IMPEDE has recently initiated a coastal resource management program in the municipality of Governor Generoso, Davao Oriental. The project was principally funded by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) for a 15-month period starting on March 1, 2009 and technically ending on June 30, 2010. Other major partners are the Local Government Units of Governor Generoso (both municipal and barangay levels); Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources- Region 11; and Davao O
riental State College of Science and Technology.
riental State College of Science and Technology.The project area covers the six coastal communities of Magdug, Luzon, Tiblawan, Nangan, Surop and Pundaguitan -- approximately 26 kilometers of coastline. It benefits, directly and indirectly, about 8,000 fishing and farming households. Currently, all of the six beneficiary communities have organized themselves to become stewards of the project.
The core activity of the program is to establish one Marine Protected Area in
each of the six barangays (villages). This is in line with the program's goal to address the rapid depletion of marine resources and destruction of marine habitats in the area. Alongside, it also hopes to reverse the people's inactive participation in environmental protection through appropriate information, education and training. This undertaking is expected to help decrease poverty incidence in the barangays by way of augmenting their yield from fishing which will also result in improvement of the residents' health status.
The core activity of the program is to establish one Marine Protected Area in
each of the six barangays (villages). This is in line with the program's goal to address the rapid depletion of marine resources and destruction of marine habitats in the area. Alongside, it also hopes to reverse the people's inactive participation in environmental protection through appropriate information, education and training. This undertaking is expected to help decrease poverty incidence in the barangays by way of augmenting their yield from fishing which will also result in improvement of the residents' health status.To date, preparations for the actual MPA establishment are underway. All of the concerned barangay councils are already fast tracking the required resolutions. The Municipal Local Government, through the office of Mayor Vicente Orencia, has appointed its Fisheries Management Unit as focal office on the project, and has been constantly providing technical expertise to IMPEDE. Director George Campeon of the BFAR-11, on the other hand, is readying all logistics that his office commits to contribute to the program. Other partners have done the same.
The project, so far, has been relatively consistent with the proposed timeframe. Some variances were experienced but already resolved. August will see the first in the series of Participatory Coastal Resource Assessments which will be undertaken by teams of technicians from the different partner agencies. The concerned community members will also be participating in the assesment, thus, making the activity a hands-on training for them on how to evaluate the status of their fish stock and mangrove, seagrass and coral ecosystems.
