Module 2

Natural Resources & Biodiversity

Course Instructional Developer

Environmental ENGR. MONICA S. SOLIVA, MBA
Management System Faculty CBA
 ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

Course Description

The course will introduce students to the dominant management models that have been applied historically. This work will
set the scene for an analysis of contemporary approaches to environmental policy making, planning and management.
Discuss aspects and impacts, such as the pressures and responses of human activities on the natural environment. Tools and
techniques for environmental management, as they apply to organizations and companies, are introduced. Examine the
reasons and strategies for resource conservation, pollution prevention and environmental protection related to business.

Course Outline
Module 2:
Introduction
Natural Resources Conservation & Management
Biodiversity Conservation & Management

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 Study Review Guide

MODULE 1 MODULE 2 MODULE 3 COMPLETION

INTRODUCTION TO EMS NATURAL RESOURCES & POLLUTION CONTROL OF REQUIREMENTS
BIODIVERSITY
Aug 14 – Virtual Meeting Aug 28 – Virtual Meeting Sep 04 – Virtual Meeting
Aug 21 – Virtual Meeting

Date Wk Topic Date Wk Topic Date Wk Topic

Module 1
Introduction Air Pollution
Introduction Close on Sep 3, 2021
Aug 14-20 1 Water Pollution Aug 21-27 2 Aug 28-Sep 3 3 Technologies

Module 2
Natural Resources Wastewater
Air Pollution Close on Sep 10, 2021
Aug 14-20 1 Aug 21-27 2 Conservation & Aug 28-Sep 3 3 Management
Management

Solid Waste Module 3

Aug 28-Sep 3 Management Close on Sep 17, 2021
Biodiversity
Land Pollution Hazardous
Aug 14-20 1 Aug 21-27 2 Conservation & 3 All missed requirements
Waste
Management Close on Oct 01, 2021
Management

Aug 14-27 Submit requirements Aug 21-Sep 3 Submit requirements Aug 28-Sep 10 Submit requirements Oct 02, 2021
Aug 21-Sep 3 Submit missed Sep 4-10 Submit missed Sep 11-17 Submit missed COURSE CLOSE
requirements requirements requirements

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Natural Resource Management and Biodiversity Conservation
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7pPa0mRCky4 Source YouTube

Learning Objectives:
1. Explain how environmental management can be used as environmental protection.
2. Understand the culture, diversity, and structure of organizations.
3. Demonstrate analysis on physical and behavioral dimensions involving society, the environment, and the
economy.

Introduction
Natural Resource Management (NRM) refers to the sustainable utilization of major natural resources, such as
land, water, air, minerals, forests, fisheries, and wild flora and fauna. Together, these resources provide the
ecosystem services that provide better quality to human life. Natural resources provide fundamental life support,
in the form of both consumptive and public-good services. Ecological processes maintain soil productivity,
nutrient recycling, the cleansing of air and water, and climatic cycles.

Biological diversity (biodiversity) is the occurrence of different types of ecosystems, different species of
organisms with the whole range of their variants and genes adapted to different climates, and environments along
with their interactions and processes. Biodiversity encompasses the variety of all life on earth. India is one of the
17 mega-biodiversity countries of the world. Although India has only 2.5% of land area, it has a large pool and
diverse pool of plants and microbes which accounts for 7.8% of recorded species in the world.

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Biodiversity
Watch video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ErATB1aMiSU Source YouTube

Genetic diversity describes the variation in the number and type of genes as well as chromosomes present
in different species. The magnitude of variation in genes of a species increases with increase in size and
environmental parameters of the habitat. Species diversity describes the variety in the number and
richness of the spices with in a region.

Ecosystem diversity describes the assemblage and interaction of species living together and the physical
environment in a given area. It is referred to as landscape diversity because it includes placement and size
of various ecosystems.

Countries identified to have mega-biodiversity include Australia, the Congo, Madagascar, South Africa,
China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico,
Peru, United States, and Venezuela.

Iyyanki V. Muralikrishna, Valli Manickam, in Environmental Management, 2017

Retrieved from https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/earth-and-planetary-sciences/natural-resource-
management
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Natural Resources Conservation & Management
Natural resources, especially water and soil, are essential for the function and structure of agricultural
production systems and for the overall social and environmental sustainability.

