THE CONTEXT OF LANDCARE IN 2 The context of landcare in Lantapan

he Municipality of Lantapan covers an area of noticeably with elevation. Humidity is lowest in March and around 33,000 ha and forms part of the upper April and highest in June and August (the wettest months). Tcatchment of the (Coxhead and Table 2.1 Agricultural land use in Lantapan by slope, 1973 Buenavista 2001). It is bordered by the Mt Kitanglad Range and 1994 on the north, with peaks as high as 2,900 m, and by the Slope class (%) Per cent of Agricultural land use (%) Manupali River on the south. Hence the municipality landscape embraces several sub-catchments draining from the Mt 1973 1994 Kitanglad Range south or south-east into the Manupali River. 0-10 57 41 66 In the lower part of the municipality there is a dam that 10-20 24 18 42 diverts water into the Manupali River Irrigation System, 20-40 14 4 14 constructed in 1987 with a service area of 4,000 ha. The 40-90 5 2 8 Manupali eventually flows into the , a few Source: Coxhead and Buenavista (2001) 2 kilometres above the Pulangi IV hydroelectric plant. 13 In terms of administrative boundaries, Lantapan borders the municipalities of and to the north, to the east, Valencia to the south, and to the west, and includes within its boundaries about 7,000 ha or 23 per cent of the Mt. Kitanglad Range Natural Park. Just over a third of Lantapan’s land area is classified as public forest land, under the nominal custodianship of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).

Thus farmers in Lantapan are occupying a highly sensitive environment and their land management practices have implications for natural resource management well beyond their farm boundaries. The bio-physical and socio-economic environment of Lantapan has been described in great detail due to the activities of the USAID-funded Sustainable Agriculture and Natural Resource Management Collaborative Research Support Program (SANREM-CRSP) that began in 1993 (Coxhead and Buenavista, eds., 2001). This chapter draws heavily on reports from that project.

THE PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT The Lantapan landscape rises from river flats at 400-600 m, through a rolling middle section at 600-1,100 m, to steeply Province showing the Municipality of Lantapan sloped mountains at 1,100-2,200 m, with an average elevation of 600 m. Table 2.1 shows that while much of the landscape is gently sloping to rolling (slope <10%), almost half the area has slopes greater than 10% and almost one fifth has slopes greater than 20%. Soils are generally well-drained, with clayey topsoil and subsoil, slightly to moderately acid, low in organic matter, low in cation exchange capacity, and with a high capacity to fix phosphorus.

Lantapan receives an annual rainfall of 2,470 mm. The wet season starts in May and runs through to October, with a dip in rainfall in July (Fig. 2.2). The wettest month is August (370 mm) and the driest is November (93 mm). The coolest months are January and February (15-19OC) and the hottest The Municipality of Lantapan showing major features and the months April and May (25-32OC). Temperature decreases location of barangays Landcare in Bukidnon

Bukidnon groups (Binukid) is one of 15 Manobo languages that form a subgroup of the Austronesian family of languages.

The Talaandig number perhaps 100,000 in total and reside in Lantapan and other municipalities around the foothills of the Mt Kitanglad Range, which they regard as their ancestral domain (Saway 2002). Talaandig communities are guided by a set of customs (batasan) that are sanctioned by traditional religious beliefs and practices. They have a rich oral tradition expressed in narratives, epics, poems and songs. Belief in gods and spirits who guard and protect the Figure 2.1 Monthly average rainfall in Lantapan, 1994-8 natural and human environment is manifested in the rituals (Coxhead and Buenavista 2001, p.15) 14 performed when establishing a farm, after harvest, when hunting, and at other significant times in the life of the household and community. Illness is treated through herbal medicines and rituals performed by traditional healers (mananambal).

