INTRODUCTION LAKE MAINIT DEVELOPMENT ALLIANCE (LMDA) EEEEEEnnnnnnvvvvvviiiiiirrrrrroooooonnnnnnmmmmmmeeeeeennnnnnttttttaaaaaallllll MMMMMMaaaaaannnnnnaaaaaaggggggeeeeeemmmmmmeeeeeennnnnntttttt PPPPPPllllllaaaaaannnnnn Project Management Office Kitcharao, Agusan del Norte Final Draft Report: Environmental Management PlanPage 0 1.0 INTRODUCTION 1.1 RATIONALE FOR PREPARING AN ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT PLAN FOR LAKE MAINIT Lake Mainit is the fourth largest lake in the country. It has a total area of about 14,700 hectares and lakeshore measuring about 50 km. The lake belongs to Surigao del Norte and Agusan del Norte. It falls within the jurisdiction of the municipalities of Mainit, Alegria, Kitcharao, and Jabonga. The lake is known in the region for its rich fish resources. About 31 barangays in the four-lakeshore municipalities are dependent on the lake for food and livelihood. The lake is reported to be the habitat of rare fish species: the puyo or climbing perch and gabot . These species are said to have become rare due to the introduction of new fish species. Around the lake are habitats of other rare and threatened wildlife. This gives the lake and its surrounding area a high ecological value, prompting a proposal to declare the Lake Mainit watershed as a protected area under the National Integrated Protected Area System (NIPAS). The lake is very scenic. Its water has remained generally clear and clean. There are various points around it that are potential tourist attractions. The Caraga Tourism Master Plan includes the lake area among the region’s tourism zones, mainly for adventure tourism and ecotourism. The municipalities around the lake likewise have their own tourism development plans. In the early 1990s, a consortium of local and foreign companies proposed for the establishment of a hydropower generating station in Jabonga. This is to generate 22 MW that would augment the region’s power supply. Should it push through, the project would result in the reduction of the lake’s water level by three meters. Moreover, a 32 km. tunnel will be cut through the Malimono range to discharge water from the lake to the Bohol Sea. A major road infrastructure project has been planned for the Lake Mainit area under the Lake Mainit Integrated Area Development Project. These are to provide better links among the lakeshore settlements. A large part of the lake area will be opened, improving access to services, markets and urban centers. All these factors provide development opportunities to the area. Some however also bring threats, which could exacerbate the problems that are now being felt in the area. Those who have the biggest stake in the lake therefore need to undertake careful planning and coordinate their policies and actions, or else the unfortunate fate that has befallen other lakes in the country would also happen in Lake Mainit. The continuing siltation and pollution of rivers, loss of local species, Final Draft Report: Environmental Management PlanPage 1 the increasing population along the lakeshore, and the constant flooding are signs of greater problems that may occur in the future. The decision of the two provincial governments and the municipal governments of Sison, Mainit, Tubod, Alegria, Kitcharao, Santiago, Jabonga and Tubay to bond and form an alliance provides the much-needed impetus to the sustainable management of the lake. This environmental management plan is to provide the Lake Mainit Development Alliance (LMDA), which was formalized in March 1999, with the framework and a common environmental management agenda/plan of action for the next five years. 1.2 THE ENVIRONMENTAL PLANNING PROCESS The formulation of this environmental management plan was undertaken under the Lake Mainit Alliance Building Project funded by the Region 13 Local Government Support Program (LGSP) of the CIDA. Essentially, the project was a capability-building program for the 34-member Technical Working Group (TWG) composed of staff and officials from the LGU-members of the Alliance. The planning process that was adopted thus had a training component and was organized in such a way that hands-on activities interspersed with formal training. Throughout the training period, the TWG was provided guidance and technical assistance in the systematic conduct of environmental planning. In summary, the sequence of planning cum training activities were as follows: Formal Training Hands-on Activity Environmental concepts Environmental policies Watershed delineation Preliminary situational analysis Delineation of planning area Thematic mapping Data collection for ecological profile by municipality Data integration and analysis Visioning Preliminary project ideas Presentation of analysis to SBs Validation of project ideas Project