Promoting Biodiversity Conservation and Sustainable Agriculture Project

Proponent: Federation of Multi-sectoral Alliance for Development – Negros
Amount: 2,000,000.00
Project Start Date: November 01, 2011
Project End Date: November 01, 2013
Grant Type: Site Grants
Area: Visayas
Grant Status: Past

Project Goals and Objectives

General Objective

2. Specific Objectives (per component)

1. To enhance the local park resource management capabilities and programs
2. To develop sustainable agro-enterprise for forest protection volunteers and other park occupants
3. To successfully implement the project and build up capacity of MUAD personnel on resource management and sustainable agro-enterprise.

Outputs and Outcomes

Component 1. Strengthening of local park resource management capabilities and programs. Five outputs targeted to be achieved under this component such as 1.1 Institutionalized and sustained community-based protection volunteer program in MKNP, 1.2 Formulated and implemented barangay based resource management plan, 1.3 Increased awareness of park occupants and adjacent areas on importance of biodiversity conservation and sustainable development in the park, and 1.4 PAMB and LGUs addressed issues/ problems caused by non-tenured migrants that have no land claims inside the park, 1.5 Creation of barangay level resource management coordinating council that will oversee and coordinate the implementation of programs and policies in the park. To realize these outputs several activities are lined up per output, to wit:

To realize the Output 1.1 25 dedicated local volunteers shall be selected in a accordance to guidelines of PAMB and LGU. The volunteers will undergo orientation as to their functions and trained various environmental laws governing the park activities. After which the 25 volunteers will be deployed in five barangays, they will perform surveillance work, saturation drives, patrolling and pulong-pulong. Meetings and assessment and planning will be done either monthly or quarterly basis to look at the effectiveness of the groups operation. The project will contribute for the insurance and logistics of the volunteer so they can perform their functions. However within the project life, a sustainability mechanism will be developed so that the effort shall be sustained after the FPE support. Like integration the local forest protection budget to LGU annual budget and provision of sustainable livelihood to volunteers.

The Output 1.2 is designed to localize the General Management Plan for MKNP in La Castellana portion of the park so that the local issues shall be given immediate action by the local management body. This will be done by gathering first baseline information through resource inventory and socio economic studies, holding of planning workshops and community meetings, working out the approval of the formulated local resource management plan by barangay and municipal LGUs as well as with PAMB, executing the plan and mobilizing more resources to support the plan implementation.

The output 1.3 deals with increasing the awareness of park occupants and adjacent areas on importance of biodiversity conservation and sustainable agriculture in the park to conserve the natural resource for the use of the present and future generation. Several activities are lined up which will start on the conduct of assessment of awareness level of park occupants/stakeholders on BCSA, then from the results, the communication/IEC plan will be developed and this implementation of the plan will follow and evaluation of the effectiveness of IEC activities.

The Output 1.4 will address the issues/ problems caused by non-tenured migrants which have no land claims inside the park. This will be done by conducting first determination of their exact population, location and socio-economic status. Then the policies and program shall be formulated which will be part of the local resource management plan. The proposed policies and program will be submitted to municipal council and mayor as well as to PAMB for approval. In the implementation of the plan, lobbying for more support will be done to the provincial government and national and international donors to fund some programs like relocation of non-tenured migrants outside the park.

The Output 1.5 is designed to develop a local resource management body with the Barangay government taking the lead role in cooperation with its constituents. The body will be called Barangay Resource Management Council (BRMC) with 7 members coming from barangay (2), DENR-PASu (1), POs/farmers group (1), religious group (1) and KGB (1) and NGO (1) operating in the area. The council shall coordinate and monitor the implementation of the local resource management and make necessary recommendations to the LGUs and PAMB in case there new issues coming out that needs new policy action and resource allocation by the LGUs. During the project term MUAD shall act as the facilitator of the BRMC activities in partnership with the PASU and the PASu will continue it after the support of FPE as the sustainability mechanism. The activities shall include leg-working with the barangays, identification of potential members, formation and training of BRMC members, development of internal rules and operation of the body.

Component 2. Developing sustainable agro-enterprise of park occupants – this component will be implemented using the principles and practices of sustainable agriculture and clustering approach on agro-enterprise development. One hundred farmers including the KGBs/Tanods will be trained on UCARE and agro-enterprise development. Theoretical inputting and actual field application training shall be done for three months period. Ten UCARE training farms for actual field application with .25 hectare area each shall be established with 1 host farmer each. After the training, each qualified farmer shall be provided with starter kit with budget of P 2000.00 each. The expansion capital requirement of each farmer shall be mobilized by MUAD so that each farmer could develop at least .5 to 1 hectare UCARE farm. The more detailed activities are specified in the action plan.

Component 3: Project Implementation and Monitoring/Capacity-Building - MUAD will adopt the results-based management approach in implementing the project. At the start of the implementation an M and E system shall be developed and needed baseline information shall be gathered. The monitoring and evaluation shall be conducted on quarterly basis closely track down the conduct project activities and budget utilization. Staff development training shall be also to further equip the project staff with current trends on resource management and agro-enterprise development particularly with the occurrence of climate change related concerns. More detailed activities are outlined in the action plan.