . com. Downloaded 28 July 2014.

Birdlife International. 2014. Species Factsheet: Aerodramus fuciphagus. Downloaded from www.birdlife.org. Accessed on 27/07/2014.

BirdLife International (2015) Species Factsheet: Aerodramus fuciphagus. Down-loaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 31/05/2015. Recommended citation for fact-sheets for more than one species: BirdLife International (2015) IUCN Red List for birds. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 31/05/2015.

Chantler, P., and Driessens, G. 2000. Swifts: a Guide to the Swifts and Trees Swifts of the World. Mountfield, East Sussex: Pica Press. ISBN 1-873403-83-6.

CITES. 1996. Doc. 10.50 (Rev.) Annex 1 Resolution Conference. 9.15 Of the Conference of the Parties. Conservation of Edible-nest Swiftlets of the Genus Collocalia.

Del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A., and Sargatal, J. 1999.Handbook of the Birds of the World, vol. 5: Barn-owls to Hummingbirds. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona, Spain.

Encyclopedia of Life (EOL). 2014. Crisis is an opportunity. http://www.swiftletecopark.com.my/knowledge_articles_crisis.htm.Aerodramus Cave Swiftlets.

Government of Italy. 1994. Proposal for the inclusion of Collocalia spp. in CITES.

Conference document No. 45, 9th

Conference of the Parties of the Convention on the International Trade of Endangered Species of Flora and Fauna Fort Lauderdale (United States of America ), 7-18 November 1994.

Hobbs, J.J. 2004. Problems in the harvest of edible birds’ nests in Sarawak and Sabah, Malaysian Borneo. Biodiversity and Conservation 13: 2209-2226.

Jordan, D. 2004. Globalisation and Bird's Nest Soup. International Development Planning Review, Volume 26, Number 1, Liverpool University Press.

Langham, N. 2008. Breeding Biology of the Edible – Nest Swiftlet Aerodramusfuciphagus. School of Natural Resources, University of the South Pacific, P.O. Box 1168, Suva, Fiji.

Lim, E. 2011. Personal Communication with E. Lim, Edible Birds Nest Buyer/Trader. Poblacion, El Nido, Palawan. February 23, 2011.

Manchi, S.S. and Sankaran, R. 2010. Foraging Habits and Habitat Use by Edible-nest and Glossy Swiftlets in the Andaman Islands, India. The Wilson Journal of Ornithology 122(2):259-272.2010.

Maximo, R. 2011. Personal Communication with R. Maximo, District Management Officer, Taytay-El Nido, Palawan. February 2011.

Moog, F. 2005. Edited by J.M Suttie and S.G. Reynolds and slightly modified by S.G. Reynolds in October 2006. Country Pasture/Forage Resource Profiles. Food and Agriculture Office, Regional Working Group on Grazing and Feed Resources for Southeast Asia.

Piper, R. 2007. Extraordinary Animals: An Encylopedia of Curious and Unusual Animals, Greenwood Press.

Republic Act 9147. 2001. An act providing tor the conservation and protection of wildlife resources and their habitats, appropriating funds therefore and for other purposes.

Sheshnarayan, M. S. 2009. Breeding Ecology of the Edible-nest Swiftlet Aerodramus fu-ciphagus and the Glossy Swiftlet Collocalia esculenta in the Andaman Islands, India. Ph.D. thesis, Bharathiar University, Coim-batore for the Degree of Doctor of Philoso-phy in Zoology. Sálim Ali Centre for Orni-thology and Natural History Coimbatore 641 108.

http://www.birdlife.org/

http://www.birdlife.org/

©2015 Palawan Council for Sustainable Development

A new and rare species of ant (Romblonella coryae sp.n) was discovered by scientists from the

University of the Philippines Los Baños Museum of Natural History and the Philippine National

Museum. R. coryae was discovered in Cleopatra’s Needle, Puerto Princesa City, Palawan.

Sources: www.gmanetwork.com/New PHL ant named after Cory Aquino .13 May 2015 General, D. and Buenavente, P.A. 2015. A second species of the ant genus Romblonella from the Philippines (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Halteres 6: 56-62.

According to the researchers, the newly discovered ant species is named in honor of

the late President Cory Aquino, who signed the Republic Act No. 7611 or the Strategic

Environmental Plan for Palawan Act of 1992 during her presidency. This is the second

Romblonella species from the Philippines. The first was found in Romblon in 1935.

Close up picture of the head of R. coryae.

36 ©2015 Palawan Council for Sustainable Development

The Palawan toadlet (Pelophryne albotaeniata) that was reported to had been “extinct” for the last 40 years was “rediscovered” in Cleopatra’s Needle, Puerto Princesa City, by a team launched in December 2014 to conduct biodiversity survey and carried out by the Palawan Council for Sustainable Development, Global Wildlife Conservation, Amphibian Survival Alliance, and Rainforest Trust. Source: National Geographic, Published 02 June 2015 Photos courtesy of Jonah van Beijnen of Center for Sustainability

The rediscovered Palawan toadlet (Pelophryne albotaeniata) , a male calling. ©Jonah van Beijnen



Forum/Conference Paper: Sustainable Development Monitoring


Enhancing the Environmental Monitoring and Evaluation System of

Palawan Biosphere Reserve, Philippines

Madrono P. Cabrestante Jr.1

Abstract This paper presents an assessment of the environmental monitoring and evaluation system (EMES) of the Palawan Biosphere Reserve, an archipelago of more than 1,700 islands in southwestern Philippines. The biosphere reserve is an internationally recognized biodiversity hotspot, with its natural tropical forest and coral reefs threatened by high population growth and rapid economic development. The analysis focuses on the responsiveness of the EMES in monitoring the implementation of the environmentally critical areas network (ECAN) and the attainment of the goals of the Strategic Environmental Plan. The EMES Manual was assessed in terms of extent of coverage of the system among the various environmental media (air, water, soil/ land, flora, and fauna), and the adequacy of monitoring parameters or indicators. This paper provides recommendations to enhance the EMES and its implementation, including the institutional mechanism such that the local government units must be actively involved in the activity and not just PCSDS. Social acceptability and the participation of affected stakeholders will ensure the success of EMES implementation.

Keywords:

Palawan biosphere reserve environmental monitoring environmental indicators environmental media

1Project Development Officer and Head ECAN Policy, Monitoring and Knowledge Management, PCSDS Address correspondence to: PCSD Building, Sports Complex Road, Sta. Monica Heights, Puerto Princesa City, Palawan, P.O. Box 45, PPC 5300 Palawan, Philippines. Email: [email protected]

M. P. Cabrestante, Jr./Our Palawan 1(1): 37-47


1. INTRODUCTION

Monitoring and evaluation is mainly a tool to determine the extent by which a program or project attained its target and objectives. Monitoring is defined as the repeated measurement of a series of defined variables which allows for assessing changes where a baseline is available, or to establish the latter. It is aimed at detecting changes in terms of deviations from a standard or norm (BRIMS, 2001). In some, it is the systematic observation of changes in issues that are relevant for one’s own situation which is done to better understand the effects of one’s own activities, and to anticipate on new or expected situations (Kessler, 1998).

In monitoring of the environment, it is important that the “environment needs to be viewed as a holistic system, looking into its structures and processes in the context of causes and effects” (UBA, 2002). Monitoring is thus a tool that provides scientists with biological or environmental data and a means to identify trends and discriminate between natural, anthropogenic, and climatic changes (BRIMS, 2001). In order to be useful, monitoring should serve as basis for informed policy-making.

In the context of the Palawan Biosphere Reserve as mandated by law, environmental monitoring and evaluation is a mechanism of the Strategic Environmental Plan (SEP) for Palawan to determine the level of maintenance of environmental integrity vis-à-vis economic development. Palawan’s Environmental Monitoring and Evaluation System (EMES) was formulated in 1990-92 to guide policy and decision-makers of the province. Monitoring the environmental and socio-economic trends in Palawan has now become a necessity considering that its high annual population growth rate poses a threat to its unique biological systems, ecosystems and species diversity.

The Study Area

Palawan Biosphere Reserve encom-passes the entire island-province of Palawan in southwestern Philippines, straddling the Sulu Sea in the east/southeast and the West Philippine Sea/South China Sea to the west. The province of Palawan is known as the Philippines’ last ecological frontier. It is endowed with rich natural resources and highly diverse flora and fauna found in both land and

sea. It was inscribed as a biosphere reserve in 1990.

According to Schmidt (2010), citing IUCN (1993), fully functioning biosphere reserves are conceived to fulfill: (i) a conservation role: protecting locally occurring genetic resources, plant and animal species, and ecosystems and landscapes of value to maintain biological diversity and life-support systems; ii) a development role: combining conservation objectives with the sustainable use of ecosystem resources to benefit local communities; and iii) a logistics role: providing research, monitoring, education and training opportunities and facilities and information exchange. These functions are associated through a zonation system consisting of a core area, a buffer area and an outer or transition area, which have their respective aims and purposes (BRIMS, 2001). In the Philippines, the Palawan Biosphere Reserve sustains this zonation scheme through the establishment of the Environmentally Critical Areas Network or ECAN (SEP, 1992). The ECAN is a graded system of development control over the entire island-province of Palawan.

Environmental Monitoring System of Palawan

The conceptualization of the environmental monitoring system in Palawan started in 1984-85 during the implementation of the “Integrated Environmental Program (IEP)” of the Palawan Integrated Area Development Project, where the first draft of the EMES manual was produced. The EMES, together with environmental research and environmental education and extension, comprise the “support triad of ECAN”. The latest revision of the EMES took place after the legitimization of the SEP in 1992; it aimed at “strengthening the manual’s contents with the inclusion of monitoring methodologies and evaluation procedures” (SEP, 1992). The objectives of the EMES, as stated in the law and subsequent PCSD policy issuances (PCSD, 1992) are: 1) to ensure a systematic and reliable means of data generation for the various concerns of the SEP; 2) serve as vehicle of PCSDS in the monitoring and assessment of the implementation of the comprehensive local management plan; 3) provide periodic review and assessment of the environment which shall be used as basis to check the efficacy, effectiveness and possible defects of the ECAN Zoning Plan in meeting its objective of protecting and enhancing the

M. P. Cabrestante, Jr./Our Palawan 1(1):37-47


ecological system; and 4) be the lead in monitoring and assessing the implementation of ECAN Zoning Management Plan.

Purpose of this Paper

This paper aims to evaluate or assess the Environmental Monitoring and Evaluation System (EMES) of the Palawan Biosphere Reserve as to: its responsiveness to monitoring and evaluating the attainment of the SEP objectives through the implementation of ECAN and its management zonation; the sustainability of its institutional mechanism for implementation; and the adequacy of the EMES Manual in terms of coverage in monitoring the five environmental media as well as sufficiency of monitoring parameters and procedures.

