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Ecological assessment, restoration and protection of
the Northwest Panay low-elevation forest ecosystem: Developing community-based
agroforestry solutions for natural resource management and biodiversity
conservation
Objectives
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To develop, with resource-dependent residents
of the Northwest Panay Low-Elevation Forest (NPLF) and its buffer
zone, a resource management system that both advances the welfare
of the local resource users and furthers protection of this critical
natural resource base from a landscape-lifescape perspective.
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To develop and test essential elements of a workable
social contract between buffer zone communities and the non-local
stakeholders at the municipal, national and international levels who
are concerned with resource protection.
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To develop a model of buffer zone management that
works, and can be extrapolated to other protected forest situations
in agroforestry intensification to local responsibility for park boundary
protection.
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To bring the research and development agenda into
alignment with specific and immediate conservation targets in Northwest
Panay by emphasizing the propagation of indigenous fruit and timber
trees that satisfy some or all of the following criteria:
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have economic and human-use value which can
be exploited in a smallholder's tree farming regime;
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are identified as significant food sources
for frugivores which serve as seed dispersers, or are otherwise
environmentally key to wildlife habitat;
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are identified as being a significant genetic
resource at risk of extirpation; and
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are appropriate for accelerating successional
growth in forest gaps, wildlife corridors or as pioneer species
for more extensive reforestation efforts.
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To establish meaningful associations between resource
development and environmental management at the ecosystem level. Such
association include:
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harnessing investments for livelihood development
to produce input material for forest restoration;
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educating resource-dependent communities about
the role of natural processes in forest maintenance;
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making livelihood in key communities co-dependent
with the preservation of biological diversity
Research Theme
Activities
- Delineation and Environmental Assessments Delineation/zonation
of protected areas boundaries; concurrent with or subsequent to community
resource mapping activities. Buffer zone profiling and community consultations
and planning for protected area management.
- Ecosystem/environmental mapping. Initial characterization of forest
by type and quality (establishing the conservation status of the area);
relative to zones;
- Identification of potential plot analysis and faunal survey sites.
Ground truthing of previous rapid assessment of 1998
- Review and evaluate data.
- Compilation of maps. Establish land and ecological management units.
- Prioritize study sites for botanical inventories, plot dynamic
analysis and faunal surveys.
- Plan and organize participatory transects/floral inventory/resource
identification with communities.
- Conduct trainings of resource users in parataxonomy, forest dynamics,
evaluation and monitoring of the resource base.
- Stakeholder analysis - detailed assessment of forest resource use,
preferences and relevant skills, knowledge and attitudes
- Refinement and validation of community resource profiling relevant
to agroforestry.
- Identification of local constraints, knowledge and resource gaps,
as well as opportunities in relevant sectors.
- Participatory design and development of appropriate agroforestry
systems
- On-farm analysis and planning
- Conduct and facilitate hands-on trainings, workshops, cross visits
within and between stakeholders and support services.
- Development of community-managed nursery.
Expected Outcomes
- Progress Reports
- Updated and upgraded maps of the NPLF and a profile of the buffer-zone
for project planning and management of the protected area
- Workshops, conferences and educational tours
- Nurseries established and seedlings produced
- Income accrued from marketing the variety of agroforestry products
developed by buffer-zone villagers
- Agroforestry systems and complimentary technologies developed on
farms
- Restored areas in NPLF
- Local and regional framework for the maintenance and further development
of the program's objectives and goals
- Local capacity for adaptive management and policy development
- Updated and upgraded information on the faunal and floral species
of the NPLF, and their interrelationships
- Brochures detailing propagation methods and technologies of priority
endemic and naturalized tree species
- Results of mycorrhizal and rhizobial characterization will be published
in refereed journals
- Elements of successful buffer-zone development and management of
the NPLF ecosystem and similar areas in the Philippines and beyond
- Faunal-floral relationships and their role in assisted regeneration
Indicative Budget
Duration
Project site
ARCBC Remarks
Coordinators
| International Centre for Research in Agroforestry
Regional Research Programme
Philippine Office
University of the Philippines
Los Banos, Laguna, 4031
Philippines
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Philippine Endemic Species Conservation.
Project Dionela, Pandan, Antique. Philippines
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Principal Investigators |
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| International Centre for Research in Agroforestry
Regional Research Programme
Philippine Office
University of the Philippines
Los Banos, Laguna, 4031
Philippines |
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Faculty of Biology
RUHR-University
D-44780 Bochum, Germany
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Collaborators
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Visayan State College of Agriculture
Department of Forestry
Baybay, Leyte 6521
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External Linkage and Special Concerns
Makiling Centre for Mountain Ecosystems
College of Forestry and Natural Resources
University of the Philippines
Los Banos, Laguna 4031
Philippines
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Mr. Eric Garrett
TEL. NO: (63-36) 288-9338
E-MAIL:pescp@hotmail.com |
Dr. Eduardo O. Mangaoang
TEL.NO: (053) 335 2675
FAX.NO: (053) 335 2601
E-MAIL: ed-darwi@mozcom.com
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Dr. Jose O. Sargento
TEL. NO: (63-49) 536 3572 /2577
FAX.NO: (63-49) 536-3572
E-MAIL:mcme@mountainet.ph
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Dr. Eberhard Curio
TEL.NO: 49 (0) 234/700 2858 OR 49
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Dr. Samuel N. Koffa
TEL. NO: (63-36) 2889338
E-MAIL: snkoffa@yahoo.com
snkoffa@laguna.net
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