Agriculture accounts for roughly 70% of total freshwater withdrawals globally. Farming also
contributes to water pollution from nutrient and pesticide run-off and soil erosion. Without improved
efficiency measures, agricultural water consumption is expected to rise by about 20% globally by
2050.

Climate change is already affecting water supply and agriculture through changes in the seasonal
timing of rainfall and snow pack melt, as well as with higher occurrence and severity of droughts and
floods.

One-third of the planet’s land is severely degraded and fertile soil is being lost at the rate of 24 billion
tons a year as a consequence of bad farming practices, such as heavy tilling, multiple sequential
harvests and abundant use of agrochemicals.

An increase of productivity can help push progress towards future food security and the general
wellbeing of producers and rural communities globally, but given the limited natural resource base on
which agriculture depend, sustainable development will ultimately depend on the responsible
management of the planet’s natural resources.
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Watch video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ymarrXoi0ZM Source YouTube

SAN proposes a series of good practices to help reduce agriculture’s pressure on natural resources, and
build more efficient and resilient production systems.

Impact Delivering
Approach to a sustainable use of natural resources, includes practices that:
 Encourage the protection and restoration of water sources, and promote water use
optimization.
 Require the implementation of systems for wastewater treatment before reuse or disposal.
 Foster soil conservation and improved carbon stocks.
 Promote waste reduction, recycling and responsible disposal.

Retrieved from https://www.sustainableagriculture.eco/natural-resources-conservation-management 7

 Biodiversity Conservation and Management

Biodiversity conservation is critical for economic development and

poverty alleviation. Around 70% of the global poor live in rural areas
where as much as 50% to 90% of livelihoods are sourced from non-
marketed goods and ecosystem services.

The agriculture sector is highly dependent on the services generated by

biodiversity and neighboring natural ecosystems that provide key
services such as pollination, pest control, genetic diversity, soil
retention, structure and fertility, water supply, etc.

Although there is certainly an increased adoption of good agricultural practices, there are still abundant
unsustainable practices in agriculture that cause substantial environmental degradation, biodiversity loss and
a progressive loss of agricultural productivity at the same time.

SAN’s approach focuses on the five principal causes of pressure on biodiversity: climate change, habitat loss
and degradation, excessive nutrient loading and other forms of pollution, overexploitation and unsustainable
use, and invasive alien species.

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Impact Delivering
SAN offers solutions for the biodiversity conservation and management that aim to:
 Identify all nearby natural ecosystems and protected areas in order to implement better conservation
practices.
 Avoid the degradation and destruction of natural ecosystems.
 Establish buffer zones to prevent any alteration in the balance of natural ecosystems.
 Maintain, restore and increase the non-crop canopy covers and protect large native trees.
 Identify protected and endangered species that have their habitat within or near the operations.
 Avoid the introduction and spread of alien species.
Farms working with SAN are able to protect their natural environment and biodiversity, and carry out
environmental and social impact assessments (ESIA).
Sustainable Management
By 2050, the agriculture sector will face an unprecedented confluence of pressures. With a projected 30%
growth in the global population, competition for increasingly scarce land, water and energy resources will
intensify, and production will have to increase to feed the world and adjust to changes in dietary patterns.
Agriculture depends to a large extent on the services provided by ecosystems. Sustainable agriculture
approaches, therefore focus on optimizing production while minimizing negative environmental impacts
and promoting actions for the protection, conservation, enhancement and efficient use of natural resources.
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Agricultural sustainability requires that intervention strategies are integrated and adaptable to the
conditions of each specific context. They require the implementation of sustainable management systems of
multidimensional scopes that cover both social and environmental issues, with an emphasis on the
identification of production risks and the planning of activities to mitigate those risks.

Impact delivering
SAN offers solutions for the implementation of sustainable management systems that allow:
Implementation of functional social and environmental management systems that can be adapted to the
specific characteristics of each productive landscape;
Responsible management of service providers to reduce the indirect impact on ecosystems and natural
resources;
Increased productivity through an optimization of resource use; and
Implementation of mechanisms to facilitate traceability and integrity of agricultural and livestock products.
Farms working with SAN are able to develop and/or improve their social and environmental management
system, have a productivity and service providers management, and achieve traceability and product
integrity, among other benefits.
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Sustainable Livestock Production

The livelihoods of half the 768 million people living in poverty worldwide depend directly on livestock.
It provides 14% of the total calories and 33% of the protein in people’s diet at global level.