Talaandig traditional leaders (datu), though not hereditary, are confirmed in their role through community rituals and command a high degree of respect and influence. The datu is a “mediator and a leader” whose “major role is to intervene in conflicting relationships in order to secure peace and harmony in the community” (Saway 2002). A typical Lantapan landscape with Mt Kitanglad Range Traditionally, a small number of “high datu” (dadatu-on) Natural Park in the background exercised territorial jurisdiction over communities in several river valleys (Edgerton 1982). Under them, head datu presided over areas or settlements (tulugan) that were usually confined to one river valley, occupied by 40-50 closely related nuclear families. “These chiefs controlled the land and its use in their immediate environs, determining which families would work which swidden plots” (Edegerton 1982: 365). There were also lesser datu or elders whose status derived from their knowledge of customary law and their success in settling disputes.

The traditional Talaandig economy was based on shifting cultivation (Saway 2002). Households cultivated rice, maize, An irrigation canal in the Manupali River Irrigation System, downstream from Lantapan Municipality taro, sweet potato, squash, beans, and banana, mainly for subsistence. Coffee and abaca were early cash crops. Pigs and chickens were raised for religious purposes while large POPULATION animals such as horses and carabao were used for payment of debts and other obligations. Household members also The Talaandig engaged in hunting and food gathering in the surrounding forest. Traditional technology included blacksmithing, The population of Lantapan comprises roughly 15 per cent weaving, and embroidery. indigenous Talaandig, 32 per cent Bukidnon and other Gatmaytan (2002) undertook a study of resource ownership indigenous groups, and 51 per cent migrant groups in the Talaandig community of Sitio Lantud, (dumagat) such as Cebuano from the and Igorot Sagaran, in the neighbouring municipality of Talakag. He from Northern (Paunlagui and Suminguit 2001). The found that land-holdings (angkon-angkon) were owned by Talaandig, Bukidnon and Higaonon are very closely related individuals and households rather than communally. Land ethnically and linguistically (Gatmaytan 2002) and are often was inherited from parents or ancestors who were the first collectively referred to as Bukidnon, a term of Cebuano to clear and occupy the area. Inheritance was bilateral and origin meaning “mountain dweller”. The language of the The context of landcare in Lantapan

were from the Visayas (mainly Cebu and Bohol) and Luzon (mainly Mountain Province and Benguet). Migration was spontaneous rather than government sponsored, with early migrants returning to their home provinces to recruit others in a process termed “chain migration”. Continuing growth from the 1980s was due to a rapid rise in the rate of natural increase due to improved health and nutrition (i.e., a decline in the death rate). There is now evidence that population growth is beginning to decline, due to a declining birth rate and increasing out-migration (Paunlagui and Suminguit 2001). Figure 2.3 Population of Lantapan, 1948-2000 (Paunlagui In 1995 the 0-14 age group was 42 per cent of the total and Suminguit 2001) 2 population, reflecting the rapid growth in the preceding 15 decades. Almost half the population was in the reproductive restricted to direct descendants. The landholder had full age group (15-45), implying that the population would control, including the right to sell, give, or otherwise dispose continue to grow for many decades. There were more males of the land. than females, probably due to greater male in-migration Typically, households owned many lots of varying size, and, more recently, greater female out-migration to urban reflecting the traditional pattern of shifting cultivation, centres for employment (Paunlagui and Suminguit 2001). though the trend was towards sedentary farming. For The estimated population in 2000 was 43,406, giving a example, one informant had five separate lots totalling 8 population density of 136 persons per sq. km (Paunlagui ha. None of the residents had a document of title, though a and Suminguit 2001). This was projected to rise to 114,198 number had real estate tax declarations. Nevertheless, by 2030, or 359 persons per sq. km. There were only 0.39 Gatamaytan found that “local residents are familiar with the hectares of arable land per person in 2000. In 1980 the respective landholdings of their neighbours” (2002: 21). modal farm size was 1-3 ha, accounting for 46 per cent of Apart from a community wood lot (panagana), there was farms. Seventy five per cent of farms were less than 5 ha. also individual ownership of trees; i.e., the owner had to In the 2002 survey of Barangay Sungco reported in Chapter give permission to fell trees, especially for commercial use 4, the modal farm size was still 1-3 ha, but this size class (Gatmaytan 2002). Nevertheless, there had been no conflict accounted for only 33 per cent of farms, and 69 per cent of with logging concessionaires who operated in the area in farms were less than 5 ha, a reduction from 1980. This the past. Rattan cutting, hunting and trapping were largely suggests a degree of land accumulation by farmers in the unregulated, except for the setting of spear traps (la-is), larger size classes, hence greater inequality in the which were a potential hazard to humans. Fish and aquatic distribution of land. resources were also subject to open access for members An important factor in the maintenance of average farm of the community. size has been the growth in off-farm and non-farm employment. A 1996 survey indicated that 66 per cent of Migration and Population Growth all labour was mainly employed in on-farm activities, 7 per The demography of Lantapan has been analysed by cent mainly in off-farm activities, and 27 per cent mainly in Paunlagui and Suminguit (2001). In 1948 Lantapan was a non-farm activities (Rola and Coxhead 2001). The trend to barangay of 668 residents within the Municipality of increasing off-farm and non-farm employment has Malaybalay. Due to rapid population growth in the 1950s continued, especially with the growth of agribusiness in and especially the 1960s, it was declared a municipality in Lantapan such as the Dole-Skyland and MKAVI banana 1968, and by 1995 it had grown to 14 barangay. From a plantations and commercial pig and poultry operations. total of 1,670 in 1960, the population of Lantapan grew to Nevertheless, most of the population, residing in about 14,500 in 1970, to 22,700 in 1980, to 33,350 in 1990, and to 5,500 farm households, remained primarily dependent on 36,950 in 1995 (Fig. 2.3). This represented a growth rate of agriculture and were living close to the poverty line. In 1988, 4.3 per cent from 1960 to 1995, almost double the food accounted for 59 per cent of average household average. expenditures in the municipality, fuel for 4 per cent, and The earlier growth in population was largely due to in- clothing for 5 per cent (Paunlagui and Suminguit 2001). migration, especially from the 1950s to 1970s. The migrants Landcare in Bukidnon

