Local organizations involved in natural resource management experience in the Philippines

Upland development experiences in the Philippines particularly during the past two decades have established the crucial role of local communities and organizations in the sustainable management of natural resources, both land and water. Lessons from the recent collaborative work undertaken by the International Centre for Research in Agroforestry (ICRAF) with a range of partner institutions in the uplands of Northern Mindanao have shown that farmer-led organizations are quite effective in improving and sustaining the productive capacity of the natural resources upon which they depend for survival. Hence ICRAF funded this study in order to further learn how to assist in strengthening or building locally-led organizational approaches that can more effectively address sustainable agriculture and natural resource management in the Philippine uplands. The study is part of a three-country ICRAF research initiative in Southeast Asia that includes Indonesia and Thailand, and represents the initial phase in a series of research undertakings on local organizations. The Philippine study sought to (1) understand the social and political context that provided the impetus for local organizations (LOs)—specifically farmer- and community-led organizations--to undertake natural resource management (NRM) in the uplands, (2) identify both public and private initiatives to support these local organizations in their NRM endeavors, (3) characterize the local organizations that are active in NRM, as well as the biophysical and socioeconomic environments within which they operate and their specific NRM initiatives, and (4) determine the likely trends, issues and challenges for local involvement in NRM. Data for this study were obtained through two qualitative research methods. The first was a brief review of the literature on the topic, with emphasis on the unpublished or “gray” literature. The materials covered in the review were relevant books and research publications, conference or seminar papers, and selected reports, documents, records and/or brochures of pertinent organizations, technical consultancy groups and various projects concerned with upland development. The other method was an in-depth interview of key informants involved in upland NRM. The informants were comprised of farmer-leaders from selected people’s organizations (POs) that are reported to be actively engaged in NRM activities, project personnel, representatives of government institutions and nongovernment organizations (NGOs), and academic researchers (Annex B). The conduct of these interviews, particularly with representatives of POs and NGOs, entailed field visits to the offices and/or project sites of these organizations (Annex C). Due to their work with POs, NGO informants became the sources of information on a majority (22 of 27 POs, or 81%) of the POs included in the study. Five other POs located in the provinces of Misamis Oriental, Bukidnon and Quezon and some local farmers’ labor exchange groups (called hungos or alayon) in Leyte were visited

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