Unlocking the Potential of Philippine Coastal and Marine Resources Through Enhanced Planning and Sustainable Financing

FUNDER: National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA)

PROJECT DURATION: 17 January 2017 to 11 April 2017

BACKGROUND:

Rare, an international non-profit, non-governmental organization (NGO) focused on developing capacities of local communities and initiating changes in community behaviors to facilitate effective management of their environment and natural resources, has, over the years, invested its efforts in making fishing a sustainable resource in the Philippines. Rare believes that, being considered the center of global coral ecosystem biodiversity, the Philippines' waters contain almost 10% of the world’s coral reefs, large swaths of mangrove forests and more Marine Protected Areas than any other country. More than 1.6 million small-scale fishers and their families rely on coastal waters to provide income and sustenance. However, their average catch per day has been declining steadily for decades. Fishers now spend more time at sea, going further and further from home, for smaller yields.

Through the project, the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) and RARE has partnered to strengthen the management of coastal and marine resources through enhanced development planning at the national and local levels. Given that coastal communities remain among the poorest in the country, an effective and sustained management of coastal resources is deemed important to enhance production of fish and other marine products including the provision of livelihood and increase in incomes of the fisher households.

To fully unlock the potential of the coastal and marine resources, it is deemed important to address the challenges, such as incomplete baseline data and resources assessments, limited funding and lack of available financing schemes, among others, which continue to hamper the effectiveness and sustained implementation of the country’s coastal resource management (CRM) programs.

PROJECT OBJECTIVES:

The project specifically aims to: (a) describe the socio-economic profile and vulnerability to hazards of coastal LGUs; (b) assess the economic efficiency of coastal resource management programs (cost-benefit analysis) as they are implemented in selected typologies of LGUs; (c) identify factors that influence the adoption and sustained implementation of CRM practices; and (d) identify the appropriate financing options for improved/sustained coastal resource management.

The survey intends to gather socio-economic data and vulnerability and behavioral parameters of coastal municipalities/cities to improve baseline data for enhanced planning. This will facilitate the identification of appropriate strategies and financing schemes for sustainable coastal resource management (CRM) programs that will support the continued and enhanced production of fish and other marine products.

The key components of the project include:

1. socio-economic and vulnerability profiling of coastal LGUs;
2. cost-benefit analysis of coastal resource management programs;
3. identification of determining factors to adopt and sustain the implementation of coastal resource management programs; and
4. simulation of financing and investment scenarios for coastal resource management.

PROJECT AREA:

The project shall cover a total 110 barangays from the 24 pre-determined study sites/LGUs based on an earlier analysis done by NEDA Program Management Unit (PMU). The sample size of 3,300 will be divided based on the four typologies of communities (Table 1).

Table 1. Four Typologies of Communities

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¹ https://www.rare.org/philippines