Slash and burn agriculture is still practised in some areas of Lantapan, though permanent cropping is now the norm

16 LAND USE AND LAND DEGRADATION The current pattern of land use is that maize and sugarcane predominate on the lower slopes. Moving upslope, Trends in land use sugarcane phases out due to increased transport costs to the BUSCO mill; hence, in the middle altitudes, maize is The history of land use in Lantapan has been outlined by the dominant crop. At higher altitudes, maize is cultivated Coxhead and Buenavista (2001). As noted above, the along with temperate-climate vegetable crops – beans, indigenous Talaandig traditionally practised shifting tomatoes, cabbages, and potatoes. cultivation, as well as utilising the resources of the forest. At the end of the Second World War, most sloping and high- Because of the commercial orientation of land use, market altitude land was forested. Agriculture at that time consisted prices and government price policies have a major effect of maize, cassava and coffee production. In the 1950s Igorot on local land-use decisions. Coxhead et al. (2001) migrants from Northern Luzon introduced commercial demonstrated that markets for the major crops in Lantapan cultivation of potatoes, cabbages, and other temperate- (maize, potato, and cabbage) were well integrated with climate vegetables. In 1977, the construction of a sugar mill regional markets, i.e., farmers were price takers in regional 25 km south of Lantapan by the Bukidnon Sugar Milling and national markets. They found that poorer, more risk- Corporation (BUSCO) gave rise to sugarcane cultivation in averse farmers tended to grow maize because of lower Lantapan’s lower elevations. In the 1980s, road levels of price- and yield-uncertainty and the option of improvements and the expansion of port consuming their product in the event of market collapse. stimulated agricultural exports from to other parts Less risk-averse farmers tended to grow a mix of maize and of the Philippines, especially maize and vegetables. Maize vegetable crops. became a commercial crop and vegetable production grew In addition to these trends in smallholder agriculture, two in area and value. Both were supported by agricultural banana plantations were established in Lantapan beginning protection, whereas coffee was penalised by export taxes, in late 1999 – one by Dole-Skyland and the other by Mt contributing to its demise. Kitanglad Agri-Ventures Inc. (MKAVI). Both companies Encroachment on Lantapan’s forest was initially due to leased what had been prime maize and sugarcane lands logging and forest fires, but in recent decades agricultural from farmers under 25-year agreements, Dole-Skyland expansion has resulted in the replacement of forest and paying an annual rental of P15,000 per ha and MKAVI permanent crops by annual crops (Coxhead and Buenavista P12,000 per ha. The plantations employed local labourers 2001). From 1973 to 1994, the area of permanent forest at P160 per day, double the prevailing wage rate. declined from 52 per cent to 29 per cent; the area of maize, MKAVI began operations in 1999 with 250 ha in Barangay vegetables and sugarcane increased from 28 per cent to Alanib and had expanded to 800 ha by mid-2002. According 49 per cent; and the area of shrubs and trees (mostly to MKAVI management, the company had spent P23.8 secondary growth) increased from 9 per cent to 17 per cent. million on ecosystem and soil conservation, and about 360 In the process, agriculture has spread up-slope. At lower ha of the plantation had been planted with trees elevations (0-650 m), the agricultural land area increased (MindaNews 26 July 2002). Details of Dole-Skyland’s from 55 to 75 per cent, and at middle elevations (650-1000 operations were more difficult to ascertain, but by 2003 its m), from 24 to 63 per cent. Accordingly, agriculture plantation area exceeded 1,000 ha. increased in all slope classes (Table 2.1). The context of landcare in Lantapan

