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FPE Selects Kalbario-Patapat Natural Park as Site-Focused Area, Consults Stakeholders

Posted on July 22, 2016

The Foundation for the Philippine Environment (FPE) Luzon Regional Unit (LRU) gathered stakeholders of the Kalbario – Patapat Natural Park (KPNP) in a joint meeting, as it declared its support for KPNP as one of FPE’s site-focused areas last June 22, 2016 in Laoag City, Ilocos Norte.

FPE’s site-focused area support to KPNP involves formulating its Conservation Management Plan (CMP), and building formal partnerships with stakeholders to support the conservation initiatives of the plan. FPE will also engage and support peoples organizations and indigenous peoples organizations (POs/IPOs) in the site.

The joint meeting is one of key preparatory activities towards the CMP for KPNP. FPE convened key representatives from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) Region I, with local government. University of the Philippines Baguio Foundation presented the initial results of the KPNP Resource and Socio-Economic Assessment (RSEA) commissioned by FPE, for inputs by the government agencies.

UP Baguio Foundation's Prof. Celia Austria presents the KPNP RSEA 

The meeting sought to provide a venue to level off expectations from the different stakeholders vis-à-vis FPE’s programs and plans in the area. Critical issues and concerns—mining, timber poaching, IP ancestral domain claims, and the carrying capacity of the site for eco-tourism, among others—facing the KPNP were also mapped out, and possible multi-stakeholder interventions for conservation were then discussed.

Next steps include finalization of the RSEA research report and dissemination to partners. The RSEA report was presented to the Protected Areas Management Board (PAMB) last July 7. Consultations with POs and IPOs in the site, and facilitation of the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding among stakeholders are currently in the pipeline.