Defining Clear Boundaries and Zones in Municipal Waters1

The delineation of municipal waters has The issue on municipal always been part of the challenging water delineation and tasks of coastal resource management. delimitation was a priority concern among the local The process of delineation and governments of 15 municipali- delimitation defines the boundaries of ties and cities in Negros the municipal waters. Occidental.

This is further amplified by unresolved land For CENECCORD in boundary disputes between neighboring local particular, the need to government units and limited technical capacity. rehabilitate their primary Despite these challenges, successful initiatives coastal habitats to provide abound in the province of . alternative livelihoods from This case study presents how local governments angelwings shellfish (locally are able to resolve conflicts and complete the known as diwal) and nylon delineation of their municipal waters through shells was immediately strategic alliance and cooperative undertakings. apparent. In addition, the demands for settlement of The outcomes of these initiatives include boundary disputes with a closer collaboration among neighboring neighboring province and less municipal and, to a larger extent, provincial intervention from political LGUs as demonstrated in the delineation leaders during coastal law initiatives of the Central Negros Council for enforcement operations Coastal Resources Development (CENEC- highlighted the need to define CORD). their municipal waters.

1 This success story was taken from a case study produced by the Coastal Conservation and Education Foundation Inc. for GIZ as part of the Consultancy Agreement No. 53144067. The views expressed and opinions contained in this publication are those of the authors and are not intended as statements of policy of GIZ or the author’s parent organization. CENECCORD, which is composed of the city Key Implementation Strate- and municipalities of Central Negros, namely Bago gies and Challenges City, , Valladolid, San Enrique, Pontevedra, , and , focuses its Initiatives efforts on programs for coastal habitat protection, especially the delineation of municipal waters of Specific steps for the delinea- member LGUs and conflict resolution of shared tion of municipal waters of the provincial boundaries with the province of . LGUs in Negros Occidental started in 2006. Technical It is recognized by existing policies, particularly assistance from the German in the Philippine Fisheries Code, that coastal Development Cooperation (GIZ) ecosystems span several municipalities; hence, the promoted the adaptation of the management of contiguous coastal resources shall be CFRM Concept in the planning done in an integrated manner and shall not be based process (See Fig. 3). Later, this led on political subdivisions. However, coastal law to Sustainable Coastal Resources enforcement was conducted independently of each for the (SCoRe). One other at the time the Code was promulgated. LGUs of the necessary components of have yet to see the benefits from cooperating and the CFRM Concept is the coordinating with each other. As a result, the delineation and zonation of individual LGUs were unable to address the broader municipal waters together with concern of protecting their shared ecosystem. other key result areas like capacity development, regulatory and The integrated management of coastal zones financial framework, law between adjoining LGUs has not been properly enforcement, and the like. understood and applied in most LGUs. As seen in Fig. 2, the management of the coastal zones as defined Consequently, the LGUs, by the Fisheries Code at 1 km landward from the with support from the GIZ, shoreline to a seaward extent of 200 m isobaths (Sec. sought the technical expertise of 4) requires planning and institutional mechanisms for the National Mapping and coordination among various entities, namely the Resource Information Authority government and the private sector. (NAMRIA), the official mapping agency of the Philippines, for the The fragmentation of management functions conduct of the municipal water required coastal zoning to be one of the strategies to survey including identification of achieve integrated coastal management. The coastal marine protected areas. zones must form an integral part of the Coastal Temporary maps with technical Resource Management (CRM) or the Coastal Fisheries descriptions were then sent by Resources Management (CFRM) Plans. With the NAMRIA to the LGUs for enhancement of the 2006 HLURB guidelines on discussion and validation after Comprehensive Land Use Planning, the coastal zone orientation on the delineation categories are now included in the Comprehensive process. Publication of the initial Land Use Plans (CLUPs) of the coastal LGUs. Thus, map as well as public hearings and LGUs are now required to integrate the coastal zones consultations allowed key into their updated CLUPs. stakeholders to provide inputs. In cases of boundary conflict, validation and temporary delineation were done. Adjustments were made bilaterally between two LGUs, for instance between Valladolid and San Enrique. Issues were resolved and reversions were made based on the temporary map. Accompanying Geographic Information System (GIS) trainings were conducted for LGUs (Fig. 4). When all conformed with the technical descriptions therein, the NAMRIA- certified boundaries were adopted through local ordinances. The entire process went particularly well for CENECCORD, the first of the Negros Occidental alliances to have completed water delineation among its member LGUs.