2. METHODOLOGY

This study employed a literature-descriptive research to analyze the Manual of the Environmental Monitoring and Evaluation System (EMES) of the Palawan Biosphere Reserve, through the Palawan Council for Sustainable Development Staff.

In the evaluation of the EMES Manual, the following criteria were considered:

Adequacy – whether or not it has adequately provided parameters and/or procedures in monitoring the five (5) basic environmental media: soil, water, air, animals (fauna) and plants (flora). Literatures point out that environmental monitoring must

encompass these media, as well as the transfer of materials, energy and information between them.

Applicability– whether the parameters of monitoring listed in the Manual are still applicable in relation to the current environmental and technological development and trends, or that the implementation thereof will incur least cost but nevertheless produce the same desired results.

Effectiveness – pertains to the likelihood of achieving the desired goals; in this paper, the implementation mechanism stated in the Manual was assessed on whether or not it will lead to sustained implementation of the EMES.


The process of environmental monitoring in Palawan, as contained in the EMES Manual, serves to respond to the management aim of having the required information in order to make the necessary policies, decisions and actions. Figure 1 illustrates this process.

The EMES Manual includes, among others, the long list of parameters to be monitored focusing on the following resources: land and soil, land-use and land classification, forest and agriculture, water, coastal-marine, and human. Based on the above, monitoring can be undertaken in any of the following:


Selection of monitoring criteria

Baseline measurement of monitoring criteria extent; quality; composition

Periodic long-term measurement of extent;

composition; monitoring criteria; quality

Sample site selection

Identification of environmentally-

significant activities/sites

Selected critical catchment

monitoring

Activity-specific sites Province-wide

monitoring

Figure 1. The Environmental Monitoring Process (Source: PCSD, 1992)


1) Province-wide monitoring: the parameters worth considering are land resources/land-use, forest and mangrove resources, water resources, and human resources. This paper agrees with the EMES Manual in undertaking a macro- or regional monitoring of Palawan. The conduct of province-wide monitoring on resources of greater significance to the island-province (and the entire biosphere reserve) must focus on resources whose changes will have provincial or regional significance.

2) Selected critical catchment (or watershed) monitoring: the parameters that must be looked into are coastal-marine resources, land resources, forest resources, water resources, and human resources. This paper concurs with the EMES Manual considering that changes in the resources in a specific catchment will impact the lives of its inhabitants.

3) Activity-specific sites monitoring: the projects or activities in specific sites that must be monitored should include mines, roads, logging, ports, etc. This paper recommends that monitoring of site-specific land, activities should be made compulsory for projects that are considered environmentally critical.

Assessment of EMES in monitoring the effectiveness of the zoning system

Pursuant to the objectives of EMES, there is a need to monitor how effective is the ECAN zonation and the corresponding management prescriptions.

The first objective of EMES is to monitor and assess the implementation of the ECAN zoning and management, which is an information gap in the existing EMES Manual. Table 1 attempts to fill-in this gap by

Table 1. Sample Indicators for Environmental Monitoring of ECAN Zones

ECAN Zones Sample Indicators for Monitoring ECAN management zones

Terrestrial Zones:

Core zone

>Ecosystem quality of strictly protected zones (i.e. forest stand,

biodiversity index, number of endemic or rare species present, etc.).

Restricted-use zone >Volume of harvested minor forest products; sustainable annual quota.

>Carrying capacity of tourism sites; established tourist pathways, viewing

decks/areas, etc.

Controlled-use zone >Extent or area of mining; ecosystem carrying capacity for such activities.

>Volume of harvested forest products, etc.

Traditional-use zone >Areas or extent of land cover (i.e. secondary forest, kaingin, open/bare

land, grassland, brushland, etc) .

Multiple-use zone >Areas or extent of land cover or land use (i.e. farm land, plantation,

paddy field, built-up or settlements, etc)

Coastal-Marine

Zones:

Coastal Core zone

>Extent or area of declared/legitimized and delineated/demarcated marine

protected areas (MPA), coastal core zones and others.

>Status/implementation of MPA management plan.

>Ecosystem quality of MPA (i.e. % live coral cover, mangrove stand,

etc.), including water quality.

Multiple-use zone:

Buffer/ Transition area

>Extent and ecosystem condition of restored marine habitats.

>Awareness level of communities on coastal resource management; etc.

Multiple-use zone:

General/ Sustainable –

use

>Areas or extent of sustainable use of coastal-marine waters; management

plan implementation status; etc.

Tribal- Ancestral

zone

>Biodiversity status inside ancestral land domains; IP resource

management plans/programs; extent of IP land-use and practices, etc.



suggesting some indicators for environmental monitoring of the ECAN zones. In the future, more detailed and specific indicators need to be identified in order to evaluate the ECAN management zones vis-a-vis the sustainable development framework.

Adequacy of the EMES Manual vis-à-vis Environmental Media Coverage

The EMES Manual of 1992 has provided a list of the various environmental media which will be subjected to monitoring such as water, soil/land, animals/fauna, and plants/flora. From an ecological point of view, according to Ellenberg et al. (1978), the environmental compartments (or media) soil, water, air, animals and plants, as well as the transfer of materials, energy and information between them, have to be examined in their entirety in any monitoring activity. A scrutiny of the EMES Manual reveals that no monitoring parameters and procedures were provided for ambient or atmospheric air.

In Germany and its neighboring countries, the joint monitoring of air quality in the former Black Forest used the parameters

particulate matter (PM₁₀, PM2.5), heavy metals, benzene, ammonia (NH3) and polycyclicaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in their measurements, while in Barbados, air pollution monitoring measures particulates, lead, carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, sulphur dioxide, and ozone (Abraham et al., 2005; Burnett,1995). The Philippine Clean Air Act of 1999 emphasized the monitoring of particulate matter (total suspended particulates and PM10), sulfur dioxide, ozone, carbon monoxide and nitrogen dioxide. Thus, the EMES Manual must incorporate these parameters in the monitoring of atmospheric air.

Adequacy of the EMES Manual for monitoring water, land, flora & faunal resources

The EMES manual provided certain monitoring parameters for most of the environmental medium, still there are other important parameters that were not included. Thus, it is recommended that new or additional parameters, as shown in Table 2, should be included in the Manual.

In Germany, the water and wastewater monitoring activities focus on conventional pollutants using the following parameters: biological oxygen demand (BOD), chemical oxygen demand (COD), solids, conductivity,

pH, oil and grease, fecal coliform, heavy metals, and a few organic compounds (Newburn,1988). Monitoring of inorganic nutrient loading of water bodies is important, as Benndorf (2010) pointed out that the primary reason for eutrophication is the undesired over-fertilization of water bodies with inorganic nutrient, mainly phosphorus (as phosphate) and nitrogen (as nitrate and ammonium). Klapper (1991) attributes the causes of progressive increase in the nutrient pollution of natural bodies of water to the intensification of agricultural and industrial output and the rising incidence of domestic sewage. Freedman (1989) specifically attributed the eutrophication through fertilization with nutrients in sewage that contain detergents, human wastes, and animal wastes, as well as from agricultural run-offs contaminated with fertilizer. If nutrient loading is not controlled, an increase in phytoplankton may become the most conspicuous symptom of eutrophication (Freedman, 1989), which may further enhance occurrence of ‘harmful algal blooms’ and ‘red tide’ phenomena in the Philippines.

For monitoring of soil, land and agricultural resources, this paper recommends inclusion of additional important parameters such as soil pH, which could be affected by the current global climatic changes. In the United States, forest ecosystem health is monitored in terms of physical and chemical properties of soil because any environmental stressor that alters the natural function of the soil has the potential to influence the vitality, species composition, and hydrology of forest ecosystems (USDA, 2005a), including other indicator as vegetation type, relative abundance, and vertical position of all trees, shrubs, herbs, grasses, ferns and fern allies (USDA, 2005b).

The monitoring of the level of criticality of faunal species (including amphibians) should be regularly undertaken, further classifying these wildlife as to endemicity or in terms of criticality based on the Red Data List of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the Convention of International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), or the National Red List of Philippine Wild Fauna.

Institutionalization: Key to sustainability of EMES implementation

To sustain environmental monitoring operation in Palawan, the participation of local



Table 2. Existing parameters for monitoring (PCSD, 1992) and new parameters being recommended

Environmental

Media

Resources/

Parameters

Existing indicators of

monitoring stated in

the EMES Manual

(1992)

Parameters being recommended

for inclusion in the EMES

Manual

(as per this study)

Water Rainfall Mean annual, seasonal

distribution

Other parameters such as pH

variability; other physico-

chemical characteristics.

River discharge,

sediment load,

water quality

Rate of flow, water

level, suspended

sediment load,

dissolved oxygen, pH,

turbidity

Standards; other parameters such

as total suspended solids (TSS)

and total dissolved solids (TDS).

Water quality & standards;

monitoring of other surface

waters (i.e. lakes, dams);

nutrient loadings for phosphorus

& nitrogen content.

Ground water Static water level Salinity, pH, and other water

quality and standards

Coastal and Marine

Resources

Fish Fish production Fish diversity through fish

census; fish sampling to analyze

toxicity levels; standards

Coral Reefs Extent, species,

condition

Monitoring changes may be

supplemented by Remote Sensing

or Geographic Information

System.

Seagrass Extent, distribution,

condition, species

Include seaweeds and its

diversity.

Water quality Salinity, temperature

turbidity, siltation

Standards; other parameters such

as dissolved oxygen (DO),

chemical oxygen demand (COD),

biological oxygen demand (BOD),

total coliform & fecal coliform.

Nutrient (inorganic) loadings to

determine phosphorus &

nitrogen content.

Flora Forest/Land Use Extent of forest,

brushland/ shrubland,

kaingin/grassland,

permanent cultivated

land, rocky outcrops,

mining, industrial &

settlement areas,

rivers, lakes

&reservoirs.

Determine ratio of permanent

forest area versus development

area.

Forest tree species, structure,

diversity, average diameters.

Include the mangrove forest:

species diversity, extent, size &

structure of trees.



Environmental

Media

Resources/

Parameters

Existing indicators

of monitoring stated

in the EMES

Manual (1992)

Parameters being recommended

for inclusion in the EMES

Manual

(as per this study)

Forest/Land

Classification

Extent (in hectare)

and proportion of

public lands, A&D

lands, ISF per

municipality

More detailed land-use and land

cover changes (or change

detection)

Timber

Production

Volume of logs from

logging concessions

& from DENR

confiscated timber

Must relate to the community-

based forest management or

municipal communal forest

mechanisms

Minor Forest

Products

Volume of rattan,

charcoal, almaciga

resin, nipa shingles,

mangrove wood,

honey, bamboo

harvested

Carrying capacity of the resource

base; sustainable allowable

harvestable volume.

