PHILIPPINE WORKING GROUP (PWG) on promotion of localizing natural resource management (NRM)

The Challenge of Sustainability: Local Government Initiatives in Carood Watershed Carood Watershed Management Council PWG-NRM Alliance Documentation Visit Report

7 to 9 August 2006

Environmental Science for Social Change

With support from Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO)- and its program Sharing and Promotion of Awareness and Regional Knowledge (SPARK) in community-based natural resource management

TABLE OF CONTENTS

OVERVIEW...... 3 FORMATION OF THE GROUP...... 3 FOUNDATIONS OF THE GROUP...... 3 DESIGN OF THE GROUP...... 4 POINTS OF ENVIRONMENTAL DEGRADATION/RESOURCE BASE CONCERNS AND AGENDA...... 4 FUNCTION OF THE GROUP...... 5

NATURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT/LANDSCAPE FOCUS ...... 5 LIVELIHOODS AND NATURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT ...... 6 OVERVIEW AND STRATEGY ...... 6 POLICY TO IMPLEMENT ...... 6 MECHANISMS TO ACTIVATE CHANGE ...... 7 VIEWS TO FUTURE DEVELOPMENT ...... 7

ESSC Project Team

Project Manager: Mariel de Jesus Project assistance: Dallay Annawi, Myra Colis, Mars Tan, SJ Advisory support and inputs: Pedro Walpole, SJ, Sylvia Miclat

ESSC-PWG Report: The challenge of sustainability, local government initiatives in Carood Watershed 2 Carood Watershed Management Council, Bohol, 7 to 9 August 2006

Overview

The Carood Watershed Management Council (CWMC) is a consortium of six local government units within the Carood Watershed area in the province of Bohol. The six local government units are Candijay, Alicia, Mabini, Pilar, Ubay and .

Carood Watershed is ranked as the fifth largest of the 12 major watersheds in Bohol, yet it was not recognized or commonly known as a watershed in the past. Carood is not viewed critical on the national level, unlike the watersheds that service major dams, such as the Magat or Chico, or other watersheds that are subjects of Presidential Proclamations. Recently however, Carood has gained a certain level of prominence, partly because of the organization of the CWMC. CWMC is the first watershed council in Bohol. Because Carood is not a declared watershed and therefore not recognized as a protected area, the management of the watershed does not receive any money from the national government or DENR.

The experience in the Carood Watershed has had positive impact on other watershed areas in Bohol. The Abatan and watersheds are also forming watershed management councils now. The provincial government is hoping to organize a province-wide network of these watershed management groups. Already, there is the Bohol Watershed Advisory Council (BOWAC), and although this was supposedly provincial in scope, but in reality the efforts are focused in the Loboc Watershed. BOWAC however is meant to be an interim group; the main objective is to organize the Bohol Network of Watershed Councils. The drive of the province to organize these management councils is largely a result of the CWMC initiative.

At this point, the timing is right to take on the assessment of the CWMC, especially since the province is looking towards the development and organization of other management councils. This would be a good opportunity to see where the CWMC, the first council to be organized, is at this point and what factors are facilitating and hindering its ability to manage the resources within the watershed.

Formation of the group

Foundations of the Group

Coastal municipalities within the Carood watershed experienced flooding. Mayor Camacho, then the Mayor of Candijay, invited ESSC to help them identify the causes of the flooding. ESSC originally entered into Candijay (adjacent to Alicia) to examine the problem they were experiencing with seasonal flooding. A large portion of the municipality of Candijay is located within the Carood Watershed. Using the watershed approach to analyze the problems of flooding and other environmental concerns, the LGU of Candijay realized that the problem could not be solved through their efforts alone.

ESSC’s findings prompted the efforts to draw the municipalities together to work on environmental concerns within the Carood Watershed. Initially, ESSC invited six municipalities to a meeting to discuss common problems experienced in their areas. While ESSC played a facilitative role in terms of the municipalities meeting initially, the formation of the CWMC was not an ESSC initiative. Rather, it was an output of from

ESSC-PWG Report: The challenge of sustainability, local government initiatives in Carood Watershed 3 Carood Watershed Management Council, Bohol, 7 to 9 August 2006

the discussion of the stakeholders involved. After the first meeting, the group agreed to continue to meet and organized the Carood Watershed Working Group. This was later transformed into the Carood Watershed Management Council, a more formal body with a legal personality.

Design of the group

The council is composed of the local chief executives of the six municipalities, the six municipal planning development coordinators, six Chairs of SB Committees on Environment and Agriculture, six municipal agricultural officers, a representative each from DENR and from BEMO (Bohol Environment Management Office), the presidents of NGOs with environmental programs in Carood, presidents of POs with CBNRMP within Carood watershed. Key stakeholders signed an MOU to establish their commitment.

