Jessica SALAS
TOWARD A DEMOCRATIC GOVERNANCE FOR A
CONTESTED WATERSHED:
A Philippine Case Study
Kahublagan sP Foundation, PhilippinesCraig MILLER, Kim ALEXANDER, Tom
JOVANOVICH of CSIRO,Australia
Contents
Introduction
Time capsules
1990-1995 Community Awareness
1995-1999 Community organization &
plantation establishment
2000-2005 Building organizational
capacity
2005-Current Changing Strategy
Summary
Project site
Philippines
Panay Island,
Iloilo Province
Project Area: The Tigum Aganan Watershed
62,699 hectares.
419,973 population
8 towns, 1 city
391 villages
Rainfall in 2 seasons:
Rainy, 1,600 mm
Dry, 343 mm
The
denuded
headwaters
of the
Tigum
River.
(1989)
Maasin
Watershed
The Maasin
Watershed Today
Our wish, our dream...
a rainforest
But old growth forest
remained at 7% of
the Maasin
Watershed and is
threatened by further
denudation &
degradation
A STORY OF CONFLICT & ENGAGEMENT IN THE TIGUM-AGANAN WATERSHED
Summary of the conflict, issues and resolutions from 1990 to present
Period Nature of conflict Resolution/Engagement
1990-1995 Trees vs. People Policy of co-existence
1995-2000 Watershedprotection vs. Livelihood
CBFM Agreement between gov’t & community
2000-2005 Trees for water vs. trees for carbon sequestration
Creation of Iloilo Watershed Management Council (IWMC) & the Tigum-Aganan Watershed Mgt Board (TAWMB)
Period Nature of Conflict ResolutionEngagement
2005-present
Inadequacy of surface water and ground water supply.Conservation vs. utillization
Demonstration areas for rainwater harvesting to augment water supply and enhance ecosystem services in the watershed
Program for Rainwater Harvesting embedded in the LGU processes, and used for climate change adaptation.
Indicators of sustainable and collaborative management TAW
Indicators Score (2009)
Reverse Degradation Low
Ensuring local livelihoods Low
Awareness & capacity Medium high
Embedded in LGU process High
Participation High
Negotiation, collaboration Medium
Upstream-downstream linkages Medium high
1989, the story started with
a trip to the mountains,
visiting and interacting with
the minority tribes.
The
Women,
children
& their
home
1990-1995. Community
Awareness & Mobilization
The vice governor crossing the river to plant trees
The governor leading the tree
planting activity
Girl scouts, pupils, employees, troop to
the Maasin watershed to plant
trees.
1995-1999Community organization & plantation establishment
• Pictures plantation
Issues that persist
• Economic dislocation of landless upland farmers
• The need to sustain livelihood
• No structure which will allow participation of other sectors and the downstream communities
• Need to understand watershed dynamics
The School-on-Air initiative“Ugat sang Tubig”
Face-to-face
organizing was
replaced by broadcast
information
2000-2005Building organizational capacity
ILOILO WATERSHED
MANAGEMENT COUNCIL
RIVER BOARDS/COUNCILS
Magapa-Suage
Watershed Mgt.
Council
Tigum-Aganan
Watershed
Mgt. Board
Jalaur, Northern
Iloilo, Jar-aw,
Tanjan Mgt. Board,
Etc.
Sibalom
Watershed
Mgt. Council
Municipal Watershed Councils/ or
Watershed Core groups
Barangay Information Centers (BIC)
River/Brook groups
PROVINCE OF ILOILO WATERSHED STRUCTURE
P e o p l e ’ s I n i t i a t i v e s
A formidable problem is faced by a fledgeling watershed board:
the drying of the Tigum River
Dry Busay Creek
Dry Bungol Waterfall
A Dry Fishpond
A Dry Swamp
Stakeholders’ assemblies
2005 – present Strategy Change
• We studied our surface water
• We studied our ground water
• Options:
– Metro Iloilo Water District to construct a new system to divert water from another watershed to the City
– Campaign for rainwater harvesting for domestic, agricultural, industrial use, ground water recharge and flood mitigation
Demo for
Lowland
agriculture
Demo for
artificial
recharge
Demo for forest
enhancement
Demo for
upland
agriculture
Demo for
household
storage
Demo for
Forested Area
Demo for
Household
StorageDemo for
Upland
Storage
Demo for
Lowland
Storage
Demo for
Built Up
Area
Storage
Natural Depression
Infiltration
ponds &
canals
Dry Pond
Detention Ponds
Camilo Sacupon
Rainfed farm:
Yield – 120 sacks/cropping x 3
cropping or 6 tons a year for 2
hectares. NIA average is 3.3
tons/hectare
With 1,250 m2 mother tank and
100 m2 daughter tank, water can
support 3 cropping of rice in a 2
ha. service area.
Income Diversification
Vegetable Gardens
provide food and
nutrition
Demo in built-up areas
A disaster waiting to happen -Typhoon Frank in June, 2008
THE BIC CONGRESS in 2009
• Position paper was signed to restore Maasin Watershed to its water-producing purpose.
• However, there was no agreement on how to restore the ecosystem services
Municipal mayors and representatives with the governor at the BIC Congress
Looking for answers in the internet, I stumbled on CSIRO
• Searched for keyword – WATER ASSESSMENT
• I found CSIRO website
• I inquired from DR. M. MOGLIA
• I corresponded with DR. KIM ALEXANDER
• A team of senior scientists visited us after a month of negotiation:
DR. KIM ALEXANDER, DR. CRAIG MILLER &
MR TOM JOVANOVICH
on
...somewhere, somehow in this earth, the sun is rising.
Observations• The ecosystem continues to deteriorate as
people struggle with democratic
governance.
• At this point in time, the democratic
process is not able to achieve ecosystem
protection because of weak capacities and
competencies.
• Scientific input not updated, myths on
forestry which dominated the Environment
sector, persisted.
• Biodiversity, soils, ecosystems, not
integrated in the planning process.
• Social science, listening to people,
especially the voiceless, not factored in in
centralized decision making
• It looks like, if we cannot make democracy
work, we cannot protect our watershed
and ourselves.
–How do we deal with power and
authority?
–Can democratic governance restore
a broken watershed?
–How do we institutionalize
knowledge sharing between science
& indigenous knowledge, between
authorities and the local people?
...and so we continue to ponder upon these questions:
For enabling us to think back and ask more questions, we say
Thank you 12th River SymposiumThank you, CSIRO of Australia
Note:
Pictures in Slides 60 and 56 were used without permission as I could not trace back the source.