Fauna Birds Population Species

diversity

Species classification based on

IUCN or CITES list.

Habitats and their extent

Mammals Population of major

species

Species classification based on

IUCN or CITES list.

Habitats and their extent

Amphibians & other fauna:

classification of species accord-

ing to IUCN, CITES or Philippine

Red list, their habitats & extent.

Quality & condition of species:

size, weight, fat deposits, age/sex

structure of population, and

incidence of disease (from

Mackinnon, et. al., 1986).

Quality and condition of habitats:

through examining soil loss &

water run-off patterns, total

biological productivity, or

assessing species composition

(from Mackinnon, et. al., 1986)



government units must be harnessed. The EMES Manual illustrates the linkages and relationship among various institutions in EMES implementation as shown in Figure 2.

Among the powers devolved to the LGUs, the financial resources available to local governments has been increased by broadening their taxing powers and providing them with a specific share from the national wealth exploited in their area and increasing their share from the national taxes (Pabico, 2007). Thus, LGUs are now in a better position to participate in environmental management activities as they have flexibility in terms of resource availability. Furthermore, they are empowered by the by the local government code to protect the environment and impose appropriate

penalties for acts which endanger the environment. In data collection, according to Kessler (1998), it is better to look into making strategic alliances with other agencies or entities, and attribute to them specific monitoring tasks, possibly for a range of programmes, projects or activities. The participation of local people in monitoring often leads to a greater understanding by the affected stakeholders.

The implementation mechanism presented in the EMES Manual is not sustainable unless local government units, the communities and other concerned sectors are involved. It is recommended that PCSDS strengthen the LGU’s capabilities in conducting environmental monitoring in their

Evaluate ef-

fectiveness of

efforts

Provide cor-

rective

measures

Project long-

term trends

Assess critical

areas

Identify and

locate serious

problems

Special re-

ports (early

warning)

Annual report

PCSDS

Line

agencies

Local gov-

ernment

units

NGO

s

CLP

Private

business

Provincial

National level

institutions and

organizations

Political

support

Public at

-large

EIS

System

Research

network

Manpower,

funds,

equipment

facilities

QRS

(Quick

Response

System)

Results

EMES

Accurate

relevant

integral

data

Mass me-

dia system

Figure 2. EMES Linkages (Source: PCSD, 1992)



LGUs

(Catchment mon-

itoring)

PCSDS

(Province or bio-

sphere-wide moni-

toring)

National government

agencies

Non-government

organizations

Private

businesses

Other multi-

sectoral bodies

Academe

EME

System

Figure 4. Proposed simplified institutional linkage of EMES implementation.

respective geographical jurisdiction, particularly in critical catchments/watersheds. All other actors or stakeholders who play their respective roles in environmental monitoring must work with both PCSDS (for biosphere-wide monitoring) and LGUs (for catchment/watershed monitoring). Likewise, in monitoring activity-specific sites, the existing institutional linkages in the multi-partite monitoring teams (MMT) is worth emulating and replicating (Figure 3). Here, the stakeholders get to participate as well as allocate their respective resources.

The illustration in Figure 4 is being proposed to simplify the EMES, which eliminates the single-directional path for its implementation. All the other sectors and key players shall work both with PCSDS and the LGUs in the EMES implementation, such that in the event that any of the two (2) major implementers falter, it will not lead to the total collapse of the system. This proposed networking or linkage likewise promotes social acceptability and participation of other stakeholders.


Figure 3. MMT inspection in a limestone quarry area, Bataraza, Palawan. 2013. (©Perlita Quiling)



On the enhancement of the EMES Manual

The existing EMES system and its manual has not specifically provided the parameters and indicators in monitoring the ECAN zoning and their management prescriptions. Specific parameters or indicators need to be identified and utilized to ascertain whether or not the ECAN zonation effectively attains its set objectives. The EMES Manual will approach certain level of adequacy if the following shall be considered:

Inclusion of parameters in monitoring the ambient air. This environmental medium is important in this period of global climatic change attributed to anthropogenic activities.

More focused monitoring of nutrient loading (particularly phosphorus and nitrogen) into water bodies coming from domestic sewage and agricultural activities, which are significant contributors to undesirable algal

REFERENCES

Abraham, J., Berger, F., Ciechanowicz-Kusztal R., Jodłowska-Opyd, G., Kallweit, D., Keder, J., Kulaszka W. and Novák, J. 2005. Joint report on air quality in the Tri-border region of the Czech Republic, Poland and Germany in 2004. Online. www. umweltbundesamt.de/luft-e/infos/publikationen/ index.htm. Ac-cessed 02 April 2010.

Benndorf, J. 2010. Sustainable Water Quality Management. Study Materials for the UNEP/UNESCO/BMU International Postgraduate Course on Environmental

blooms and ultimately, “red tide” occurrence.

On the EMES implementing mechanism

The EMES implementing mechanism limits itself to a particular institution, PCSDS. The involvement and participation of local government units and communities is important (Figure 5). Since the local people have immediate influence on the environment, they will be the first to reap the positive or neg-ative effects/ impacts of changes therein. Other agencies and entities may be involved in environmental management and monitoring to enhance the acquisition of scientific information in analyzing trends and changes in the ecological and socio-economic systems. The EMES will be better-off jointly implemented by PCSDS and the local government units of Palawan, each entity contributing its own resources and commitment towards the attainment of a common good .

4. CONCLUSION AND POLICY IMPLICATIONS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The author would like to thank the following for making his study and the writing of this pa-per possible: the Management and Officers of PCSD and PCSDS, the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Natural Conservation and Nuclear Safety, the United Nations Environment Program, the WWF-Russel E. Train Education for Nature Program, the Centre for International Postgraduate Studies of Environmental Management. (CIPSEM) Course Director Dr. Ingr. Rodulf Bauer and his research adviser at Technische Universitat Dresden, Prof Dr. Peter A. Schmidt.

Figure 5. Environmental (water quality) monitor ing and training, El Nido, Palawan. 2012 (©PCSDS)


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Management for Developing and Emerging Countries, Technische Universität Dresden, Germany. Pp 28.

Biosphere Reserve Integrated Monitoring (BRIMS) 2001. BRIM/SM/INF.2/Rev.1_24 August 2001. Online. www.fao.org/gtos/doc/brim2.pdf. Accessed 13 Feb 2010.

Burnett, W. 1995. Developing an Air Pollution Monitoring Network for a Small Island State–Case Study on Barbados. In Environmental Management in Developing Countries. Readers for Participants in the UNEP / UNESCO/ BMU Postgraduate Training Course in Environmental Manage-ment held at the Dresden University of Technology and for Scholars in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Volume 4, 1998. Dres-den, Germany. Pp13-37.

Ellenberg, H., O.Fränzle and P. Müller. 1978. Ökosystemforschung im Hinblick auf Um-welt- und Entwicklungsplanung. Umwelt-forschungsplan des Bundesministers des Innern, FuE-Vorhaben 78-10104005, im Auftrag des Umweltbundesamtes, Berlin, Bonn. pp 268. Cited in Schröder, et al (2006): Online. www.springerlink.com/content/5r154x7u38555367/fulltext.pdf. Ac-cessed 02April 2010.

Freedman, B. 1989. Environmental Ecology: the impacts of pollution and other stresses on ecosystem structure and function. Aca-demic Press, Inc. San Diego, California, USA. pp.424.

International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). 1993. A global overview of wetland and marine protected areas on the world heritage list. Gland, Switzerland.

Kessler, J.J. 1998. Monitoring of Environmental Qualities in Relation to Development Objectives. Online. www.seanplatform.org/products/toolbox/full/Background/ Monitoring.htm. Accessed 01April 2010.

Klapper, H. 1991. Control of Eutrophication in Inland Waters. Translater, Bernard Hem-mings. Ellis Horwood series in water and wastewater technology. West Sussex, England. Pp. 335.

Mackinnon, J., Child, K.C. and Thorsell, J. 1986. Managing Protected Areas in the Tropics. A compilation, based on the Work-shops on Managing Protected Areas in the Tropics World Congress on National Park, Bali, Indonesia 1982. Organized by the IUCN Commision on National Parks and Protected Areas. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland. Pp 295.


The Lighthouse, teeming with seabirds in South Atoll of Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park,

Cagayancillo, Palawan. (©Jenevieve Hara, 2015)



Forum/Conference Paper: Sustainable Development Education


Keywords:

biosphere reserve climate change Environmentally Critical Areas Network Palawan Strategic Environmental Plan Sustainable

Development zoning

Abstract

The Man and Biosphere Programme of the UNESCO established a worldwide network of reserves with the intent of showcasing the critical relationship between human societies and their natural environments. The recent Madrid Conference highlighted the critical role and potential contributions of biosphere reserves in addressing climate change impacts at the local, national, regional and global scales. The Palawan Biosphere Reserve in the island province of Palawan, with a land area of 1.5 million hectares, is one of the two biosphere reserves in the Philippines. It was established in 1990 and is supported by a Philippine landmark legislation in 1992. Biodiversity and endemicity in the province are high in terms of terrestrial forests, mangroves, coral reefs, and seagrass beds. This paper presents the ongoing initiatives of Palawan Biosphere Reserve, as well as the challenges and opportunities encountered by its environmental managers in the pursuit of sustainable development. Indications have shown that the biosphere reserve scheme has laid down the basis for a climate change “ready” Palawan with the establishment of the Environmentally Critical Areas Network, an ecosystem-based land and water use zoning plan for the entire province. Organizational networking and strengthening are likewise in progress. A key challenge is the island character of the Palawan Biosphere Reserve that makes it susceptible to climate change impacts - especially sea level rise-since most of settlement areas and economic activities are largely concentrated along its limited plain lands in the coastal areas. Furthermore, conflicts in land use and natural resource utilization are already happening and are foreseen to escalate given the increasing national and international demand for both renewable and non-renewable resources. Unregulated migration has likewise resulted in encroachment in environmentally critical areas.

