| Journal Article |
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| Article Title | Landcare on the poverty-protection interface in an Asian watershed | | Author | Dennis P Garrity, Victor B Amoroso, Samuel Koffa, Delia Catacutan, Gladys Buenavista, Paul Fay and William D. Dar | | Year | 2002 | | Journal Title | Conservation Ecology | | Institution | The Resilience Alliance | | Volume | 6 | | Issue | 1 | | Call Number | JA0203-05 |
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| Abstract: |
| Serious methodological and policy hurdles constrain effective natural resource management that
alleviates poverty while protecting environmental services in tropical watersheds. We review the development of
an approach that integrates biodiversity conservation with agroforestry development through the active
involvement of communities and their local governments near the Kitanglad Range Natural Park in the Manupali
watershed, central Mindanao, the Philippines. Agroforestry innovations were developed to suit the biophysical
and socioeconomic conditions of the buffer zone. These included practices for tree farming and conservation
farming for annual cropping on slopes. Institutional innovations improved resource management, resulting in an
effective social contract to protect the natural biodiversity of the park. The production of fruit and timber trees
dramatically increased, re-establishing tree cover in the buffer zone. Natural vegetative contour strips were
installed on several hundred sloping farms. Soil erosion and runoff declined, and the buffer strips increased maize
yields by an average of 0.5 t/ha on hill-slope farms. The scientific knowledge base guided the development and
implementation of a natural resource management plan for the municipality of Lantapan. A dynamic grass-roots
movement of farmer-led Landcare groups evolved in the villages near the park boundary, which had a significant
impact on conservation in both the natural and managed ecosystems. Encroachment in the natural park was
reduced by 95% in 3 yr. The local Landcare groups also restored stream-corridor vegetation. This integrated
approach has been recognized as a national model for the local management of natural resources and watersheds
in the Philippines. Currently, the collaborating institutions are evolving a negotiation support system to resolve the interactions between the three management domains: the park, the ancestral domain claim, and the municipalities. This integrated systems approach operated effectively with highly constrained funding, suggesting
that commitment and impact may best be stimulated by a "drip-feed" approach rather than by large, externally funded efforts. |
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