Biodiversity Conservation Network
13. Rattan and Resin from the Tropical Forests of Palawan
Location: Palawan Island, Philippines Partners: World Wildlife Fund - Philippines (WWF-P)
Nagkakaisang mga Tribu ng Palawan (NATRIPAL)
Tanggapang Panligal ng
Katutubong Pilipino (PANLIPI)
Tribal Filipino ApostolateBCN Funding: $627,698 Partner Contribution: $92,034 Grant Period: January 15, 1995 - January 14, 1998
What's at Stake?
The island of Palawan is often described as the last natural frontier in the Philippines, as it contains some of the country's largest remaining areas of primary rain forest and some of its more intact and diverse coral reef systems. Palawan has an abundance of unique flora and fauna and accounts for a significant portion of the biological resources of the Philippines. Palawan is also home to a complex mosaic of indigenous peoples whose territories, natural resources, and cultures face growing threats from legal and illegal destructive logging and fishing practices, mining activities, and the rapid encroachment of immigrants from neighboring islands.
To counter these threats, the project team is developing new non-timber product (NTFP) enterprises and alternatives to the traditional marketing system. The project's short-term focus will be on rattan, almaciga resin and honey, but over time it will also explore the potential for marketing other NTFPs.
The success of community-based conservation and enterprise programs like the one on Palawan requires that the local communities first have control of their resources. Hence, we are working to obtain the most binding certification of ancestral land rights for the two pilot project sites -- the Certificate of Ancestral Domain Claim (CADC). This is a critical starting point to establish the credibility of local resource management in general.
1997 Update
BCN's enterprise approach to biodiversity conservation was originally in four project sites in Palawan. Two sites in the northern part of Palawan -- Cabayugan and Cayasan, are inhabited by tribes of Tagbanua and Batak, while two sites in the southern part of Palawan -- Campung Ulay and Punta Baja, are inhabited by tribes of Palawan and Tagbanua.
Two years into the implementation phase, internal organization problems and partnership conflicts threatened the future of the project. However with a new Board of Directors at NATRIPAL, and renewed commitment from the project staff working closely with the local associations, progress is being made.
A recent major accomplishment was the signing of the Certificate of Ancestral Domain Claims (CADC) for two of the project sites, Campung Ulay (7,000 ha) and Punta Baja (8,092 ha). These certificates will give the tribes of Palawan and Tagbanuas the tenurial security for which they have been longing.
The project hired foresters and a team of ten community members to inventory the non-timber forest products (NTFPs) such as rattan, almaciga, honey and medicinal plants, felled logs, pandan and wild fruits found within the ancestral domains of Cayasan and Campung Ulay. The indigenous members of these biological teams will become the forest rangers and paralegals of their communities officially recognized and empowered by the local Department of Environment and Natural Resources. In the succeeding months, with some technical advice, they will complete the data analysis and share the results with the local indigenous communities for use in the management of their ancestral domains. This will enable the communities to manage the resources more sustainably.
All three project sites have already started trading in honey, rattan and almaciga. The business centers of the project sites have been effectively serving as a center for communications, community activities and trading. At present, there are 30 participants in each project site, mostly officials of the local associations and leaders in the community who are being trained.
Success Stories
Firstly, the three remaining projects have been redesigned with a number of the staff on-site. There are four area based staff staying at each project, giving their full attention to the direction and implementation of the program. The community development officer (COD) develops and supervises the officers of the local associations. The forester (in close coordination with Panlipi) handles the Para forester and Paralegal Committee of the community. The paralegals ensure that the indigenous tribes know their rights and that these rights are respected and enjoyed. Aside from leading their communities in thwarting external and internal threats to their ancestral domains, they will ensure that the community will follow their traditional indigenous extraction and conservation practices, following the provisions spelled out in their ancestral domain management plans (ADMPs). The enterprise officer takes care of the Enterprise Committee that will handle the enterprise component of the project. And lastly, the socio economic and monitoring staff, aside from evaluating and monitoring the impact of the project on the beneficiaries, also develops the paramedics/para teacher committee. These four committees will complement each other to ensure that the extraction of non timber forest products (NTFPs) is done sustainably. Through these committees we believe that we will be able to turn over the project to the communities and that by June, 1998, they will be equipped with the necessary training and skills to continue and implement the project.