1Project Development Officer and Head ECAN Planning, PCSDS 2Project Development Officer, Special Concerns, Office of the Executive Director, PCSDS 3Vice President for Research and Extension, Palawan State University *Address correspondence to: PCSD Building, Sports Complex Road, Sta. Monica Heights, Puerto Princesa City, Palawan P.O. Box 45, PPC 5300 Palawan, Philippines. Email: [email protected]

Ryan T. Fuentes1*, John Francisco A. Pontillas2 and Michael D. Pido3

The Role of UNESCO’s Man and Biosphere Reserves in Climate Change Adaptation: Experience from Palawan Biosphere Reserve in the Philippines

R.T.Fuentes et al./Our Palawan 1(1):49-60


1. INTRODUCTION

The biogeographical region of the island-province of Palawan in the western Philippines is unique in terms of ecological and economic endowments. It harbors the highest terrestrial forest cover in the country which makes up 46% of the Palawan Province’s land area. It also has the highest mangrove assemblage in the country that account for roughly 42% of the total remaining mangroves in the Philippines (PCSDS, 2010). Palawan is also known for its high concentration of endemic plants and animals (Figure 1). In the past two years, descriptions of new species of pitcher plant (Robinson et al., 2009) and gecko (Brown et al., 2010) have been published in scientific journals. Such discoveries further emphasize the biogeographic distinctiveness and level of floral and vertebrate endemism of Palawan Island (Esselstyn et al., 2004).

Beyond the level of species and ecosystems, Palawan at the macro-level of landscape and seascape offers outstanding sources of raw materials and natural resources. The rich fishing grounds of Palawan are the major source of animal protein of the entire country. The relatively intact ecosystems-such as limestone formations, long beaches and coral reefs - continue to attract tourists to the area. The onshore mineral deposits in Palawan Island

are evident from the large tracts of ultramafic geologic formation along its mountain ranges. Moreover, the offshore waters are being applied for numerous service contracts for the extraction of fossil fuels. These outstanding biological endowments ideally place Palawan at the forefront of sustainable development. The ecological infrastructure in place provides an opportunity for model governance that will enrich the resources and sustain them for national development.

In 1982, a province-wide study on the appropriate course of development for Palawan was undertaken by Palawan Integrated Area Development Project Office (PIADPO, 1985). The study came up with holistic findings which are contained in a document called the Strategic Environmental Plan (SEP) for Palawan. Among the significant findings are the critical configuration of Palawan as an island ecosystem with long and narrow geography, steep topography, highly erodible soils and impermeable soils, as well as small watersheds and narrow river courses (PIADPO, 1985). The narrow mountain spine and rivers and steep runoff slopes make the mountain ecosystems at the center of Palawan vulnerable to soil erosion once the forest cover is removed. In the 1980s, the forest cover of Palawan is already under considerable threat from commercial logging and shifting cultivation.


Figure 1. Some of Palawan’s endemic flora and fauna: (a) monitor lizard (Varanus palawanensis); and pitcher plant (Nepenthes palawanensis)

(Sources:(a) Jonah van Beijnen; (b)www.wikipedia.org.)


Recognizing the need to protect the forests and resources of Palawan and anticipating the pressures that will be exerted by the high rates of migration and population in-crease, the environmental managers, in consultation with stakeholders, lobbied for the enactment of the SEP document as a landmark environmental legislation. This initiative was achieved in 1992, with the passage of Republic Act No. 7611, the Strategic Environmental Plan for Palawan Act (SEP Law). The rationale of the SEP Law is the reversal of the trends in environmental degradation and the provision of new development opportunities for the people of Palawan. The major proviso in the SEP Law is its handing down a ban on total commercial logging to allow the regeneration of forests which in past times have been subjected to land use conversion. The authority to implement the SEP Law lies with a multisectoral executive body called the Palawan Council for Sustainable Development (PCSD).

Two years prior to the enactment of the SEP Law, in 1990, Palawan was declared as a Biosphere Reserve by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The passage of the SEP Law aimed to perpetuate the status of Palawan as a biosphere reserve and as the Philippines’ last ecological frontier. The strategies in the law are expected to provide the management requirements of a biosphere reserve. The legal and institutional frameworks therefore already exist to provide for the long term resilience of biological diversity of Palawan and the enhancement of environmental and economic capital secured by its ecosystems. Given such background, this paper shall present the ongoing initiatives of Palawan Biosphere Reserve, as well as the challenges and opportunities encountered by its environmental managers in the pursuit of sustainable development.

2. METHODOLOGY

The central strategy of the SEP Law is a zoning strategy called the ECAN; the acronym stands for Environmentally Critical Areas Network. ECAN is a graded system of protection and development control over the whole province. It is strategically configured after the biosphere reserves (BR) of UNESCO. Zoning of biosphere reserves is aimed at the protection of environmentally critical habitats,

and the zoning scheme is typified by concentric circles.

Generally, the core area is strictly protected to meet conservation objectives. Around the core area, the buffer zone is delimited for non-extractive uses, while the transition area is where sustainable development activities with local communities are organized (Batisse, 1992). A network of such reserves is often created inside a management or conservation unit called a corridor, an ecoregion, or a protected land-scape and seascape.

The question of scale in zoning is concomitant to conservation and management objectives of the area. Under the Man and the Biosphere Programme (MAB) of UNESCO, the Palawan Biosphere Reserve (Sandalo and Baltazar, 1997) is recognized as part of the international biosphere reserves network. The Palawan BR is singled out as a representative sample of ecosystem types as it provides a standard against which the effects of man’s impact on environment can be measured. As with ECAN, the coverage of the reserve is the entire province. The ambit of the SEP Law thus gives ECAN the leverage to answer the zoning requirements of Palawan BR.

An ECAN zoning map is produced from biophysical and socio-economic criteria that include the elevation of the land, its slope, its forest cover, watershed properties, presence of habitat of threatened species, land classification, and the existing land uses. The management zones range from the core zone or the area of maximum protection, the buffer zone surrounding the core zone, and the multiple use or multi-purpose zone. All 23 municipalities of Palawan and the City of Puerto Princesa have adopted their ECAN zones maps for their respective planning and regulatory agenda. The adoption of the zoning maps is done through the approval of local government resolutions. The Palawan ECAN zones, aside from being the on-ground implementation of Palawan BR, serve as the blueprint for the province’s sustainable development as the municipal Comprehensive Land and Water Use Plans (CLWUPs) are based on the ECAN map. The regulatory function of the map is evident as each zone, from the core zone to the multiple use zone, is prescribed with allowable and prohibited activities.



The development of the ECAN zoning concept charts the evolution of GIS-based natural resources mapping in Palawan and the filling of data gaps in the province’s geographic resource information base (Fuentes, 2006). The early design of ecological zoning in Palawan relies on geomorphology or soil-terrain interplay. Geomorphology accounts for the delineation of land forms: steep mountains, steep and non-steep hills and lowlands. Steep mountains are the subject of strict protection measures because of their relative inaccessibility and the intact condition of the resources found therein. Thus, a montane ecosystem in a geomorphology-centered ECAN scheme is protected regardless of the condition or type of forest in a mountain, which is the spatial management unit in such a scheme.

Generally, montane ecosystems are equated with montane forest because forests are the dominant resource in the mountain. Montane ecosystems are consequently treated as core zones because of their singular forest cover characteristic. The designation of mountain ecosystems as distinct biogeographic systems is evident from the choice of several mountain ranges–such as the Victoria-Annepahan Ranges and Mantalingahan-Bulanjao Ranges (Figure 2) in the priority areas for ECAN (Hunting Technical Services Limited et al., 1987).


The 1985 Palawan Integrated Environmental Plan (IEP) ecological zonation concept of early to mid-1980s relies on soil characterization and the suitability of land for agriculture. The Palawan soil map is mapped at 1:250,000 scale and its pedogeomorphology (soil, slope, elevation combinations) at 1:100,000. The bases for pedogeomorphologic map are 1:50,000 topographic maps from National Mapping and Resource Information Authority (NAMRIA) and the interpretation of 1979 Landsat images. Spatial overlay of soil and topographic maps create 11 pedogeomorphic units within five ecological zones: Inshore marine and mangrove zone, Lowland zone, Low hills zone, Steep hills zone, and Mountain zone. From these units and zones are inferred the agricultural potential of the land. Further addition of land use in the spatial overlay leads to the identification of 20 zonal subdivisions or “subzones.”

The IEP classification of ecological zones and pedogeomorphic units attempts to model land capability that allows for broad-scale assessments of potential land use. The general idea is that placing the IEP Low hills zone under cultivation would ease up pressures of shifting cultivation on the erosion-prone steeper slopes of Steep hills zone and Mountain zone.

Figure 2. Mt. Mantalingahan, Brookes Point, Palawan (©PCSDS)

3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

From Land Form-Based to Ecosystem-Based Zoning Design: ECAN Zoning of Palawan


The current ECAN model of ecological zoning accounts for geologic hazards, although its reliance to geomorphology is now limited. The present concept is different from the soil/terrain type-land suitability of the IEP pedogeomorphologic zoning regime. Its complex design is patterned after habitats and ecosystems zoning (i.e., terrain, biodiversity hotspots and land use, with emphasis on land cover-land use capability). The shift may be partly attributed to the technical and theoretical requirements of balanced development. The availability of geographic information that are formerly not available (e.g., high resolution satellite imageries, rapid and in-depth biodiversity assessments and surveys) and the advancement of GIS hardware and software have led to the development of specific criteria and methods to zone environmentally-critical areas.

Geologic hazards are implicit in the use of geomorphology as a basis for ecological zoning. This is brought into greater focus by the shift to a habitat/ecosystem-centered ECAN scheme with the addition of several important ecological criteria, such as land cover and critical watersheds. This shift is essentially put into effect by the use of mapping (GIS and remote sensing) technologies and the use of finer scale datasets. Higher resolution land cover datasets make the distinction of forest ecosystem types more discernible. The coarse scale datasets in the geomorphologic zoning design also made it more prudent to use generalized management units. That is, a mountain unit or hill unit is used instead of several ecosystem or ecological units within such a mountain or hill.

Geologic hazards are, in principle, better explained by the current ECAN design. In the current habitat/ecosystem design, at least three parameters (altitude, slope, and land cover) of ECAN zoning reinforces each other and supports the view that planning frameworks must account for the geologic hazards in the environment. A geohazard map can in fact be produced from the overlay of the three aforementioned layers, and one would expect a strong correlation of its risk index to the ECAN zones.

Technical project consultants on ECAN have been hired to make mapping studies, develop methods for ECAN zoning implementation, and train the PCSD Staff (Ofren, 1999; Cabrido, 2003; Vinluan, 2004).

ECAN zoning started conventionally with table-mapping exercises supplemented by ground truthing (Sandalo, 1996).

The preliminary ECAN maps were produced in 1994, following the criteria instituted in PCSD Resolution 94-44. Only the criteria for elevation and forest cover were considered in the maps produced at this point. New ECAN zoning guidelines were instituted in 1999 and 2005 through PCSD Resolution 99-144 and PCSD Resolution 05-250, respectively. Several versions of the ECAN map were produced in 1998, 2001, 2004, and 2007, each version using updated and ground-validated ECAN parameters.

The “ecanization” of Palawan is defined as “the process of delineating and marking the boundaries of the different zones in both land and sea, the identification of prescribed activities and resource use for each zone, together with the enforcement of regulatory measures to prevent practices that are destructive of the environment” (1994 PCSD Resolution). To that end, the Palawan Province has come up with the following ECAN Map (Figure 3.)