In the same manner, the water use zoning process was finalized when municipal water zones were adopted through a municipal ordinance endorsed by the Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Management Council (FARMC).

The process began with a basic orientation for local legislative bodies on the formulation of comprehensive fishery ordinances, usually alliance- based. This was followed by an orientation and training of the local chief executives on Integrated Coastal Management, pursuant to the alliance concept. A writeshop enabled LGUs to complete the municipal water zoning through the enactment of local ordinances in coordination with the FARMCs.

The agreements reached during the CRM planning process on water use zones, including other areas, were later on integrated into the CLUP. Public hearings of the CLUP and the endorsement of the Zoning Ordinance by the FARMC or a local council f o r m a l i z e d the zoning arrangements. Figures 1-3 (top to bottom). Map of The final step CENECCORD LGUs; coastal zone [DENR entails the 2003]; and CFRM concept adopted in the approval by planning and implementation process of the Provin- GIZ-assisted LGUs [GIZ, 2007]. cial Legisla- tive Council (Sanggunian Challenges Panlalawigan) of the said There were governance o r d i n a n c e . issues, such as political interven- Land and Wa- tion during law enforcement ter Use Maps operations. A boundary dispute are usually with an adjoining province and the tangible intrusion of fisherfolk from that outputs of the province also enabled the LGUs to Fig 4. NAMRIA personnel train CENECCORD entire process identify strategies together and LGU staff on using GPS. [GIZ, 2012] (See Fig. 5). address the problem head on. Results

Conservation Outcomes and Impacts

The CENECCORD alliance initiated discussion of municipal water delineation with the province of Guimaras. In 2010, Guimaras Governor Nava together with the mayors and sanggunian committee chairpersons of the LGUs abutting the CENECCORD LGUs were invited to Negros Occidental for a workshop on overlapping boundaries with their Fig 5. Land and Water Use Map of the Municipality of San Enrique, Negros Occidental counterparts. Negros Occidental. [GIZ, 2012]

A signed Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to confirm the NAMRIA technical description Best Practices and Lessons Learned was the result of the discussion. The MOU was premised on the fact The resultant MOU with Guimaras is a signal of that the Negros Occidental LGUs success for the CENECCORD LGUs’ efforts to have already settled their delineate their boundaries. To paraphrase a popular municipal water delineation while saying by Abraham Lincoln, a person must fix one’s the Guimaras LGUs have yet to house first before attempting to fix problems with their finalize their municipal water neighbors. The same is true with CENECCORD. Once boundaries and settle their internal the delineation was completely settled with the boundary conflicts. technical assistance of NAMRIA, they were able to successfully negotiate an MOU with a neighboring In order to address ongoing province. As a result, the settlement of boundaries concerns of the alliance to police its with Guimaras enabled them to address a recurring boundaries, annual financial issue on intrusion of fishers into their municipal planning has been facilitated by waters. the member LGUs of CENEC- CORD. This has helped increase Conclusions and Ways Forward the support of the local chief executives to the initiatives of the The delineation of municipal waters defined the alliance. Hence, the alliance has territorial boundaries of LGUs and resolved boundary gone beyond the mere signing of a conflicts among adjacent LGUs. The initiatives common agreement and has also demonstrated in this case study started off as an implemented the agreed upon alliance priority, and later on, served as a basis for programs as well. future collaborative activities for the management of coastal and fisheries resources. The improved collaboration among members of the alliance has The processes highlighted in the municipal water resulted in positive impacts to their delineation as well as water use zoning can now natural resources. For instance, the provide concrete steps for other LGUs with similar rehabilitation efforts on diwal or issues to follow. The benefits resulting from these angelwings have resulted in the activities include improved implementation of fisheries abundant harvest of the regulatory mechanisms and harmonization of community. The improved efforts fisheries policies. Consequently, these have led to the in protecting their marine improved performance of the LGUs in their coastal protected areas have resulted in the management programs. Another good outcome is the increased abundance of fisheries improved coordination in law enforcement that and, consequently, in more income resulted in positive impacts to their fisheries and the to fishers. income of subsistence fishers.