Growing populations and incomes, along with changes in food consumption patterns, are rapidly
increasing the demand for livestock products. Global production of meat is projected to more than double
from 229 million tonnes in 1999 to 465 million tonnes in 2050.
Livestock is by far the single largest anthropogenic user of land, with up to 26% of terrestrial areas
dedicated to rangelands and about 33% of croplands dedicated to fodder production. Expansion of
livestock production is a key driver of deforestation, and the sector also uses a large amount of water for
production and contributes to water pollution through discharge of wastes, especially surpluses of nitrogen
and phosphorus.
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Additionally, livestock make a significant contribution to climate change, as the sector is responsible for
14.5% of human-induced GHG emissions.

SAN understands that the positive or negative impact of livestock over the environment depends
directly on the production intensity, the specific production practices, the species bred, and the local
ecological condition.

Impact delivering
SAN’s approach to the sustainability of livestock relies on practices that:
 Improve productivity and input use by implementing a multi-level system for feed resources and an
associated management plan.
 Minimize potential negative impacts on natural resources by prohibiting the destruction of natural
ecosystems, optimizing water and land use, and treating of residual waters.
 Reduce GHG emissions and improve the systems’ capacity as carbon sinks.
 Ensure animal welfare, meaning that animals are healthy, comfortable, well-fed, safe, can behave
naturally, and are not subject to pain, fear and stress.
 Minimize food safety risks through sanitary protocols and animal health monitoring.
 Implement mechanisms for the verification of the animal’s origin and breeding process throughout
the supply chain.

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Climate Change Adaptation & Mitigation

Agriculture is not only a fundamental human activity put at risk by climate change. It is also a major driver
of environmental and climate change itself, as it has the largest human impact on land and water resources.
About 1.6 billion hectares of arable land (around 12.5% of total ice-free land) are used for crop cultivation,
and an additional 2.5 billion hectares are used for pasture.
The sector is also a major user of water. By 2010, over 300 million hectares of arable land was under
irrigation, representing roughly 70% of fresh water resources withdrawn from aquifers, lakes and rivers by
human activity.
Agriculture is responsible for 25% of carbon dioxide, 50% of methane, and more than 75% of nitrous
oxide emissions annually produced by human activities. Nevertheless, agriculture is one of the few sectors
that can both contribute to greenhouse gas emissions and to the mitigation and sequestration of carbon
emissions, through sustainable production practices.
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Impact delivering
SAN’s sustainable agriculture approach focuses on building resilient agroecosystems and reducing the
negative impact of agricultural activities on the environment by:
 Promoting agriculture practices that restore and increase natural and artificial carbon sinks.
 Offering solutions to minimize and compensate GHG emissions by implementing a responsible
management of fertilizers and pesticides, reducing the use of fossil fuels and their by-products, and
incorporating renewable energies into production systems.
 Promoting the diversification of agroecosystems to improve their adaptability to changing climate
patterns.
 Encouraging soil management practices that contribute to productivity while lowering the pressure
of agricultural activities over soil resources.
 Improving water efficiency through better management practices that reduce vulnerability to
variable conditions.
 Promoting the use of weather monitoring systems and trends analysis to reduce the risks associated
to climate variability.
 Assessing livestock management practices to enable adaptation and a reduction of the systems'
vulnerability to climate variability.

Retrieved from https://www.sustainableagriculture.eco/biodiversity-conservation-management

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Recognized as the hottest of biodiversity hotspots — a global conservation priority area which faces
significant threats — the Philippines, together with other megadiverse countries, hosts over two-thirds of
Earth’s plant and animal species. However, increasing human activity has pushed its wildlife to the edge
of collapse. Several endemic species in the Philippines have only four percent of their natural forest
habitat remaining. At sea, unsustainable fishing has reduced fish populations, putting pressure on the
ocean’s ability to provide food and incomes.
The nation is also an international hub for illegal wildlife trafficking, while the domestic exotic pet and
bushmeat trade continues to threaten biodiversity. Authorities lack support in enforcing national protection
laws and are largely overwhelmed by the sheer volume of illegal activity. Poor communications
infrastructure in areas where wildlife trafficking occur compounds the issue — as citizens and law
enforcers find it difficult to report violations. Additionally, persistent negative practices and the lack of
valuation of nature drive this harmful trade.
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OUR ROLE
The Protect Wildlife Project was launched in 2016 in collaboration with Conservation International,
USAID, and other partners to combat the threats to wildlife and the causes of biodiversity loss in the
Philippines while taking into consideration environmental threats such as habitat loss, unsustainable
harvesting, and pollution.
Conservation International works in close consultation with the government and local community
members to inform regional development plans and national policies through scientific research, while
promoting community-based conservation stewardship. We are directing our initial efforts under this
project to Palawan, the nearby world-renowned biodiverse Tubbataha Reef, and the Sulu Archipelago
— where biodiversity is high yet wildlife trafficking runs rampant. The project is also expanding to
new sites in southern Mindanao, including General Santos City and the provinces of Sarangani and
South Cotabato.