An Executive Order was sought by the group, and issued by Hon. Erico B. Aumentado on 2 September 2003, creating the CWMC. While provincial government recognizes and endorses the CWMC, they are not at present registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). It is as yet not clear if they have plans to pursue such registration.

The council is well-represented by the six LGUs, the Bohol provincial government, and the other stakeholders in the six municipalities. However, the full council is composed of about 30 members. This is quite a large number, which may be difficult to convene. This may have caused some of the problems in getting adequate attendance in meetings, and may have hampered the decision-making process of the council. It may be helpful to have a smaller group, one that is perhaps more easily mobilized – a core group or a board of directors – that has set powers and responsibilities to make the urgent and important decisions. Perhaps the members could be involved in a review of the structure of the council such that there can be a clearer understanding of their roles and responsibilities. A well-organized council would also help for the better planning and organization of activities. The board composition and organization should allow for equal representation and active participation from both the LGUs and the POs/NGOs.

Points of Environmental Degradation/Resource base concerns and agenda

The common problems experienced by the municipalities within the Carood watershed are: seasonal flooding in agricultural areas (particularly in Alicia, Candijay and Mabini), forest plantation fires, unsustainable farming practices and improper waste disposal, contamination of water sources, erosion, siltation, destructive fishing practices, over- extraction of sand and gravel (resulting in destabilization of river banks, unauthorized expansion or abandonment of fishpond areas, oil palm plantations, underutilization of land, outdated land use data, resource management area conflicts, and natural resource management capability building concerns for communities.

In terms of economics, those living in the downstream areas noticed that fish catch was declining, and even agricultural harvests were low. Social development is also still a challenge, with most communities still dealing with the difficulties of accessing safe, potable water and good farm-to-market roads. Appropriate irrigation facilities also still need to be established. Communities are marginalized in terms of decision-making, and boundary disputes among municipalities hamper development in these areas.

ESSC-PWG Report: The challenge of sustainability, local government initiatives in Carood Watershed 4 Carood Watershed Management Council, Bohol, 7 to 9 August 2006

Function of the group

Natural resource management/Landscape focus

Carood Watershed spans 20,479 hectares in six municipalities in the eastern part of the Bohol province. It comprises 97% of the total land area of Alicia, 50% of the Candijay, 23% of Ubay and smaller portions of Mabinin, Pilar and Guindulman. Carood is a significant water source for residents in the catchments; it is the fifth largest watershed in Bohol. At least 100,000 households depend on its waters. One thing though that needs to be clarified is how to proportion the responsibilities and privileges among the six municipalities given that the watershed does not encompass all the six municipalities in equal proportion. It seems that the council does not have a mechanism for this.

During the visit to Carood last 8 August 2006, the Carood Technical Working Group, facilitated by the Bohol Environment Management Office is spearheading a strategic planning session for the Council. The strategic planning will focus on coming up with an Integrated Watershed Management Plan. At present, the CWMC is working to support the national reforestation program, promoted by Victor Corpuz, in coordination with the DENR (then under Secretary Michael Defensor).

The last CWMC meeting was held at Alicia in August 2005. A majority of the members was present, and the meeting focused largely on updates on the TWG output, particularly on the reforestation activities that the LGUs were implementing. The council has not moved since then, or had any meetings since that time, even though meetings were supposed to be held every month. At present, they feel as if they are doing the best that they can, given that the local government units have meager resources. Budget appears to be one of the group’s major constraints: there are no council activities being held because the council does not have sufficient funds. Yet, there also seems to be difficulty in terms of direction and agenda.

The council seems to have no unified plan, and instead seems to follow on from the plans of the province or from the plans of national government. As a result, the member municipalities implement their own independent activities and projects, rather than work together as a council. The lack of a common agenda or strategy seems to be the reason for this. Based on the meeting in Alicia, it seems that at the council level, the members do not have yet a clear understanding of how they will proceed to protecting and managing their resources as an alliance of six municipalities. However, it is also apparent that at the municipal level, the government and the people are engaged in various activities already to manage and develop their natural resources. There remains a need though for the municipalities to coordinate their efforts to have greater impacts and to avoid overlapping. While there remains a great need to improve collaborative management practices, individual efforts by the municipalities should be continued and even fully utilized.

When ESSC initially entered the area, Carood was not deemed as a priority watershed. Today however, the provincial government is giving it more and more focus. In fact, the provincial government has declared Carood as a priority watershed for the province of Bohol. Based on the Governor’s declaration, it is a first priority watershed, because it is critical in terms of supplying water to many municipalities. It is also being prioritized because of its present status: open and degraded uplands, silted tributaries, and in the downstream-costal areas the sea grasses are smothered by silt. Carood Watershed has

ESSC-PWG Report: The challenge of sustainability, local government initiatives in Carood Watershed 5 Carood Watershed Management Council, Bohol, 7 to 9 August 2006

land resources with the potential for agricultural development, but these need to be well- managed. Carood is also prioritized in the Bohol Master Plan for Agriculture. Because Carood is primarily agricultural, water remains the primary concern: how can agriculture be secured without sufficient water?

