October 31-November 6, 2018
OPINYON
DENR-BMB holds consultations on
IP-based biodiversity policies
By Susan G. De Leon
QUEZON
CITY--The
Department of Environment and
Natural Resources-Biodiversity
Management Bureau (DENR-
BMB) conducted a National
Stakeholders’ Consultation on its
proposed policies as part of its
continuing efforts to expand the
country’s protected area system.
The
consultation,
which aims to institutionalize
“Indigenous Peoples and Local
Communities Conserved Areas
and Territories (ICCAs)” in the
Philippines, took place at B
Hotel, Quezon City from October
17-19, 2018, and has drawn more
than a hundred participants from
indigenous peoples (IPs) groups,
concerned national and regional
government agencies, and civil
society organizations.
ICCA Policies and Platforms
Four proposed policies
are being deliberated during the
three-day event. First is a policy
guideline addressing gaps and
inconsistencies towards ICCA
recognition; second is a set of
guidelines interfacing the ICCAs
into the Comprehensive Land Use
Plan (CLUP) and the Community
Development
Plan
(CDP);
third is a guideline on ICCAs
overlapping with protected areas;
and last is the National ICCA
Registry and Policy envisioned
to be a centralized information
management system on ICCAs.
The
policies
and
platform are the culmination of
months of sub-consultations,
interviews, and fieldworks by the
consultants of the Project.
ICCA Relevance
Falling
under
the
category of Other Effective
Area-Based
Conservation
Methods (OECMs), ICCAs
offer
government
agencies
an alternative outlook for
biodiversity conservation.
According to Mr. Samson
Pedragosa, Project Manager of
the Philippine ICCA Project, it
is estimated that 75% of areas
with remaining forest cover are
within ancestral domains, which
indicates that the governance
by IP communities has been
instrumental in conserving what
little natural forest cover is left in
the Philippines.
Ms. Crisanta Marlene
Rodriguez, Director of DENR-
BMB, emphasized the need to
promulgate government policies
on ICCAs by saying, “The
IF you are one of the numerous
people longing to go to Boracay
Island six long months after it was
closed for rehabilitation due to
environmental reasons last April
26, 2018, you should take note of
some things you can and cannot
do in the island.
Boracay Island will have
a soft opening on October 26. The
government, which poured in
millions of pesos to rehabilitate
the island - from road widening
and concreting to improvement
of sewerage and drainage system,
rehabilitation of wetlands and
demolition of illegal structures,
clearing of the beachfront of
unsightly structures to taking
care of residents and workers
who had been displaced by the
closure - has set certain rules and
IPs’ conservation efforts, thereby
producing multiple benefits
such as protecting their rights
to ancestral lands, poverty
reduction,
and
enhancing
ecosystem resilience,” Mr Mitra
said.
The Philippine ICCA
Project
Implemented by the
DENR-BMB and funded by the
Global Environment Facility
(GEF) through UNDP, the
Philippine ICCA Project aims
to strengthen the conservation,
protection, and management
of biodiversity sites in the
Philippines by institutionalizing
ICCAs as a sustainable addition
to the national protected areas
(PA) estate. (PIA-NCR)
Giovanni Reyes, convener of the Philippine ICCA Consortium, discusses the concept and practice of ICCAs to more
than a hundred government, CSO, and IP stakeholders in B Hotel, Quezon City, October 17-19, 2018. (Photo courtesy
of DENR-EMB/UNDP)
The Do’s and Don’ts when in Boracay
By Venus G. Villanueva
recognition of ICCAs is in line
with the country’s targets to
the Convention on Biological
Diversity’s (CBD) Aichi targets
and the Philippine Biodiversity
Strategy and Action Plan
(PBSAP). Passage of the ICCA
policies will ensure that we will
hit these targets.”
Mr. Titon Mitra, Country
Director of United Nations
Development
Programme
Philippines, also noted ICCA’s
role in reducing inequality
alongside boosting safeguards to
the environment. “With the huge
overlaps between the country’s
protected areas, key biodiversity
areas, and ancestral domains,
there is great value in supporting
regulations to prevent the island
from reverting back to the reason
why it was closed in the first
place – a cesspool.
Now, it is no longer
a cesspool as declared by
Department of Environment
and Natural Resources (DENR)
Secretary Roy Cimatu during
the October 15 dry run for the
opening- with waters now at 18.1
Most Probable Number (MPN)
coliform level per 100 ml., unlike
during the previous months which
was way, way higher.
So to sustain the gains,
the government, through the
Boracay Inter-Agency Task
Force (BIATF) composed of
agencies to include the DENR,
the Department of the Interior
and Local Government (DILG),
and the Department of Tourism
(DOT), has set the guidelines
to be followed by visitors and
tourists who are so excited to step
on the powdery white sand of
Boracay Island.
First, the tourists must
already be booked with a hotel
in the island which has complied
with the requirements imposed by
the BIATF and accredited by the
DOT, so that they will get through
the Caticlan Jetty Port without
delay.
They might be required
to present their hotel reservation
slips before entering the island,
so they must print their booking
documents.
The move is also to
keep track of people entering
the island, as only 6,405 tourists
could stay in the Island at a given
day.
Smoking and drinking
of alcoholic drinks will no longer
be allowed at the white beach as
well as dining by the beach is also
prohibited.
When counting the
minutes to welcome the New Year
in 2019, there will no longer be
fireworks, as fireworks displays
will only be allowed until 9
o’clock in the evening.
When shopping for
souvenir items, tourists will have
to look elsewhere and not at the
beachfront, as shops and hawkers
along the beach will be banned.
Water sports and diving
activities, which had been part of
a tourist’s Boracay experience,
will be temporarily prohibited
and suspended.
Fire dancers will have
to find other means to light their
lamps, as using kerosene will
now be prohibited.
Sand castle-making will
be regulated, which means that
tourists will be lucky if during
their stay in Boracay Island, they
can find one where they can have
group pictures or selfies to show
that they had been to the island.
There will be no
installation of electric lights on
the beachfront, and casinos will
be totally banned in the island.
Adventurous
tourists
who wish to ride the “habal-
habal” or single motorcycles
can no longer do this, as “habal-
habals” will already be banned in
the island.
According to the BIATF,
these “habal-habals” cause air
and noise pollution, and drivers of
these single motorcycles charge
higher fares than the e-trikes or
tricycles.
For islanders, raising of
pigs and chicken for livelihood
will no longer be allowed, and
hot-coal roasting of meats,
especially at the beachfront, is a
no-no.
These restrictions are
seen to result in the emergence of
a “Better Boracay,” envisioned to
be enjoyed not just by the current
generation, but for the next
generations to come. (JBG/VGV/
PIA 6 Aklan)