OUR PLAN

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Improving attitudes, awareness and livelihoods
Conservation International and partners are working with local communities to help them understand
how their livelihoods are directly linked to the health of nature, and the necessity to conserve these
natural resources and wildlife — thereby effecting a reduction in unsustainable behaviors. This effort is
implemented with respect to indigenous communities’ ancestral domains and will be integrated into
local development plans.
By incentivizing and providing training for sustainable livelihoods, our work allows communities to
transit away from unsustainable, and often illegal, work towards that which benefits themselves and
nature.

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Strategizing and strengthening law enforcement
The archipelagic nature of the Philippines makes patrolling a difficult task for law enforcement teams,
who already have insufficient resources. Through science-based research, monitoring animal
populations and recognizing the uniqueness of each ecosystem, Conservation International is able to
train protected area staff and inform crime prevention, law enforcement and policy-making strategies.
This allows authorities to prevent both domestic and syndicated wildlife crime — breaking patterns that
put Filipinos in criminal danger and that harm the environment.
We engage community members of various groups and roles to encourage their ownership and
commitment to their land, forests and seas, and empowers locals to safely conduct on-the-ground
patrols with knowledge and training.

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Innovating research
Wildlife trafficking is a grave issue that requires a concerted, collaborated effort to dismantle.
Conservation International, the government, local communities and partners will work with universities
to advance conservation education and innovate new technologies to aid our work in the field. The
Protect Wildlife Project will assist partner universities in research and development — allowing for
improved conservation, law enforcement and sustainable livelihoods. The project also aims to develop
knowledge products and technologies that will lead to policy reforms and improved management of
conservation sites.
Safeguarding biodiversity
Home to large numbers of endemic species of more than 52,100 species described in the Philippines,
more than half are found nowhere else in the world. The Philippines are also home to some of the
highest concentrations of critically endangered and endangered species on the planet.

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On the nation’s most populous island of Luzon, inhabited by over 48 million people, spans the largest remaining
tract of old-growth tropical rainforest in the entire country — the Quirino Protected Landscape. It is highly
valued for its watershed, carbon storage and biodiversity.
Nestled in the foothills of the Sierra Madre mountain range, within an important biodiversity corridor, the
Quirino Protected Landscape protects 67% of the Quirino province. This vast forest sustains the local people by
supplying drinking water, flood protection and water for major irrigation systems. It also provides important
ecological services in sustaining agriculture, the main economic activity of the lowland areas — contributing to
the poverty alleviation program of the local government.
Quirino is also home to over 40 threatened animal species — some of which can only be found within the
province.
However, unsustainable farming practices, population growth and a lack of local economic opportunities have led
to slash-and-burn farming and illegal logging. Farmers, uncertain of their land tenancy, are maximizing their
short-term gains at the expense of the environment.
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OUR ROLE
In 2007, together with local government and NGO partners, Conservation International implemented the
Quirino Forest Carbon Project to provide alternative income options and educate local communities. Through
this project, we aim to protect and restore Quirino’s ecology and biodiversity, including its vital watershed,
and to secure the role of the forest in mitigating climate change through reforestation and agroforestry.

OUR PLAN

Incentivizing farmers to change behaviors

Conservation International and the Quirino Forest Carbon Project recognize that farmers cannot care properly
for the environment if their livelihoods and food security are threatened. So we work closely with the farmers
to provide incentives and training to encourage them to care for their land. We help farmers secure long-term
land tenures, so that they care for the land in the long-term; we educate them in sustainable agriculture and
secure alternative livelihoods, to reduce slash and burn; and financially compensate farmers for planting and
maintaining native fruit trees, to reforest degraded areas.
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The participating farms are strategically located on the fringes of the primary forest and watershed so that this
effort occurs in the surrounding areas of the original forest, preventing further loss. As of 2015, the project has
grown from its initial 177 hectares to 185 hectares and has benefitted 119 farmers.

