Rattan and Resin from the Tropical Forests of Palawan, Philippines

by World Wildlife Fund - Philippines

Partners:

Nagkakaisang mga Tribu ng Palawan (NATRIPAL) Tanggapang Panligal ng Katutubong Pilipino (PANLIPI) Tribal Filipino Apostolate

Success Stories

The biological resource inventory team has been working with the indigenous people of Kayasan since 1995 in conducting the inventory. Despite the many problems and delays encountered by the inventory team, the GIS Officer of NATRIPAL (United Tribes of Palawan) is touched by the support of the community members. Community members are keen on pushing through and seeing the inventory to its completion, realizing the community's need for the information and how they can use it in preparing and implementing their Ancestral Domain Management Plan.

NATRIPAL has also become aware of their need for integrated projects in support of their existing projects. NATRIPAL has realized that non-timber forest products (NTFPs) are not enough to support their economic and subsistence needs. They are now sourcing out funds and developing other projects in support of the NTFP enterprises being funded by BCN.

Challenges

The biggest challenge faced by the project is to make the CADCs mean more than just a piece of paper. Two of the four project sites have been awarded the certificates. But the project could not launch the NTFP enterprises because NTFP concessions have not been turned over to the indigenous communities. The CADC mandate provides that the existing concessions will be allowed to operate until the concession expires. In the meantime the extraction of resources from the concession areas is accelerating, to maximize profits from the concessions while the concessionaires still have time.

The processing of the other two CADCs in Campung Ulay and Punta Baja is difficult. The different stakeholders have different interests on the sites. The indigenous peoples seek tenure on their ancestral land while the local government and migrants support agricultural development, which in several cases means the conversion of forests to agricultural land. The application for the CADC in the Municipality of Rizal, Palawan was started in 1994, and so far the boundaries of the CADC still continue to shift.

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