Livelihoods and natural resource management

Local people have been used to planting fruit trees, rattan, vegetables, and root crops to increase their income. Some have been engaged in mangrove reforestation to increase fish catch; and they engage in livelihoods that have direct or indirect impact on their natural resources. The municipal governments are distributing seedlings of coconut and fruit trees to the people and the DENR conducted saturation planting of bamboo and rattan. It is not yet clear if these activities helped to increase people’s income or economic status.

Activities such as coconut and rattan planting, mangrove reforestation, solid waste management initiatives and the greening of the national highway project are to some extent effective in terms of improving the status of natural resources. At present, these activities are conducted on a piece-meal basis by different municipalities rather than as a council. Overview and strategy

It appears that the CWMC does not have a clear strategy or plan of action as a Council at present. This is perhaps what is causing much of their difficulties, as without a clear plan, the members are finding it difficult to set an agenda and plan the council’s activities. The Technical Working Group has recognized this constraint, and is thus preparing for a strategic planning workshop to be held sometime this year in order to define the activities of the council.

In terms of financial resources, at present the CWMC has no existing funds. Without a plan, the member municipalities are also hesitant to contribute money for the council’s operations and activities, since it is as yet unclear how that money will be managed and spent.

During the period when ESSC was assisting the CWMC, finances were available to support meetings and some transport costs to get participants to the meeting venues. However, when the responsibilities for sustaining CWMC were turned over to the municipalities, it appears that there was little commitment from the members to contribute funds in order to continue having meetings. At present, the municipalities do not contribute money to the funds of the CWMC. The host municipality (usually Alicia, as the Mayor of Alicia is the chairman of the council) financed the few meetings that were held in 2005-2006.

Policy to Implement

It was unclear whether the CWMC is implementing policy as a council, applicable to all the member municipalities. Each municipality however is implementing policy, to some degree, such as municipal ordinances.

ESSC-PWG Report: The challenge of sustainability, local government initiatives in Carood Watershed 6 Carood Watershed Management Council, Bohol, 7 to 9 August 2006

In terms of enforcing policies against illegal fishing, the coastal municipalities in Carood established the Coastal Law Enforcement Council (CLEC). The CLEC handles law enforcement in relation to CRM. Each congressional district in Bohol (three districts in all) has its own CLEC. The formation of CLEC is an initiative of the provincial government. CLEC is a multi-sectoral, multi-agency (including the PNP) group, and is still basically LGU-led.

During the term of then-Mayor Camacho, CLEC operations were extensive. After her term though, CLEC became inactive and hence there was a resurgence of illegal activities in Cogtong Bay. This created a lot of concern for coastal communities. In late 2004, CWMC members pushed for CLEC’s reactivation. This was not an easy task however, due to political pressure from major players involved in illegal activities. In Cogtong Bay, as in other areas, it is not uncommon to find that those with political interests, or the supporters of those presently in positions of power are engaged in illegal activities.

Mechanisms to activate change

In terms of daily operations, the member municipalities appear to be conducting activities on their own, using the provincial plans as a guide or basis for their projects. In terms of having mechanisms or management directives that can have real impact on the situation or status of the watershed, at this point it seems as if there are no such mechanisms in place. The Bohol Environment Management Office (BEMO) however, seems to be an active partner in the council, and it serves to give some direction in terms of the provincial environmental program and mechanisms.

Views to Future Development

Sustainability mechanisms were proposed to ensure the long-term viability of the council. These mechanisms were based on the concept of equal sharing and contributions from the member municipalities. Contributions would be divided according to this scheme: 40% to sustain personnel, 20% for maintenance, and 40% for improvements and introduction of projects. The municipality of Candijay contributed some area in CVSCAFT for the council office. Attempts were made to mobilize resources to finance the office, but there have been no developments yet.

It is clear that the council has yet to do a number of important things essential to effective and sustained operations like strategic planning, setting up of monitoring and evaluation systems, financial and budget planning, fund raising, SEC application, among others. Even resources like office personnel, office space, and communications facilities have yet to be put in place. Obviously, these operational resources are all necessary to facilitate daily business transactions and also to give the council physical status as a separate entity, having its own vision, objectives and activities. As part of the strategy to further enhance effectivity in its operations, the council needs to have standard and uniform sets of ordinances, policies, and measurements or indicators to monitor interventions and to evaluate results.

ESSC-PWG Report: The challenge of sustainability, local government initiatives in Carood Watershed 7 Carood Watershed Management Council, Bohol, 7 to 9 August 2006