ECAN and Climate Change

Since the mapping and delineation of ECAN zones is compatible with identifying ecological “hotspots” or areas in need of immediate protection and conservation, the utility of ECAN zoning in dealing with climate change is apparent. ECAN zoning is a way of identifying hazard-prone areas as physical parameters, such as slope and elevation, are used in its mapping using GIS. An ECAN map also indicates biodiversity hotspots as “habitat of endangered species”, one of the criteria in its mapping. Further, the ECAN zones can be an indicator of suitability for land use activities and a decision-support framework in determining the optimal location for various development options, such as ecotourism, agriculture, and housing.

Carbon Sequestration in Palawan Forests

Forest protection is one of the main objectives of ECAN zoning strategy. The zoning of protected forest areas as Core Zones will strengthen the Palawan BR’s defense against adverse climate change impacts. The SEP Law’s imposition of a total commercial logging ban and the zoning of terrestrial Core Zones, however, did not eliminate the threats to forest ecosystems of Palawan.

R.T.Fuentes, et. al./Our Palawan 1(1):49-60


Figure 3. Terrestr ial ECAN zones map of Palawan Province (excluding Kalayaan

Municipality) (Source: PCSDS-GIS, 2005)



In 1946, the total estimated cover of commercial and non-commercial forest of Palawan was fairly high at around 89% or 1.3 million hectares (Barrera et al., 1960). More recent estimates suggest that this dramatically dropped to 68% (779,600 hectares) in 1979-1983 (Mainland Palawan only, PIADPO 1985). The IEP reported an alarming decline of 19,000 hectares per year from 1979 to 1984 (PCSDS 2005). In the span of 60 years (1946-2005), the forest cover of Palawan was reduced in half. Using remote sensing techniques, PCSDS (2010) reports a decrease in the forest cover of Palawan from 738,886 ha in 1992 to 666,338 ha or 46% of the land area of the province in 2005. This translates to a deforestation rate of around 5,500 ha/yr.

The loss in forest cover can be attributed to a host of factors: the actual loss of forest cover, the various methods of satellite image interpretation used in the two data collection periods, the difference in the resolution of satellite images used, and the different categories of land cover classification between the two dates. The actual loss can be attributed to the continuing harvest of timber, land use conversion to agriculture and human settlements, mining and natural causes such as forest fires (PCSDS, 2010).

The appreciable change in deforestation rates from 19,000 hectares per year (1978-1983) to 5,500 hectares per year (1992-2005) can be a positive indicator that the pressures on the forest have somehow eased. However, the loss of forest cover is still alarming considering the consequent loss of biodiversity and the loss of ecological service values brought about by this sweeping land

conversion.

A conservative estimate of the carbon stock sequestered within the forests of Palawan is calculated at 206.6 million metric tons of carbon (PCSDS, 2010). This estimate is computed using carbon density estimates for various types of vegetative cover (Table 1). The carbon stock of old growth forests is estimated at 349.81 tC/ha, while the estimate for residual forest is 336.40 tC/ha. The carbon stocks for other land covers, such as marginal forest, forest over limestone, brushland and

grassland, are excluded as they may be considered transient stocks. Using a conservative carbon price of US$15/tC (Cruz et al., 2008), the total economic value of carbon stocks of Palawan forests can be estimated at PhP 130.1 billion.

The significant amount of carbon stock in Palawan forests makes it clear that creation of a Palawan carbon market has lucrative potential. It is also clear that to maintain the carbon sequestration function of Palawan forests, the effectiveness of the current envi-ronmental policy climate must be thoroughly studied. The policies intended for the preserva-tion of areas in terrestrial ECAN Core Zones may be insufficient to address the diminishing forests in Palawan. A holistic master plan for sustainable development has to take into account all other zones, including the buffer and multiple use zones.

Economic Industries Co-existing With Protected Areas

The rich environment and diverse natural resources of the Palawan Biosphere Reserve serve as the backbone of its economy,

Forest cover

Carbon density* (tC/ha)

Area (ha)

Total Carbon stock (million tons)

Value at US$15/tC (billion pesos)**

Old growth forest 349.81 189,772 66.4 41.8

Mossy forest 204.25 21,601 4.4 2.8

Residual forest 336.4 373,278 125.6 79.1

Mangrove 174.9 58,400 10.2 6.4

643,050 206.6 130.1

Table 1. Carbon stock values of different forest cover in Palawan Province (2010)

* Values from Lasco et al. 1999 as cited in Cruz et al. 2008. ** 1 US$:PhP 42



which is largely based on primary sectors that involve the production and extraction of raw materials. The three major industries of Palawan that are expected to be negatively affected by climate change and global warming are agriculture, fisheries and tourism. The largely coastal based ecotourism is expected to be drastically affected considering the pollution and sedimentation of coastal waters, the inundation of beaches, and the potential decimation of coral reefs on a large scale due to the increase in sea surface temperature.

The same is true with fishery with the possible decline in productivity of the coastal zone because of potential large-scale destruction of corals. The mass bleaching of coral reefs during seasons of hot sea surface temperature, usually at the height of El Niño phenomenon, can decimate large coral assemblages where the reef fishes are thriving (Henson, 2011). The Palawan live reef food fish trade, primarily the trade of the red coral trout (Plectropomus leopardus) as shown in Figure 4, is valued annually at one billion pesos. The live fish trade is highly dependent on the health of the coral reefs and the quality of coastal waters. One of the substantial initiatives in response to urgent environmental conservation, collectively undertaken by the stakeholders in Palawan, is the establishment of new protected areas (PAs). The Mt. Mantalingahan Protected Landscape in southern Palawan is the latest terrestrial PA. This will ensure for future generations an unspoiled land that will support the food and water requirements of the indigenous peoples and lowland inhabitants. On a smaller scale in the coastal waters, Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) are being established at the municipal and barangay levels.

Onshore mineral extraction through open pit methods is also one of the potential activities that lead to deforestation. Industries dealing with non-renewable resources of metallic and non-metallic minerals currently test the limits of ecanization. Palawan’s nickel reserve is valued at PhP 304.7 billion in 1998 while extraction of sand and gravel amounts to PhP 629.4 million in 1999 (PCSDS et al., 2002). The resurgence of the mining industry due to the national government’s open policy of mining extraction in Palawan challenges the ecological framework of the ECAN strategy. With due regard to the protection of environment and affected communities, the desired sustainability and responsibility of mining is predicated on the rational management of mineral resources, the economic recovery of the country, fair return of

investment, and equitable access. However, the economic attractiveness of mining and other industries of non-renewable resources in Palawan is still not exempted from the policy of ECAN.

The total area of approved mining applications in Palawan is significant to affect forest reduction. Mining areas with approved permits (i.e., with SEP Clearance from PCSD), for operation and exploration ant enough as works, cover 18,000 hectares of land. Aside from forest cover loss, the substantial impacts of mining is the siltation of rivers that has its concomitant effects on the primary industries located in the lowlands and coastal areas. The loss of biodiversity also has to be factored in. Without safety nets to ensure best practices in mining, the uplands down to the coastal areas will continue to be threatened by ecosystem degradation.

For the Palawan’s offshore coastal region, the latest legislation is Republic Act 10067 or the Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park Act. The law establishes a 10-mile buffer zone around the 97,030-hectare marine PA. It is also concerned with the formation of permanent local management structures, fiscal autonomy, and higher penalties for violations of the Park’s regulations. The Tubbataha Reefs is most likely connected to Balabac Strait Corridor and near-shore waters of Palawan as a strategic source of coral and fish larvae (Campos and Villanoy, 2007). Gene flow between large scale marine corridors in the Sulu Sea and in the Kalayaan Island Group in the West Philippine Sea (also known as South China Sea) makes apparent the long-distance connectivity of these corridors (Endriga et al., 2000).


Figure 4. The red coral trout (Plectropomus leopardus) (Photo courtesy of www.marine-world.co.jp)


The network of ECAN zones and the land and marine PAs subsumed within these zones exist side by side with the economic activities in Palawan. Resilience, representativeness and replication of ecosystems are some of the benefits that the zonation of ECAN bestows upon the environment. In the Palawan BR, the connectivity cycle can be extended to the linkage of the economy and environment as both are not mutually exclusive but rather mutually reinforcing concerns.

As a top-down approach or a “ridge-to-reef” strategy, ECAN then acts as a dual blanket of protection to life-support and economic systems. As an evolving zoning strategy, it has the adaptability to be integrated into any planning and regulatory frameworks and management schemes. It is scalable since it can be adapted from small areas (fish sanctuaries, terrestrial PAs) to large scale ones (biodiversity corridor, landscape, Palawan BR).

The on-going impacts of climate change will continue to challenge environmental managers of Palawan. A key consideration is the island character of the Palawan BR that makes it susceptible to sea level rise and storm surges. The settlement areas and economic activities in Palawan are largely concentrated along its limited plain lands in the coastal areas, making them prone to flooding during rainy seasons.

Conflicts in land use and natural resource utilization are foreseen to escalate given the increasing national and international demand for both renewable and non-renewable resources. Unregulated migration is adding pressure to the natural resource base when the livelihoods of the people are sourced out by encroachment to environmentally critical areas. These social issues are best addressed by a battery of livelihood projects that are conducive to maintenance of environmental integrity.

The challenge remains in the governance aspect, both locally and nationally. The primary need of governance in Palawan is the maximization of political will to continue to develop industries that are environment-friendly and economically attractive. The reconfiguration of ECAN in terms of economic development must then acknowledge that PAs are part and parcel of sustainable development instead of an obstacle to it. The focus of

partnership among stakeholders must once again be on Pas and, broadly, the ECAN as a spatial strategy. Local government officials often view the proportion between conservation and development in Palawan as skewed in favor of the former. Conservation and development, however, occupy the same spectrum in Palawan as the province’s economy is largely dependent on its environmental capital.

There are two major constraints to the sustainable development of Palawan. On one hand is the heavy reliance on activities that are extractive of natural resource base. The adoption of “quick cash” projects is favored since the monetary benefits from such projects are immediate. However, the environment is short-changed in the long term. The other constraint is the kind of priorities and utilization that the government pursues in terms of public sector investments. It involves the manner by which the government invests the money from these resources.