Since the late 1990s there has been rapid growth in the forest cover dropped below about 30 per cent and number of large-scale, intensive pig and poultry businesses agricultural land exceeded 50 per cent. in Lantapan, particularly in Barangay Capitan Juan, which Coxhead and Buenavista (2001) cite evidence of water has direct road access to Malaybalay. At the time of this quality deterioration and of sedimentation and siltation in study about 60 per cent of the farmers in Capitan Juan were the Manupali River Irrigation Scheme diversion dam and employed in poultry farms. In addition, there were four irrigation canals, and in the Pulangi IV reservoir. telecommunication projects in the barangay. Coxhead and Buenavista (2001) draw two conclusions from Table 2.2 shows the current pattern of land use based on evidence gathered by SANREM researchers: “First, the data provided by the municipal office. Half the land in the natural resource base of the Manupali watershed is municipality is used for agriculture and nearly half the undergoing degradation of a nature and at a rate without agricultural land is allocated for banana and sugarcane modern precedent, with potentially serious consequences cultivation. Maize continues to be the dominant annual crop, especially for water quality. Second, much if2 not most of often in rotation with vegetable and root crops. Forty per the degradation can be attributed directly or indirectly to 17 cent of the land area is designated as forest land, half of the spread of intensive agricultural systems based on corn which falls within the Mt Kitanglad Range Natural Park. and vegetables, without the concurrent adoption of Table 2.2 Current land use in Lantapan appropriate measures for the prevention of soil erosion and land quality deterioration” (Coxhead and Buenavista 2001: Land Use Area (ha) Percentage 26-27). Agricultural 17,640 49.7 - banana, sugarcane 8,473 23.9 Midmore et al. (2001) report research on vegetable farms - maize 7,928 22.4 in Lantapan undertaken during 1994-8. Half of the farms were cultivated up and down the slope for ease of operation - rice 512 1.4 and to enhance drainage. One third were on slopes greater - vegetable and root crops 510 1.4 than 18%. This “predisposed much of the land to soil erosion - coffee 217 0.6 and runoff” (2001: 95). Annual soil loss was found to be Forest production and protection 14,250 40.2 due to just a few major rainfall events. Tomato was found Settlement 3,575 10.1 to lead to more annual erosion (21 t/ha) than maize or Total 35,465 100.0 cabbage (15 t/ha). Source: Lantapan Municipal Office However, the cropping sequence was an important Land degradation influence on erosion (Midmore et al. 2001). For example, planting tomato during September required careful soil The encroachment of farmers into Lantapan’s forest lands management because of the higher rainfall; it was has caused the loss of forest biodiversity as well as the considered better to plant maize at that time. Maize following degradation of soil and water resources. The changing cabbage led to more erosion than maize following tomato, pattern of agricultural land use has accentuated this process. as maize grew better on the residual nutrients following The expansion of sugar and maize at lower altitudes and of tomato and so provided more vegetative cover. Measured maize and vegetables at higher altitudes has occurred at erosion ranged from 13 t/ha for a sweet pepper-fallow- the expense of perennial vegetation, whether grassland, cabbage sequence on a 20% slope, to 54 t/ha for a maize- bush fallow, or coffee. This has resulted in loss of water cabbage-tomato sequence on a 42% slope. retention capacity in the upper catchment and a rapid increase in soil erosion and degradation. Experiments showed that contouring and hedgerows led to significantly less soil loss and runoff than up-and-down Deutsch et al. (2001) analysed water quality data collected cultivation (13-16 t/ha compared with 23 t/ha). However, by Tigbantay Wahig, a community water-monitoring group, there was serious degradation in the upper part of plots from four adjacent sub-catchments in Lantapan. The data due to scouring, suggesting that the “overall impacts of soil showed an increasing trend from the western to the eastern erosion could be large even if soil per se is not removed by sub-catchments in indicators of soil erosion such as total erosion from the fields and landscape” (Midmore et al. 2001: suspended solids (TSS) and soil export rate. This was closely 103). This corresponded to Stark’s (2000) findings in correlated with higher population, a lower proportion of Claveria. forested land, and a higher proportion of agricultural land in the eastern sub-catchments. There appeared to be an A feature of the land-use pattern in the 1990s was the extent abrupt increase in erosion indicators when sub-catchment of land under grass fallow. Midmore et al. (2001) found that Landcare in Bukidnon