Mitigating climate change with trees

Globally, deforestation contributes more greenhouse gas emissions than all passenger cars combined. Halting
tropical deforestation and degradation and supporting their regrowth can provide at least 30% of all mitigation
action needed to limit global warming to 2°C. This project aims to reforest over 159 hectares. As of 2015, the
trees planted by farmers participating in this reforestation project have led to the sequestration of over 920 tons
of carbon dioxide. Funded for twenty years by moreTrees, the project is expected to sequester over 40,000 tons
by 2029. As a testament to its success, the Quirino Forest Carbon Project received the highest possible
certification by the Rainforest Alliance under the Verified Carbon Standard (VCS), and validated under the
Climate, Community and Biodiversity Standards (CCBS). It was also the first program of its kind in Asia to be
validated under CCBS at the Gold level in 2009, and VCS in 2010.
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Fostering environmental stewardship
Conservation International and the Quirino Forest Carbon Project have trained locals as forest guards to
help the government enforce environmental laws and promote ecological awareness within the community.

They now better understand how sustainable practices benefit them and protect their forests for future
generations locally and beyond.

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 MORE OF OUR WORK

The highest peak in Palawan, Mount Mantalingahan, has been home to the indigenous Palawans for
thousands of years. With over half its original forest cover remaining, it provides an essential watershed
for the 200,000 people who depend on it for agriculture, drinking water and livelihoods.
Mount Mantalingahan forests are valued at US$5.5 billion in the ecosystem services they provide to
people. They also play an important role in absorbing and storing carbon — an essential component in the
solution to climate change. It is a key biodiversity area, where new species are still being discovered, and
recognized for this value as it is one of only 10 sites of the Alliance for Zero Extinction in the Philippines
and one of 11 important bird areas in Palawan.
However, like many forests in this region, it faces considerable threats — including illegal logging,
wildlife poaching, mangrove loss, agro-industrial development, and unsustainable mining.
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MOUNT MANTALINGAHAN
Our shared goal: No more forest loss

OUR ROLE
In 2009, with the support of Conservation International, over 120,000 hectares of this range was
declared the Mount Mantalingahan Protected Landscape — making it the largest terrestrial protected
area in Palawan. This followed several years of scientific studies led by Conservation International,
together with strong collaboration and consultation with stakeholders. By collecting all perspectives, a
plan was made that integrated both sustainable management practices and the creation of community-
based conserved areas — which respected the ancestral domains of indigenous peoples.

We assist the development and implementation of science-based policies, programs and monitoring
systems in the landscape. We also sits on the landscape’s protected area management board, which,
through the management plan, is focused on the shared goal of zero net loss of forest and ecosystem
services in the protected area.

As a result, within Mount Mantalingahan, over 50,000 hectares of ancestral land is now safeguarded
with tenures. Nine indigenous communities have been issued a certificate of ancestral domain claim
while six indigenous peoples organizations have secured government permits to sustainably gather
almaciga resin and honey for their livelihoods.

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OUR PLAN

Supporting law enforcement

Conservation International has collaborated with the local government and providing paralegal training and
enforcement mentoring sessions to over 45 community volunteers selected to represent specific watersheds.
The volunteers have been deputized by their local chief executives and now conduct regular foot patrols in
their designated areas. This has instilled a sense of responsibility to protect the community’s natural
resources while bolstering the local government’s protection efforts. We have also boosted the protected
area’s surveillance efficiency through providing two conservation drones and trained government staff in
their operation.

Conservation agreements
Conservation International is enabling and encouraging local communities to protect their natural resources
through conservation agreements, which incentivizes community protection activities.
To date, hundreds of families have taken part — and learned the value of conservation along the way —
transforming communities from resources users into responsible and sustainable resource managers.