Development Target Setting and Programming Preliminary Costing EIA Organizational Arrangements Completion of thematic maps IEC Planning Firming up of targets and budgets Consultations with local officials Review of consolidated program Review of Draft Plan Presentation to LCEs/LMDA Board Final Draft Report: Environmental Management PlanPage 2 The watershed framework was adopted as the basis for delineating the planning area. Watershed refers to the area that is drained by a common river system. In this particular study area, it was considered appropriate to use the bigger Lake Mainit watershed as the planning area. That is, the delineated watershed covers all rivers that flow into the lake, the whole length of the Kalinawan River and all its tributaries. The watershed area thus extends from Sison, Mainit and Tubod in Surigao del Norte down to Tubay in Agusan del Norte. The ridges of mountains serve as the natural boundaries of the watershed. These boundaries do not always coincide with the political boundaries thus most municipalities are not totally within the Lake Mainit watershed. In fact, only 76 out of 99 barangays of the 8 municipalities are found inside the Lake Mainit watershed. See Figure 1 for the comparison between the political boundaries and the watershed area. The watershed approach highlights the interrelationships between the uplands and the lake and the coastal area. It clearly shows that whatever happens in the uplands will certainly affect the lake and whatever happens to the lake will ultimately affect the coastal area at Tubay. Conversely, it tells us that developments or problems occurring outside the watershed area will have no effect on the lake or on the Kalinawan river system. The watershed approach allowed the problem analysis to focus on the five ecozones that make up the watershed: the uplands, the lowlands (including settlements), the lake, rivers and the coastal area at the mouth of Kalinawan River. These same ecozones were then used to categorize the proposed interventions. The resulting plan components are: upland management, lake management, river management (which includes part of the coastal zone) and waste management (for the lowlands). A planning period of five years was adopted, starting from the Year 2000 and ending in Year 2004. To prepare for full implementation, the plan provides a list of preparatory activities that will have to be undertaken in 1999. The main constraint or limitation encountered in preparing the plan was the non- availability of important data and maps on the watershed area. Important data gaps were on forest cover, location of tenured forestlands, location of critical watersheds (for irrigation and water supply), historical data on volume of fish catch from the lake, water quality analysis, evaluation of mining activities, and evaluation of garbage disposal systems. The project had a limited time frame and resources to be able to conduct extensive field investigation. Moreover, there was limited/irregular involvement of the key agencies, which could have provided vital information and technical assistance to the TWG. The TWG members therefore had to rely mainly on existing studies on the lake, secondary data that were available at the municipal level and local knowledge of key informants. Final Draft Report: Environmental Management PlanPage 3 Figure 1 SISON TUBOD MAINIT Lake Mainit ALEGRIA KITCHARAO JABONGA SANTIAGO Kalinawan River TUBAY Lake Mainit Development Alliance POLITICAL BOUNDARIES Final Draft Report: Environmental Management PlanPage 4 Although it is recognized that economic and environmental concerns are inextricably linked, the plan has been limited to environmental activities. It is assumed that the LGUs and the relevant line agencies will provide the necessary economic programs (e.g., livelihood projects for fishing and upland communities, infrastructure, tourism development) that would go hand in hand with the environmental plan. 1.3 ORGANIZATION OF THE REPORT This document has five chapters. Chapter 1 provides the introduction while Chapter 2 contains the situational analysis of the Lake Mainit Watershed. The watershed area is characterized in terms of its bio-physical, socio-economic and institutional features. The analysis is capped by the problem analysis, which synthesizes various findings in the profile and organizes the issues into ecozones. Chapter 3 describes the vision and strategic directions that the TWG has crafted for the Lake Mainit watershed. This is followed by a discussion on the proposed projects in Chapter 4. This chapter describes the process of project selection, the scope of each project component and sub-component and their budgetary requirements for the period 2000-2004. An Annex shows the annual targets and budgets per sub-component