one fifth of farmers had land that had been in fallow for one Midmore et al. (2001) identified High External Input (HEI) or more years. The lack of labour and capital to utilise and Lower External Input (LEI) groups of vegetable farmers. fallowed lands was thought to have been a factor. Fallowed The HEI group had a higher proportion of land under land was found to be more acidic, poorer in organic matter, vegetable crops (tomato, potato, cabbage, Chinese lower in K and Ca, and higher in Al than currently cropped cabbage), more crops per year, higher pesticide expenses, land. Hence conversion to cropping would require ample higher tomato yields, and higher gross value of vegetable fertilisers ands soil amendments. The evidence suggested output. Both groups had similar perceptions regarding the that fertile land was used first for vegetable crops, then for causes of soil erosion (deforestation and cropping practices) maize (once bacterial wilt made land unsuitable for tomato and remedies (contour farming and cover cropping). or potato), and was finally left to fallow in a “downward However, contour hedgerows utilising shrub legumes were spiral of productivity and fertility” (Midmore et al. 2001:99). not seen to be suitable due to their labour requirements, After an average of 3.7 years, fallowed lands were use of space, and the perceived lack of need for biologically recultivated. Farmers often spread stems and seeds of wild fixed N, given that N fertilisers were widely used and P was 18 sunflower (Tithonia diversifolia) over fallow land as a way probably the limiting factor. of reclaiming it from cogon grass (Imperata cylindrica), a A farm planning exercise conducted by ICRAF in three buffer practice introduced by Igorot migrants (Garrity et al. 2001). zone villages found that there was greatest interest in However, it was considered that tree crops, if they could establishing contour hedgerows on annual crop areas (up generate an income, were a better alternative for these to 1 ha) and increasing fruit and timber tree crops on the fallow lands than vegetable crops. Intercropping with timber remainder (Garrity et al. 2001). ICRAF introduced the species such as Eucalyptus torreliana and E. deglupta was technique of natural vegetative strips (NVS) in the mid- becoming increasingly attractive in the 1990s, given 1990s, soon after it began to catch on in Claveria, and found declining yields of vegetables and declining labour a good response among farmers, even before the initiation availability. of the Landcare Program. Adoption of soil conservation practices Rola and Coxhead (2001) analysed survey data for 120 Lantapan households collected from 1996 to 1999. They found that more maize farmers practised soil conservation than vegetable farmers, and that labour-saving conservation techniques (trees, fallow) were usually preferred to labour- using techniques (contour ploughing, hedgerows).