Sustainable financing
In order to maintain the ecological integrity of Mount Mantalingahan Protected Landscape, Conservation
International plans to secure long-term financing in the form of a trust fund, so it may endure in perpetuity.
This landscape will be the first, out of over 100 protected areas, in the Philippines to pioneer an endowment
scheme.
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OUR ACHIEVEMENTS

Studying and protecting biodiversity

Mount Mantalingahan is home to over 100 threatened species. Through our biodiversity surveys,
Conservation International together with our partners have helped add 20 new species to science, many
which may only be found in this range. This includes a new species of finch (Erythrura prasina), a new
species of forest gecko (Luperosaurus gulat), and a species of pouch bat (Saccolaimus saccolaimus)
previously unrecorded in Palawan. In addition, we rediscovered the Palawan soft-furred mountain rat
(Palawanomys furvus), a species that has not been seen by scientists since it was first recorded in 1962.
As of 2016, taxonomists are working to identify a new species of shrew which may be endemic to Mount
Mantalingahan, and potentially, a new species of toadlet along with eight new plant species.

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Conservation agreements with over 300 local families
Over 300 families have signed conservation agreements to agree to protect their natural assets, and learn the
value of conservation. The incentives for community members are plenty:
Participants attended farm planning and improvement activities such as planting agroforestry species to
secure a sustainable source of food and income.
180 families are benefiting from water system projects, that transport potable freshwater from hard-to-
reach springs to reservoirs, pipes and faucets.
Paralegal training and enforcement monitoring sessions have resulted in 45 community volunteers being
deputized. They now conduct patrols to monitor the condition of the forests and record any illegal activities.
Guided by their traditional knowledge and practices, the community members have rehabilitated at least
50 hectares of degraded forest – through planting native trees.
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 MORE OF OUR WORK

Retrieved from:
https://www.conservation.org/philippines/projects/protecting-biodiversity-in-the-philippines
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The GEF-financed Philippine ICCA Project is working to strengthen the conservation, protection, and management of key biodiversity sites
by institutionalising Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities Conserved Areas and Territories (ICCAs). Photo: Orange Omengan/UNDP Philippines.

In the Philippines, conserving unique biodiversity relies on the knowledge, innovations, and practices of
indigenous and local communities who live in direct contact with nature.
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Indigenous leadership
An estimated 85% of the country’s key biodiversity areas are within ancestral domains.
In 2017, Philippine Association for Inter-Cultural Development, Inc. (PAFID) came up with this figure
by comparing the data from the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) on approved

Certificate of Ancestral Domain Titles (CADTs) and existing claims from Indigenous Peoples (IP)
communities with the remaining forest cover data of the Forest Management Bureau of the Department
of Environment and Natural Resources (FMB-DENR). This figure suggests that governance by IP
communities is instrumental in protecting and conserving the remaining natural forests of the
Philippines.

These areas are Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities Conserved Areas and Territories (ICCAs).
ICCAs may be sacred spaces or ritual grounds (such as sacred forests and mountains, indigenous
territories, and cultural landscapes or seascapes).

The primary factors that threaten these areas and erode the role of indigenous leadership in
conservation, are habitat loss and degradation; erosion of traditional governance – including loss of
cultural links, traditional knowledge, and/or management practices; unsustainable tourism; and poorly
planned infrastructure development.

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Ancestral domain
Indigenous Peoples’ rights have frequently been overlooked in conservation efforts, but since 2010 UNDP
has been working with 16 indigenous communities in the Philippines to delineate boundaries and map
precious ecosystems, inventory resources, and document indigenous knowledge, systems, and practices.
In 2016, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), in partnership with the National
Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP), launched the UNDP-supported, and GEF-financed Philippine
ICCA Project. The Project is working to strengthen the conservation, protection, and management of key
biodiversity sites by institutionalising ICCAs.

Building momentum
The DENR through the Biodiversity Management Bureau (BMB) has been implementing projects to support
and recognize the governance and management of ICCAs in partnership with the UNDP-GEF. This is
consonant with the DENR’s vision of inclusive conservation to protect the country’s biodiversity.
The Philippine ICCA Project is building on progress made in an earlier UNDP-supported, GEF-financed
project called New Conservation Areas in the Philippines Project (NewCAPP) which laid the foundations for
recognition of ICCAs as part of the expanded protected area system.
NewCAPP worked with six IP communities on the documentation and recognition of their ICCAs, including,
the Maeng and Banao in Abra, the Agta of General Nakar in Quezon, the Ayta of Maporac in Zamables, the
Buhid Mangyan in Mts. Iglit-Baco in Mindoro and the Menuvu of Pangantucan in Mt. Kalatungan. In
addition to paving the way for the Philippine ICCA Project, the NewCAPP project triggered adoption of
ICCA work by other NGOs and funding agencies such as USAID.
The Philippine ICCA Project focuses on 10 areas that have been identified as high in species richness or
otherwise key in biodiversity.
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Know your rights
Previously there was no law that explicitly refers to the ICCA concept in the Philippines.
But, with project support, that is changing.