In a modern economy, there are four main sectors of economic activities. The primary sector pertains to the production and extraction of raw materials; the secondary sector involves manufacturing and utilizing raw materials derived from the primary sector; the tertiary sector is also known as the service sector; and the quaternary which involves research and development needed to produce products from raw materials. Palawan is not industrialized enough to be a major carbon source. The province is not engaged in the manufacturing or processing sector, and thus, its raw materials are largely being exported outside for conversion into final products. For Palawan to achieve the most from its natural endowments, it must attempt to fill in and strengthen the four levels of economic sector and create markets and industries where there are none. Having the substantially intact yet threatened forest cover in the country, the creation of carbon sinks (that is, more trees, more forest) and the promotion of its tourist destinations remain to be the optimal initiatives that the Palawan BR can specialize in. These initiatives, however, are not enough.

The CLWUPs of municipalities, which are often drafted with limited regard for the best sustainable package or design, remain to


4. CONCLUSION AND POLICY IMPLICATIONS


be the best document to plot the course of local economies. These documents must contain an arsenal of environmental and economic activities that are tailored to the carrying capacity and suitability of the natural environment. The CLWUPs must contain the specialized macro-industries for each municipality. A region or municipality must take advantage of its niche products, be it seaweeds, cashew or reef fishes (Figure 5).

The third level industry, service industry, appears to be more pronounced in urban areas than in rural ones. The urban centers of Palawan province must be carefully assessed in order to distribute this service level throughout the province and to prevent the creation of passive service areas or the economically “dead zones.” The fourth level industry, that involves science and technology, can be best achieved by building hard and soft infrastructures. The hard infrastructure may pertain to the aggressive sourcing of renewable energy, the building of information and communication technology (ICT) highways, and the building of energy efficient facilities. At best, the strategic location of Palawan as a backdoor area to Malaysia and Vietnam can be exploited as a way to develop the air and seaport facilities in Palawan. Singapore and Subic Bay can be replicated as model sites of shipping lanes and docking area. If this potential is explored, Palawan can become a hub of economic activity and it will be able to sustain its own income while not relying heavily on its natural resource base.

The enrichment of ecosystems through forest planting and regeneration, creation of resilient buffer zones, and a diverse array of livelihood and business projects in multiple use zones can serve as future environmental bonds or surety whose future value is only expected to rise. This can satisfy the ecological viability and social acceptability requirements of human welfare. Securing human welfare appears to be a good standard to measure a project’s impact to environment. The same can be used to gauge the efficacy of ECAN, the SEP Law, and the inscription of Palawan as a biosphere reserve.

The characteristic of Palawan BR as an environmental center and biodiversity hotspot is already acknowledged. Its designation as an economic center is also within sight once the sustainable strategies such as the ECAN are reconfigured to address the need to create economic industries that are suitable to its critical and fragile ecosystems. Meanwhile, it

is imperative that the local governments of Palawan play a stronger role in the economic development of the province by focusing on investments in basic services that involve specific targets. Examples include teacher training to upgrade the quality of education in the elementary and secondary levels, pursuit of economic development around its most competitive industries, taking the lead of and integration of initiatives of key players in the province, fiscal prudence, and good governance. It would be best for the Palawan BR to learn from the paths taken by its Asian neighbors, notably Singapore and Malaysia.

BRs are established to demonstrate the harmonious co-existence between humans and their environment especially in the face of the negative impacts of unequivocal climate change. This co-existence is already happening in Palawan BR, to some extent. Nonetheless, its optimal functionality still requires a more efficient allocation of political will.


Figure 5. Harvested (a) seaweed and (b) reef fishes in Northern Palawan. (Photo courtesy PCSDS)

(b)

(a)


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Campos, W.L. and Villanoy, C.L. 2007.Investigating biodiversity corridors in the Sulu Sea: distribution and dispersal of fish larvae. The Sulu-Sulawesi Seascape Project, Conservation International-Philippines. Annual Report, 22 February 2007.

Cruz, R.V.O., Calderon M.M., Bantayan, N.C.,Pillas, M.J.SM. 2008. Assessment of Land Use Options and Estimation of the Total Economic Value of and Communities’ Opportunity Costs in Mt. Mantalingahan Protected Landscape. Laguna: Conservation International and University of the Philippines Los Baños.

Endriga, M.A., Mamauag, S.S, Menez, M.A.J., and Alino P.M. 2000. Reef connectivity in the South China Sea and Sulu Sea Philippines, inferred from allozyme analysis of two reef fish species. Paper presented to the 9th International Coral Reef Symposium, October 2000, Bali, Indonesia.

Esselstyn, J. A., Widmann, P., and Heaney, L. R. 2004. The mammals of Palawan Island, Philippines. Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington 117(3): 271-302.

Fuentes, R.T. 2006. The evolution of ECAN as an ecological zoning strategy in Palawan. Journal of the Palawan State University School of Law 6(1): 87-110.

Henson, R. 2011. The Rough Guide to Climate Change, 3rd ed. New Delhi: Rough Guides Ltd.

Hunting Technical Services Limited (England), Orient Integrated Development Consultants, Inc. (Philippines), and Sir M. Macdonald and Partners (England). 1987.

Strategic Environmental Plan for Palawan Towards Sustainable Development. Manila: National Council on Integrated Area Development.

Ofren, R.S. 1999. Enhancing the ECAN implementing guidelines using GIS. Puerto Princesa City: Palawan Tropical Forestry Protection Programme.

Palawan Council for Sustainable Development (PCSD). 2010. State of the Environment Updates 2009, Palawan Province. Puerto Princesa City: Palawan Council for Sustainable Development Staff.

Palawan Council for Sustainable Development Staff (PCSD). 2005. The state of the environment Updates 2004, Province of Palawan, Philippines. Puerto Princesa City: Palawan Council for Sustainable De-velopment.

Palawan Council for Sustainable Development Staff, National Statistical Coordination Board, and United Nations Development Programme. 2002. Palawan asset accounts: Fishery, forest, land/soil, mineral and water resources. Environmental and Natural Resource Accounting (ENRA) II Project. Puerto Princesa City: UNDP.

Palawan Integrated Area Development Project Office (PIADPO). 1985. Strategic Environmental Plan for Mainland Palawan. Manila: National Council on Integrated Area Development.

Robinson, A.S., Fleischmann, A.S., McPherson, S.R., Heinrich, V.B., Gironel-la, E.P., and Peña, C.Q. 2009. A spectacu-lar new species of Nepenthes L. (Nepenthaceae)



pitcher plant from central Palawan, Philippines. Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society 159: 195–202.

Sandalo, R.M. 1996. Sustainable Development and the Environmental Plan for Palawan. In Eder, J.F., and J.O. Fernandez, eds. Palawan at the crossroads: Development and the Environment on a Philippine frontier. Manila: Ateneo de Manila University Press. pp. 127-135.


Palawan Bearcat

(Arctictis binturong),

only found in Palawan.


Sandalo, R.M., and Baltazar, T.. 1997. The Palawan Biosphere Reserve (Philippines). Working Papers No. 19, 1997. Paris, France: UNESCO (South-South Cooperation Programme for Environmentally Sound Socio-Economic Development in the Humid Tropics).

Vinluan, R.J.N. 2004. Delineation of ECAN zones using GIS. ECAN Zoning Component, Sustainable Environmental Management Project in Northern Palawan – JBIC Project.

Palawan Pit Viper

(Trimeresurus schultzei),

highly venomous and

only found in Palawan.



Our Palawan Research Bits

1st Palawan Research and Policy Symposium 2013

7-8 November 2013/A & A Plaza Hotel, Puerto Princesa City

Theme: “Science for Sustainable Development”

List of Researches/Presentations

Research Title Authors Affiliation

I. Biological Diversity

1 Birds of Pandan Island, Honda Bay Palawan

Joie Matillano,Archie Espinosa and Benjamin Gonzales

WPU

2 Botanical and Physiological Study of Two Amorphophallus species in Puerto Princesa City

Josephine M. Magay-Salmo and Mildred Palatino-Palon

HTU

3 Botanical, Chemical and Antibacterial Study of Pitaya found in Puerto Princesa City

Jinky U. Padon and Mildred Palatino-Palon

HTU

4 Identification, Collection & Characterization of Indigenous/Endemic Plants in Palawan

Ms.Librada L. Fuertes, Sr. Agriculturist

DA-PREC

5 Plant Diversity Inventory of the Eco-Trails in Brooke's Point, Palawan

Sheryll Castillo-Saclet HTU

6. Innovative Methods for the Conservation of the Philippine Cockatoo in Palawan

Peter and Indira Widmann

KATALA Foundation

7. Palawan Freshwater Turtle Conservation Program

Dr. Sabine Schoppe, Director PFTCP

PFTCP

II.

Forest and Watershed

III.

Coastal and Marine Resources

1. Diversity and Distribution of Freshwater Fishes in Southern Luzon, Philippines

Vachel Gay V. Paller, Mark Nell C. Corpuz,Pablo P. Ocampo

DOST Funded, FishArk

Philippines, Direction for the Conservation of

Native and Endemic

Philippine Freshwater

Fishes


2. Growth parameters and survival rates of the giant clam Hippopus porcellanus

R. Dolorosa, S. Conales and N. Bundal

WPU

3. Mangrove assessment in New Agutaya, San Vicente, Palawan

Enrico H. Mercado PSU

4. Recovery of sea cucumbers in Tubbataha Reefs: Prospects for conservation

Roger Dolorosa WPU

5. Species Inventory and Fishery Assessment of Sea Cucumbers in Palawan, Philippines

Jean Beth S. Jontila, Rodulf Anthony T. Balisco, Jaysee A. Matillano

WPU

6. Status Monitoring of Palawan’s Mangrove Resources

Apollo Regalo PCSDS

7. Status Monitoring of the Seagrass beds of Palawan

Jesus Bream PCSDS

8. Survivorship of Rhizophora propagules planted in northern Palawan

LA Creencia, J Sornito, M Manlavi, MP Soniega, J Labao, R Perez, J Matillano

WPU

9. Assessment of Closed Access Coastal Marine Areas

Ma.Christina Dalusung-Rodriguez and Engr. Teodoro M. Baltazar, Jr.