There was evidence that growth in non-farm incomes, and a corresponding decline in labour available on-farm, encouraged moves to less labour-intensive crops such as coffee and tree crops, with favourable impacts on soil conservation, but also discouraged adoption of labour-using One of a number of the SANREM research sites in the soil conservation technologies, particularly contour Manupali catchment at Lantapan hedgerows. The survey data showed the percentage of plots with contours and hedgerows declined from 16 per cent in 1996 to 5 per cent in 1999, whereas plots with trees or fallow increased from 25 per cent to 68 per cent.

A logit model applied to the household survey data indicated that the adoption of labour-using conservation measures (contour ploughing, hedgerows) was significantly influenced by the slope of the farm, the age of the farmer, the ratio of non-farm to total workers (NFE), and the season (wet or dry), but not by tenure status. That is, there was more adoption of such measures with increasing slope and age, less adoption as the NFE ratio increased, and less adoption in the dry season (perhaps due to fallowing). The widespread adoption of natural vegetative strips (NVS) is changing the landscape of Lantapan The context of landcare in Lantapan

THE INSTITUTIONAL ENVIRONMENT Resource Management and Development Plan. Subsequently, the money was utilised to support watershed- The institutional environment in Lantapan is characterised planning activities. The municipal government claimed that by three overlapping domains – the municipal government, inadequate financial resources for natural resource the Mt Kitanglad Range Natural Park, and the Talaandig management results in poor implementation of programs, ancestral domain. All three are relevant to the Landcare but this sector is given lower priority than infrastructure Program and are discussed in turn in this section. and social development programs.

Municipal Government Local government units are encouraged to create councils, committees, taskforces, and boards to increase public Lantapan was declared a sixth class municipality in 1968. participation in decision-making and planning. Between Since then, there have been nine elected and appointed 1999 and 2002, Lantapan created 31 local “special bodies”, mayors. The municipality struggled to support its early including the Municipal Land Use Committee, the Watershed operations with meagre funds (Annual Report, 2001). Since 2 Management Council, the Solid Waste Management Board, 1999, Lantapan has been a third class municipality and 19 the Taskforce Kalikasan at Kalinisan sa Kapaligiran, the operates under the guidelines of a first class municipality. Landcare Advisory Committee, the Landcare Trust Fund In 2001 it had a budget of P32.8 million, operated 12 organic Committee, and the Local Health Board. The Municipal offices, and employed a total workforce of 141 permanent Development Council (MDC) is a multi-sectoral body that and temporary employees. subjects all major development programs to scrutiny, hence The 1991 Local Government Code provided the impetus it is regarded as the highest local special body. for devolving health, agriculture and social welfare services In compliance with various provincial and national to the municipalities. Accordingly, in 1993 Lantapan mandates, Lantapan has completed a Comprehensive Land established the Municipal Agriculture Office with 13 Use Plan, a Forest Land Use Plan, Special Agriculture and Agricultural Technicians (AT). The ATs have specialised skills Fisheries Development Zoning, Crop Zoning, and a but also function as generalists in their area of assignment. Watershed Management Plan. The formulation of the The estimated ratio of farm households to ATs is 483:1. Municipal Natural Resource Management and Development Extension programs focus on assisting farmers in Plan in 1998 was a significant local planning initiative commodity-oriented production systems, livestock backed-up by research and citizen participation (Garrity et improvement, cooperative development, and training, al. 2001, Sumbalan and Buenavista 2001). In addition, the particularly in livestock management. Legislative Council () has enacted eight A Community Development Assistant (CDA) is presently significant policies to support the aims of sustainable employed by the provincial government to assist in the agriculture and natural resource management: implementation of local environmental programs and • regulating bioprospecting activities in Mt. Kitanglad supervision of activities in Integrated Social Forestry (ISF) and its vicinity; areas. Three forest guards from DENR also patrol the forest areas, including the historic Cinchona Forest Reserve. The • requiring all farm tillers and owners to adopt contour LGU is now preparing for the creation of a Municipal farming and other sloping agricultural land Environment Office, which will lead the implementation of technologies in sloping areas; all natural resource and watershed management activities • banning the use of aerial spray in any plantation within (Rubio, N., pers. comm.). Lantapan; In 2001, the Agriculture Office received a budget of • prohibiting disposal of garbage, farm wastes, and dead P2,372,230, which is only 7 per cent of the total municipal animals in all rivers; budget. Expenditure on personnel amounted to P1,943,330 and the remaining P428,900 was allocated for maintenance • protection of the environment from stray animals; and other operating expenditures. Funding for special • prohibiting pasturing activities in watersheds; projects depended on Local Development Funds and grants and aid. For example, the Regional Agriculture Office has • preventing illegal logging; and provided an annual grant of P675,000 for cattle dispersal • implementing the Municipal Natural Resource since 2001. Management and Development Plan.