Myanmar delegates in Imugan, Nueva Viscaya. Photo: Orange Omengan/UNDP Philippines.

‘The ICCA Declaration is our contribution to address climate change’. – Helen Pojaras of Anticala, Butuan City

The “ICCA Declaration” is part of the IP communities’ bid to protect important cultural and biological sites
within their ancestral domains from destruction and degradation by designating them as ICCAs.
With project support, project participants successfully lobbied to include ICCAs in the Expanded National
Integrated Protected Areas System Act (ENIPAS) Law of 2018.
A salient provision on ICCA was included in the ENIPAS Law, specifically stating that:
‘ICCs and IPs concerned shall have the responsibility to govern, maintain, develop, protect and conserve
such areas in accordance to their indigenous knowledge, systems, practices and customary laws with full and
effective assistance from NCIP, DENR, and other concerned government agencies’.
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Fight for your rights
As part of the ICCA Project’s efforts in supporting laws recognising ICCAs in Protected Areas, programmatic
activities included: revising Ancestral Domains Sustainable Development and Protection Plan guidelines,
Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board guidelines addressing Community Conservation Plans in Local
Government Units’ Comprehensive Land Use Plans, and vetting DENR guidelines on NIPAS to ensure
recognition of ICCAs in protected areas.

The project also helped strengthen indigenous leaders’ knowledge and skills in disseminating global
information for decision making, articulating their needs and interests, and participating in policy and
legislative development.

Making connections
To promote the development and implementation of co-management and ICCAs, and to build on progress
made in the Philippines’ Protected Area system, the project coordinated a Myanmar-Philippines Learning

Exchange on ICCA. This learning exchange coordinated a 16-member Myanmar delegation (composed of
government officials, CSO members, ethnic group representatives, and UNDP Myanmar personnel) and
facilitated discussions with the leaders of the Ikalahan/Kalanguya IPs in Imugan, Nueva Viscaya, and the
governor of the province.

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 Mamanwa-Manobo children in Hilong. Photo: UNDP Philippines.
Amplifying solutions
Since 2016, the project has demarcated more than 150,000 hectares of ICCAs in key biodiversity areas,
inventoried vital flora and fauna living within it, documented the communities’ traditional resource management
methods, and launched 10 biodiversity-friendly livelihoods that benefitted 50,0000 individuals (46% of whom
are women). Additionally, these inventories have helped Indigenous Peoples to recognise and designate natural
resources over which they have stewardship, resulting in increased control, surveillance, and enforcement.
The ICCA Project exceeded its target of documented, declared, and registered ICCAs by 130%, or 154,868
hectares covered (against a project target of 118,848 hectares). This includes terrestrial sites and ancestral waters.
UNDP, through NewCAPP and the Philippine ICCA Project, has assisted the establishment and strengthening of
the Bukluran ng mga Pamayanang Nangangalaga sa Kalikasan National ICCA Network. Simply known as
Bukluran, it is composed of leaders of IP communities that are now working to advance the Global ICCA
Consortium work and serve as the frontline in advocating for ICCA documentation, mapping, recognition and
registration. This piece was originally posted by UNDP Ecosystems & Biodiversity on Exposure.

Retrieved from: https://www.thegef.org/news/indigenous-peoples-philippines-leading-conservation-efforts

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COURSE REQUIREMENTS FOR ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT SYSTEM
Module 2: Case Study
Case Study Title: “Improving Ecosystem Management to Strengthen Resilience to
Extreme Weather in the Philippines”

Summarize the case based on the criteria presented on the rubrics (next page).
Tabulate your summary and submit in pdf file format not more than 2 pages.
(Refer to the link below for the case study).
https://biodiversitylinks.org/projects/completed-projects/bridge/bridge-resources/case-
study-improving-ecosystem-management-to-strengthen-resilience-to-extreme-weather-in-
the-philippines

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