PCSDS

10. Documentation of the Recently Discovered Irrawaddy Dolphin Population working file

M.Matillano WWF

11. Aquasilviculture of crabs in northern Palawan

Michael Manlavi, LA Creencia, J Sornito, MP Soniega, J Labao and J Matillano

WPU

12. Culture of abalone Haliotis asinina in bottom cages with bamboo substrates

Lota A. Creencia, Adzel Adrian G. Baldevieso, Bjorn H. Lota, Ariel D. Valoroso

WPU

13. The Irrawaddy Recovery Plan for the Irrawaddy Population

M.Matillano WWF

14. Abalone Haliotis asinina collection and trading in Palawan, Philippines

Lota A. Creencia, Adzel Adrian G. Baldevieso, Jay Ann B. Tisoy, Janice T. Gabuco

WPU

IV. Food Security

V. Tourism

VI. Physical Infrastructure


VII. Indigenous People

1. Ethnomedicinal Plants of Tau't Bato in Singnapan Valley, Ransang, Rizal, Palawan

Geraldine B. Dangan and Mildred Palatino-Palon

HTU

2. Ethnobotanical Study of Ola’Gak Plant

Eva Niña B. Lopez and Mildred Palatino-Palon

HTU

3. The Ethnomedicinal Study of Kobra Plant

Elsie Matchico Zabalo

VIII. Sustainable Development Training, Education, Research and Monitoring

1. Cross-cutting issues in Malampaya Sound: A Protected Seascape

Hermenegildo P Dela Peňa

PSU

2. Environmental Monitoring at Coral Bay Nickel Corporation Project Site

Engr. Brix T. Abela CBNC

3. Informing Policy Through Research

Angelique M. Songco TRNP

4. Berong Nickel Corporation 2013 Terrestrial Ecology Monitoring

BNC

5. Management Effectiveness of the Mt. Mantalingahan Protected Landscape

Levita A. Lagrada PCSDS

6. The Economic Value of Tiniguiban Cove Mangrove Forest

Maria Rosario Aynon A. Gonzales, Rainier A. Manalo, Agustin R. Miraflores Jr

PSU/WWF

IX. Social Development Services

X. Sustainable Financing and Partnership

Philippine cockatoo

(Cacatua haematuropygia)

Endemic to Philippines.

Critically Endangered (IUCN).

The last remaining stronghold of the

species is in Palawan where remnant

population are recovering due to

efficient conservation measures by

Katala Foundation in localities such as

Rasa Island, Balabac,and Dumaran. A

cavity-nester preferring tall dipterocarps

and mangroves in the lowlands.

(©Rommel M. Cruz)


Our Palawan

Research Bits "Zero Carbon Resorts towards Sustainable Development of

the Tourism Sectors in the Philippines and Thailand" (ZCR for Sustainable Tourism)

I. Duration/Area of Coverage

Phase I: 2009 to 2014, Palawan as pilot area. Phase II: May 2014 to May 2018, being implemented in Palawan, Philippines and Thailand

II. Funding Institution and Implementing Partners

The project is financially supported by the European Union under the SWITCH-Asia program, and is being implemented by GrAT: Center for Appropriate Technology, Austria (Project Lead); CIEMAT, Plataforma Solar de Almeria (PSA), Spain; Green Leaf Foundation (GLF), Thailand; Healthy Public Policy Foundation (HPPF), Thailand and Palawan Council for Sustainable Development (PCSD), Palawan, Philippines.

III. Objectives

This project will not only continue the replication of ZCR Phase 1 strategies in many regions of the Philippines but expand and adapt the method to Thailand. With additional focus on access to finance and match with Green Hotel certification, a cross country exchange of best practices will be facilitated through exchange visits and strong policy dialogue.

The project aims to contribute to the sustainable development of the tourism sector and its value chain in the Philippines and Thailand with focus on reduction of resource consumption and CO2 emissions. In both countries, Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) will demonstrate the value of green tourism by increasing resource efficiency and using renewable energy.

IV. Updates on Activities as of First Quarter 2015

Part of the project’s undertakings is to facilitate the transfer of knowledge through trainings

of local engineers, academe, building and facility managers, environmental managers and

technical staff on the advance technologies and techniques for practical implementation of

measures for resource efficiency.

Replace Professional and Redesign Innovation Course was done on 20-25 April 2015 at Puerto Princesa City, participated by 80 architects, engineers and environmental planners from local government units and academic institutions.

Technical Session on Greening Initiatives and ZCR Briefing Session was conducted on 17 April 2015 in Puerto Princesa City, in collaboration with GIZ- ProGED. Upcoming briefing sessions will be conducted in northern municipalities of Palawan.

V. Contact person

Nelson P. Devanadera Executive Director, PCSD [email protected] Tel. No. (63)-(48)-434-4235/434-4234 Website: www.ZeroCarbonResorts.eu



36 months Balabac, Palawan, Philippines

II. Funding Institution:

Asian Development Bank – Japan Fund for Poverty Reduction III. Implementing Partners

Palawan Council for Sustainable Development Staff Center for Sustainable Development Foundation, Incorporated

IV. Project Objective

Develop alternative livelihoods by pilot-testing support mechanisms that will involve women and indigenous people.

V. Updates as of 1st Quarter 2015

Consultancy Contract signed between PCSD and CESD

Withdrawal Application for 10% project fund released to PCSD

VI. Contact Person:

PCSDS Glenda Cadigal

([email protected])

[email protected]

Tel. No. (63)-(48)-434-4235/434-4234

CSDFI Josefina Ma. Ferriols-Pavico Executive Director Center for Environment and Sustainable Development Foundation, Inc. Unit 504 Manila Luxury Condominium 30 Pearl Drive Ortigas Center, Pasig City1600 Tel. 02 5421202; +659062431272; +639298657318 Mobile No. +639062431272 Email: [email protected]

Our Palawan

Research Bits Developing Sustainable Alternative Livelihoods in Coastal

Fishing Communities in the Coral Triangle: Indonesia and Philippines

Palawan Birdwing (Trogonoptera trojana),

the second largest butterfly in the world and

only found in Palawan. Threatened be-

cause of illegal trade.

( ©Jonah van Beijnen)



2014 – 2018 ; Pilot sites in El Nido, Palawan (Philippines) and Selayen group of islands (Indonesia)

II. Funding Institutions ad Project Cost World Bank (WB), Global Environment Facility (GEF) and University of Queensland (UQ)

US$ 4.5M

III. Implementing Partners (El Nido pilot site)

AUSTRALIA – University of Queensland, Currie Communications

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA – Cornell University, University of California Davis

PHILIPPINES – The UP Marine Science Institute (UPMSI); Department of Environment and

Natural Resources – Biodiversity Management Bureau (DENR-BMB); El Nido Local

Government Unit; El Nido Foundation, Inc. (ENF); Palawan State University (PSU); Palawan

Council for Sustainable Development and Staff

IV. Project Objectives/Components

The Capturing Coral Reef and Related Ecosystem Services (CCRES) Project is a regional technical support project that “aims to design and support the uptake of innovative models for valuing mangrove, seagrass and coral reef ecosystem services with the potential to enhance the sustainability of marine-based enterprise and marine spatial planning in select coastal communities in Indonesia and the Philippines” (CCRES Project Development Objective).

The Project has three (3) components:

Component 1: Quantifying the value and market potential of coral reef and mangrove ecosystem services Key activities include valuing ecosystem services such as reef fisheries, ecotourism, and coastal defense; mapping the distribution of ecosystem service benefits, particularly looking at the demographics and locations of service providers and beneficiaries, as well as the impacts of institutions and governance on access and overall human well-being; and, finally, marine spatial planning which provides decision-support for community-based resource management while explicitly considering the trade-offs within multiple-use systems. Component 2: Forging community-led innovation in capturing and sustaining benefits from marine ecosystem services and enhancing resilience in the face of climate change Major activities are analyzing and modelling the system which aims to understand how communities currently use and interact with ecosystem services; identifying new markets and business opportunities which will identify improvements to existing businesses and new business opportunities; and creating business models and tools that are ecologically-informed and support the sustained provision of marine and coastal ecosystem services. Component 3: Promoting behavioral change through outreach, decision support and regional learning from results in selected pilot sites A series of strategies and activities, which focus on the effective uptake of knowledge generated from the CCRES Project, have been designed to facilitate the uptake of the valuation and eco-enterprise models into policy, management and future project design; and increase the awareness and understanding of communities at the pilot sites of the linkages between ecosystem services and their well-being.

Our Palawan

Research Bits Capturing Coral Reef and Related Ecosystem Services

(CCRES) Project


VII. Project Updates The CCRES Project was officially launched in the Philippines on July 2014 (http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/369823/scitech/science/just-how-much-are-el-nido-s-coral-reefs-worth-science-weighs-in). Since then, Project researchers from the host of international and local partners have been working together to implement the various component activities. In the last six months, the following have been achieved: Presently, the PCSDS is largely involved in activities for the Component 2 systems analysis and modeling. Next Steps The data gathered from the different biophysical and socioeconomic surveys will inform the development of the decision-support models. For example, the systems modelling work will be followed up by another workshop in July 2015 to process and develop rich picture maps and causal loop diagrams from the information obtained at the first round of FGDs. These will then be presented to the El Nido community for validation in the second round of FGDs. Following stakeholder validation, these maps and diagrams will be used to finalize the systems model for El Nido. PCSDS, along with PSU, and ENF and the El Nido LGU, are collaborating partners for these activities.

Contact persons:

Miledel Christine C. Quibilan

Country Coordinator

CCRES Philippine Country Coordinating Unit

UP Marine Science Institute, University of the Philippines Diliman, Quezon City 1101

+632 922 3921 or +632 435 7417

November 2014 Systems thinking training workshop in Puerto Princesa

(http://ccres.net/news/article/connecting-with-communities-through-technology)

February 2015 Core systems modelling team workshop in Puerto Princesa

March – May 2015

Systems model first-round focus-group discussions in El Nido barangays

Surveys on mangroves and seagrass (i.e., sedimentation rates) in selected sites in El Nido (i.e., Brgys. Aberawan and Manlag, and Cadlao Island)

Household, business and tourist surveys for ecosystem service valuation studies in El Nido barangays

Surveys on coral reefs for reef complexity modelling studies in selected sites in El Nido

PCSDS: John Francisco A. Pontillas Tel. No. (63)-(48)-434-4235/434-4234

Palawan peacock pheasant (Polyplectron napoleonis).