After seven months of being tested in the project sites, this scheme of implementation has proven effective. At present, the members of these local committees (who have been chosen by the indigenous members of the communities) have shown their capacities to learn, to develop their skills and to become serious community leaders. These committee members are beginning to be able to make decisions based on factual information and data. Through them, the whole community can be empowered to improve their lives and take their destinies into their hands.
The second success story demonstrates the political will of the indigenous members of the Cayasan community to defend their rainforests and ancestral domain against illegal almaciga resin gatherers. (Almaciga is a resin that is used as a paintbase.) In July and August, 1997, the members of SATRICA, the local development association in Cayasan, apprehended armed almaciga resin gatherers and confiscated 51 sacks of almaciga resin. These were employees of concessionaires whose permits had expired last April. The locals coordinated their efforts with the forest rangers of nearby St. Paul's National Park. Unfortunately the illegal almaciga resin tappers were eventually released without any legal actions against them. To make matters worse, the resin was released too. This happened because corrupt personnel from the local Department of Environment and Natural Resources interceded and claimed that there were technical deficiencies in the arrest and seizure. The indigenous members of Cayasan were disappointed when they learned that they could not prosecute the illegal gatherers of almaciga because they had no pictures. Currently the Panlipi lawyers are helping the local people pursue concrete actions to stop these illegal practices inside their ancestral domain. The local communities are not giving up defending their biodiversity against internal and external threats.
The third success story is the capability of the indigenous people to undertake the biological inventory of the biodiversity and resources found within their ancestral domains - proof that successful transfer of technology from the experts to local people with a low level of education and little scientific training can be done. Key factors in this transfer of technology are the use of user friendly forms, use of local language for instructions and the close supervision and guidance of a forester. An added success with these biological inventories is that the team leaders are Tagbanua lady foresters proving that indigenous women can rise to the challenges of leadership.
These biological inventory teams endured daunting hardships. They braved storms, continuous heavy rains inside the dark forests, swollen rivers, snakes and poisonous insects, as well as overcoming their fears of the spirits inhabiting the rainforests. All of them contracted malaria and pulmonary/respiratory related illnesses. But they persisted and were able to finish the inventories within a period of three months. Their commitment and endurance are admirable.
Today, the members of these biological inventory teams are knowledgeable of the boundaries and extent of their ancestral domains, and the richness of the resources inside these rainforests especially the non timber forest products (NTFPs). But at the same time, they are beginning to question the reality of their poverty in the midst of these riches. This knowledge of the value of their resources was the guiding force that pushed the members of SATRICA to defend their ancestral domain against illegal gatherers.
Challenges
The Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA), a government agency dealing with the upgrading and improvement of the coconut industry in the Philippines, is trying to set up a 600 hectare coconut seedling plantation coconut within the ancestral domain claim of the Palawans and Tagbanuas in Campung Ulay.
PCA has already fenced off a four hectare nursery garden and evicted five families who have been tilling these lands for over 20 years. According to the victims, they have not received any compensation for their displacement. They were evicted because they signed a document with the understanding that a school house would be built for their children's benefit. Because of their ignorance and illiteracy, they were manipulated and deceived. But in spite of the continuous pressure from the PCA, the project staff and the affected families with the support of the different non government organizations in Palawan have persisted in opposing this government project.
The indigenous communities need to be equipped with the necessary legal knowledge to be able to thwart internal and external threats in their ancestral domains. Related to this, we wonder how long the indigenous people can sustain their police actions without being harassed and later on, subjected to 'extra-legal military actions' by powerful concessionaires whose economic interests are going to be hurt by the militant actions of the indigenous people.
And lastly, can indigenous people implement the delicate balance between enterprise and conservation? Will enough knowledge and sufficient training equip them to give major consideration to conservation while their economic needs are pushing them to extract and use up their resources to alleviate their poverty? Will they be able to do this after the staff leave the project sites by June, 1998?
In the succeeding phases of the project, these two major challenges must be addressed.
Author: Agnes Costales Rio de Mesa has a B.S. in Agriculture from the University of the Philippines, Los Baños. Prior to joining the BCN-funded Palawan project as the Project Manager in December 1996, Agnes was the Regional Director of the Task Force Detainees of the Philippines (advocacy work, institutional promotion, social marketing). She was also the National Treasurer of FIND (National Council of the Families of Victims of Involuntary Disappearance) -- October 1994 to November 1995. During the period 1978 to 1992, she was involved in peasant organizing, and education work in Cagayan Valley, Bicol, and Central Luzon.
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