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.