Endemic. Vulnerable (IUCN). The enigmatic peacok-pheasant known only in Palawan. Due to hunting, habitat loss, and pet trade, the population of this species has

gradually reduced to few remaining individuals from lowland to upper

montane forest of Palawan. (©Rommel M. Cruz)

http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/369823/scitech/science/just-how-much-are-el-nido-s-coral-reefs-worth-science-weighs-in



http://ccres.net/news/article/connecting-with-communities-through-technology

http://ccres.net/news/article/connecting-with-communities-through-technology


Our Palawan

Research Bits Philippine Wealth Accounting and Valuation of Ecosystem

Services (Phil-WAVES) - Development of Ecosystem Accounts for

Southern Palawan Pilot Area

I. Duration/Area of Coverage 2013-2016 covering Southern Palawan II. Funding Institution: Foreign/Local World Bank/Department of Environment and Natural Resources III. Implementing Partners (Southern Palawan) Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA), Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), National Mapping and Resource Information Authority (NAMRIA), National Irrigation Administration Provincial Irrigation Management Office (NIA-PIMO), National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP), Provincial Government of Palawan-Provincial Planning and Development Office (PGP-PPDO), Western Philippines University (WPU), Palawan State University (PSU), Holy Trinity University (HTU), Municipality of Sofronio Espanola, Municipality of Brooke’s Point, Municipality of Bataraza, Municipality of Quezon, Municipality of Rizal, Conservation International (CI), Palawan Council for Sustainable Development (PCSD) III. Project Objectives The Phil-WAVES project aims to inform decision makers on the sustainable use of key natural resources by developing and constructing ecosystem accounts for Southern Palawan, and analyzing the trade-offs associated with different natural resource and ecosystem service use scenarios through policy analysis. IV. Updates as of First Quarter 2015 To date the project is able to develop selected ecosystem accounts for Pulot Catchment in Sofronio Espanola that include the following:

Land Account for Southern Palawan Upland Timber Account and Carbon sequestration account for Pulot catchment

Supply and asset accounts for crop production: paddy rice, coconut, and oil palm for Pulot

catchment

Coastal/Marine Land (Water) Cover Account and Condition Account (Coral reef, seagrass

beds, mangrove forest) for the Municipality of Sofronio Espanola

Established and capacitated the members of the Technical Working Group that is tasked to

develop the accounts

V. Contact Person/Email Address

BMB: Zenaida B. Munoz

[email protected];

[email protected]

PCSDS: John Francisco A. Pontillas

Tel. No. (63)-(48)434-4235/ 434-4234

Sabsaban Falls,

Brookes Point , Palawan.

(©PCSDS)

mailto:Munoz/%[email protected]

mailto:Munoz/%[email protected]


ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Dr. Hiroki Tanikawa is a doctor of engineer ing and a professor of Nagoya University. He is

head of Nagoya University’s Environmental System Analysis and Planning (EnSAP) Research

Lab (https://sites.google.com/site/ensap758/Home). He is also the program leader of the Nagoya

University Global Environmental Leaders Program (NUGELP), a partner of the Japanese Grant

Aid for Human Resource Development Scholarship (JDS) Program in the Philippines. Prof.

Tanikawa has presented and published various research papers and on-going researches on

Material Stock and Flow Analysis in Japan and other developed and developing countries.

Dr. Michael D. Pido. Professor Pido is the Vice President for Research & Extension and

Director of Center for Strategic Policy and Governance (CSPG) of Palawan State University, and

Regional Coordinator for Southeast Asia Socioeconomic Monitoring Initiative for Coastal

Management being coordinated by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

He obtained his MSc in Rural Resources and Environmental Policy from the United Kingdom

and a PhD in Environmental Science from Australia. Dr. Pido previously worked with the

Palawan Integrated Area Development Project Office (1981-1990) and two international

organizations (UNDP/GEF/IMO Regional Programme on Partnerships in Environmental

Management for the Seas of East Asia/PEMSEA: 2000-2002; and WorldFish Center/ICLARM:

1991-1995). He is a member of the National Research Council of the Philippines, Asian Fisheries

Society and IUCN Commission on Environmental, Economic and Social Policy. Dr Pido’s over

40 publications include books, book chapters, internationally refereed journal articles, technical

proceedings, and newspaper/magazine articles. He has participated in over 30 regional and

international conferences in Africa, Asia-Pacific, Europe and North/South America.

Marianne Faith G. Martinico-Perez is a registered chemist and head of PCSD

Environmental Laboratory. She is involved in the water analyses, water quality monitoring and

multi-partite monitoring of environmentally critical projects in Palawan. She finished her

Bachelor of Science in Chemistry in Mindanao State University, Marawi City in 2002. She

obtained her degree on Master of Environmental Studies in Nagoya University, Japan in October

2014 through the Japanese Grant Aid for Human Resource Development Scholarship (JDS)

Project in the Philippines. Her research focus was on material stock and flow analysis in the

Philippines and the province of Palawan. She was able to present her research outputs in the

international conferences and is a co-author of collaborative research papers on Economy-Wide

Material Flow Accounts of Philippines, Myanmar and Bangladesh published in international peer

reviewed journals.

Ma.Christina Dalusung-Rodriguez is a coastal-marine specialist of the PCSDS since 2010.

She obtained her BS in Environmental Science from the Palawan State University in 2002. She

was assigned at the ECAN Monitoring and Evaluation Division during the time of this study. In

2012, she was designated as Conservation Fellow of PCSDS, tasked to implement “Pride

Campaign for Sustainable Fisheries” at Caramay Marine Protected Area, a joint undertaking of

Rare Conservation, PCSDS and LGU-Roxas. The Pride Campaign obtained for her a Masters in

Communication for Conservation at the University of Texas-El Paso, which also gave her a

chance to visit the United States in September 2014. She is married to Ronald Rodriguez.

Glenda M. Cadigal is a BS Forestry Graduate from the University of the Philippines,

College of Forestry and a Master of Science in Environmental Management degree from the

Palawan State University. She is also a DESMan 2009 Fellow from the Durrell Endangered

https://sites.google.com/site/ensap758/Home


Species Management Diploma Course by the Durrell Institute of Conservation Ecology,

University of Kent in Canterbury administered by the Durrell Wildlife and Conservation Trust in

Jersey, Channel Islands, Great Britain. She is married to Noel Joseph B. Cadigal and is blessed

with a son named Xiv.

John Francisco A. Pontillas is currently assigned with the Special Concerns-Office of the

Executive Director and was formerly the Head of the ECAN Policy Research Division of PCSDS.

He is involved with the Palawan implementation of the Philippine Wealth Accounting and

Valuation of Ecosystem Services (PHILWAVES) Project by the World Bank, and handles the

UNESCO concerns of the PCSDS. His current research engagements include looking into the

benefits of mineral and oil and gas, and coastal resources valuation and systems thinking

application or the World Bank financed project “Capturing Coral Reef and Related Ecosystem

Services (CCRES)” in partnership with the UP- Marine Science Institute and the University of

Queensland, Australia. His work experiences and professional interests are in the fields of

public policy, and environment and natural resources management, project formulation,

planning and monitoring. He obtained his master’s degree in Public Policy from the National

University of Singapore in 2001 and his baccalaureate degree in Marine Fisheries from the

University of the Philippines in 1986.

Engr. Ryan Fuentes is the current Head of the ECAN-Planning Division of PCSDS. He was

formerly involved in the mapping of Environmentally Critical Areas Network (ECAN) zones and

in the preparation of ECAN Management Plans, ecosystem management plans, and

integrated community-based resource management plans in the Palawan Biosphere Reserve. He

is formerly GIS and Remote Sensing Specialist of two special projects of PCSD: the EU-funded

Palawan Tropical Forestry Protection Programme and the JBIC-funded Sustainable

Environmental Management Project in Northern Palawan. He obtained his MSc in

Environmental Management from Palawan State University and his bachelor’s degree in

Geodetic Engineering from the University of the Philippines. He is also a part-time lecturer of

engineering and environmental science courses at Philippine Christian University - Palawan

Extension and Holy Trinity University.

Engr. Madrono P. Cabrestante Jr. is the cur rent head of the ECAN – Policy, Monitoring and

Knowledge Management Division of PCSDS. He was a UNESCO-BMU fellow to the 33rd

International Postgraduate Course on Environmental Management for Developing and Emerging

Countries and awarded a Diploma on Environmental Management from the CIPSEM-Technische

Universität Dresden in the Federal Republic of Germany in 2010. He also attended a certificate

course in Environmental Monitoring and Modelling from the UNESCO-IHE-Institute of Water

Education in Delft, the Netherlands in 2013. In March 2015, he completed a short certificate

course in Project Development from the Asian Institute of Management (AIM). He earned his

bachelor’s degree in Agricultural Engineering from Western Philippines University and

master’s degree in Environmental Management from Palawan State University.

OUR PALAWAN

The Scientific Journal of the Palawan Council for Sustainable Development

Published by

The Palawan Council for Sustainable Development (PCSD)

PCSD Building, Sports Complex Road, Sta. Monica Heights, Puerto Princesa City

P.O. Box 45 PPC 5300 Palawan, Philippines

OUR PALAWAN

Volume 1 Issue 1 June 2015

PCSD Publications © Copyright 2015

ISSN: 2423-222X

Online:

www.pkp.pcsd.gov.ph

www.pcsd.gov.ph

Cover Photo

The aerial photo taken from southern Palawan shows the lush forests and rich marine ecosystems that serve as life-support system to a diverse flora and fauna and the socio-economic system in the province. These rich natural resources protect, conserve and enhance the pursuance of the socio-economic development goals of the province through the implementation of R.A. 7611 or the Strategic Environmental Plan for Palawan. (Photo taken by PCSDS)

CALL FOR PRESENTATION

2ND PALAWAN RESEARCH FORUM

We invite all the researchers from government agencies, private organizations and academic

institutions to share their research endeavors in the province of Palawan on the 2nd Palawan

Research Forum to be held on 18 November 2015 at Asturias Hotel, Puerto Princesa City, Palawan.

Important Dates Submission of Abstract: July 1 to October 15, 2015

Acceptance Notification: Two weeks after submission or not

later than October 30, 2015

Submission of full papers

and powerpoint presentations: October 15 to November 10, 2015

Topics

Researches should address one or more relevant topics based on the core themes of the

Palawan Sustainable Development Strategy and Action Plan (PSDSAP). The PSDSAP was

developed to create the necessary environmental, socio-cultural, economic and institutional

conditions towards the establishment of green economy in the province of Palawan. To provide

technical information towards a science-based policy formulation based on the PSDSAP menu of

actions, topics for submission must include, but not limited to the following major thematic areas:

1. Biological diversity 7. Food security

2. Coastal and marine resources 8. Physical infrastructure

3. Tourism 9. Social development services

4. Indigenous people 10. Sustainable financing and partnership

5. Sustainable development training, 11. Others (Pls specify topic)

education, research, and monitoring

6. Forest and watershed

Abstract Submission

1. Identify the research theme based on major thematic areas of PSDSAP

2. Submit abstract of following format:

Title

Author(s) name/Affiliation/E-mail or contact details

Key points of the manuscript not to exceed 250 words and 5 to 6 keywords

3. Send author(s) biography together with the abstract using the following format: Last Name, first Name Position/department/organization/country Biography (should not exceed 50 words) Contact information (Address, contact number & email address)

4. Send by e-mail in MS word format to the [email protected]

Contact or visit us at:

ECAN Knowledge Management Division, 2F, PCSD Bldg., Sta. Monica, Puerto Princesa City

Email: [email protected] or [email protected]

Tel. No: (048) 434 4235 or 09175391925

Please visit www.pkp.pcsd.gov.ph for the templates for abstract submission,

on-line registration and the latest information on

2nd Palawan Research Forum

mailto:[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

http://www.pkp.pcsd.gov.ph

Our Palawan

Documents

Transcript of Our Palawan