The municipality has also allocated P358,000 from 1999 to The promulgation of such local plans and policies indicates 2002 for the implementation of the Municipal Natural a major change in emphasis on natural resource Landcare in Bukidnon

management, but most of the policies have no The protected area is mostly pristine forested land at high Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR), hence altitude (>1,200 masl), whereas the buffer zone has been implementation remains vague and the policies are mainly converted to agricultural fields, Imperata grasslands, unenforced. and secondary growth (Garrity et al. 2001). Though the land occupied by the Park is classified as public forest land under Moreover, as in other municipalities, major initiatives remain the control of the powerful Department of Environment and subject to the political cycle. For example, the Natural Natural Resources (DENR), much of the Park falls within the Resource Management Council established in the mid- ancestral lands of the Talaandig. Almost all the affected 1990s, with support from SANREM researchers, received a communities (around 2,500 individuals in 450 households) major setback when a new mayor was elected in 1998 who are in the buffer zone; only one community is inside the saw the chair of the Council as a political rival (Sumbalan protected area. According to Gatmaytan (2002: 22): “Legally, and Buenavista 2001). When re-elected in 2001, and more the existence of the park does not, and should not negate politically secure, the mayor began to put natural resource the antecedent rights of the [indigenous peoples] to land management activities back on the agenda, creating the 20 and local resources, even if these are located within the Lantapan Watershed Management Council, a multi-sectoral [protected area].” Yet a Talaandig datu he interviewed who advisory body including representatives from agribusiness, held land inside the protected area felt his lands “may not NGOs, people’s organisations, members of the legislative be interfered with” (Gatmaytan 2002: 22), that is, he felt he council, and provincial government agencies. Support for had lost his rights to utilise the land. the Landcare Program has also been subject to this political cycle. The present administration and the Legislative Council A Protected Area Management Board (PAMB) was instituted have expressed strong support for Landcare, though this in 1996 with 58 members, including the Park administrators, has not been expressed in practice to the same extent as in the mayors of six municipalities, eight indigenous Claveria. representatives, and representatives of other agencies and interests, including the Kitanglad Integrated NGOs (KIN), a Protected area and ancestral domain consortium of non-government organisations with an The Mt Kitanglad Range Natural Park (MKRNP) was gazetted interest in the Park. A Council of Elders was also established in 1996 under the National Integrated Protected Area System comprising 10 indigenous leaders. The Council organised (NIPAS) Act of 1992 (though it had been designated a the Kitanglad Guard Volunteers (KGV) to assist in the national park under previous legislation in 1990). It patrolling of the Park. comprises a protected area of around 31,000 ha and a In 1995 a number of Talaandig datu under the leadership of surrounding buffer zone of around 16,000 ha, affecting 28 Datu Migketay Vic Saway filed a Certificate of Ancestral barangay in 8 municipalities. It is one of the most important Domain Claim (CADC) application for 45,000 ha, including biodiversity reserves in the Philippines with extremely high the entire Park (protected area and buffer zone). This was conservation value, yet it has suffered a high rate of habitat referred to the PAMB for endorsement. However, the Board destruction. Hence it is one of 10 NIPAS priority sites under declined to endorse the application, resulting in a stalemate. the World Bank’s Conservation of Priority Protected Areas Municipalities have been pushing for separate municipal- Project (CPPAP). based claims. Some barangay have since lodged their own smaller-scale ancestral domain claims (Garrity et al. 2001, Gatmaytan 2002).

