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The Philippines is blessed with an abundance of natural resources that is both important
in terms of development, livelihoods and biodiversity.
Therefore, it is important to use these resources sustainably to aid in poverty
alleviation, development and environmental protection.
Unfortunately, natural resources are all to often exploited unsustainably with only
a short-term gain with the eventual degradation of the resources. This in turn will cause increased poverty in the
long-term as the resource will have been exhausted. Therefore,
it is important to sustainably manage the natural resources for long-term productivity. It also addresses the problems of aquaculture, as
it benefits many more people and the truly needy that cannot buy expensive aquaculture
products, and addresses the environmental degradation often associated with it.
Laying of transect for coral reef surveyThe
Aurora State College Of Technology (ASCOT) has been undertaking coastal resource
management in Aurora Province. Over the last
few years, it has assisted the Local Government Units and communities with coral reef
surveys and assisting in the protection of mangroves in the province. Both of these are important for fisheries as they
provide breeding grounds, nursery grounds, spawning grounds and habitats for fish,
shellfish and crustaceans. This is not just
for fish living within the mangroves and corals, but also for pelagic species.
Currently ASCOT is assisting in natural
resource management at Dibut Bay, San Luis, Aurora with LGU San Luis, Philippine
Association For Intercultural Development (PAFID) and the community of Dibut Bay. The area is a settlement of indigenous people
(Dumagat tribe) and immigrants into the area. Under
the Indigenous People’s Rights Act, they are claiming around 4,000 hectares of land
and 4,000 hectares of sea as their traditional tribal lands. However, they have to set up a sustainable
development plan for the area. ASCOT has been
assisting the people in assessing their marine protected area (MPA), by conducting benthic
video surveys of the coral reef.
In 1997, coral reef live cover ranged form
40-50% live coral cover (MERF, 1997), which was considered fair to good coral coverage. However, by 2001 this had dropped to around 11%
(UPMSI and ASCOT, 2001) that is considered poor coverage.
In 2002, ASCOT conducted additional benthic surveys indicating a live coral
of around 15%, still considered poor coverage. The
most likely conclusion for the degradation is due to sedimentation and nutrient input from
unsustainable logging and agricultural practices. These
results and conclusions were presented to the community and have been incorporated into
their development plan for the area.
Community discussion about land use plan
The community has now moved all
unsustainable logging and agricultural practices to other areas of their claimed land
until there are alternative livelihoods to replace these practices. These other areas are lower and are generally
flatter to reduce soil erosion. Large areas
of land by the coral reefs are now being declared wildlife sanctuaries to aid protection
of the corals. ASCOT will be assisting in
forest inventories of these areas and help the community manage these areas.
Despite the reduction in live coral cover,
the community is still seeing the benefits of a marine protected area and is now preparing
to extend the marine protected area’s traditional fishing techniques zone to other
fishing grounds. Though no scientific
research has been done to assess fish catch, the community agrees that since its
establishment there is a greater abundance of fish. ASCOT
are planning to train the fisherfolk basic fish stock assessment and coral reef
assessments so they can monitor the success of their marine protected area. Sustainable use of the land also helps to protect
the coral reefs; therefore, ASCOT will also be training the community on sustainable
agricultural and forestry practices and conducting surveys of the area. In addition to this, a mangrove rehabilitation
site will also be established to aid in protection of the shoreline and to increase fish
production in the area. The community will
also be trained on its monitoring and management. If
this project is successful, it will be replicated in other areas of Aurora for the benefit
of the people.
(This article was provided by Matthew Blackburn, a VSO
volunteer from UK working with ASCOT and different local government units and
non-government organizations on different coastal resource management projects)
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