Other agencies Over the past 20 years Lantapan has experienced significant involvement from a diverse range of institutions, including non-government organisations, national government agencies, university researchers, research and development institutions, and the private sector.

In 1982, Lantapan was a major site of the 10-year Muleta- Manupali Watershed Reforestation Project, implemented by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources Farming on the upper slopes below the Mt Kitanglad Range (DENR) with funding from the Asian Development Bank Natural Park (ADB). The project aimed to rehabilitate the deforested The context of landcare in Lantapan portion of the upper watershed, focusing on ravines and unavailable and the agencies involved were also difficult to the margins of rivers, streams and creeks. In 1984, the trace. Integrated Social Forestry and Community Resource Many of these projects have emphasised community Management Programs complemented this project with organising. Hence it is quite common, even in a remote 2,500 hectares of reforestation activities in the upper settlement, for a farmer to hold membership in three or watershed. In 1985, Lantapan became one of the pilot sites more organisations, with the same individual taking the of another ADB-funded project, the Bukidnon Integrated leadership role in each. Capacity building has also been a Area Development Project (BIADP). major activity, in the form of field trips, seminars and training The Australian-funded Pilot Provincial Agricultural Extension sessions. These are usually followed by specific livelihood- Project (PPAEP) was launched in 1993 to promote related projects. Except for pure research projects, the conservation technicians, provide livelihood funds, and build provision of financial assistance to individuals and groups the capacities of farmers and Agricultural Technicians. The has been common. 2 same year, CARE Philippines implemented livelihood In 1998, the municipal government recorded a total of 155 21 programs and training in organic farming. Following that, local non-government organisations and people’s the Philippine Eagle Foundation implemented a livelihood organisations operating within the 14 barangay, though only program focusing on vegetable production for families on 36 were government-accredited. Seventeen of these groups the forest margin. were farmers’ or women’s cooperatives and 45 were From 1994, Lantapan hosted the USAID-funded religious groupings. Collaborative Research Support Program for Sustainable By 1999 the number of groups had increased to around Agriculture and Natural Resource Management (SANREM- 200. Since 1999, the Municipal Development Council has CRSP). The SANREM program coordinated 16 research and included representatives of three women’s groups, four outreach projects following the principles of a landscape religious congregations, a tribal group, and (surprisingly) approach, interdisciplinarity, inter-institutional collaboration, only one farmer cooperative. and participation (Coxhead and Buenavista, 2001). Fifteen local, national and international research institutions, The number of organisations working in Lantapan can be universities and NGOs participated in the project, including attributed to several factors: ICRAF, the only organisation to establish a site office within • the Local Government Code promotes the Lantapan. The participatory nature of SANREM research developmental roles of NGOs and the private sector; emphasised capacity building and support for farmer- cooperators. Hence it helped give rise to ventures such as • local leaders have demonstrated an ability to lobby for the Agroforestry Tree Seed Association of Lantapan political support and establish linkages with outside (ATSAL), a group of commercial seed collectors and agencies and projects; producers supported by ICRAF (Koffa and Garrity 2001). • the critical condition of the watershed has generated SANREM’s approach thus helped prepare the way for the concern and support from outside Lantapan; Landcare Program. • there is a “honeypot effect” in which new projects are Other research activities have included an ACIAR-funded preferentially sited where there is already evidence of study of phosphorus management in acid soils and the some success. research of the Consortium for Managing Soil Erosion (MSEC). The Centre for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) implemented a project on Adaptive Collaborative Management (ACM) in a Community-Based Forest Management area.

In 1999, Heifer Project International launched a major livestock dispersal program throughout Lantapan. The Barangay Integrated Development Approach for Nutritional Improvement (BIDANI) project was also active in the barangay. More recently, the Agri-aqua Development Coalition, an NGO specializing in watershed planning, came to assist communities in planning and networking. A range Lantapan Mayor Narciso Rubio (centre) with members of of other agricultural extension and rural improvement various organisations from the Lantapan landcare initiatives are underway, though project reports were community