Siargao It Up! Del Carmen Mangrove Management through Social Tourism
Del Carmen, Surigao del Norte – Philippines
Project leader : Municipality of Del carmen
Dates : N/A
Classification
Risks
Solutions
Actors
Costs
Summary
The Del Carmen Mangrove Forest is the largest contiguous mangrove forest in the Philippines which provides protection against storm surges, food and carbon storage. The community-based Ecotourism Program of the Municipality of Del Carmen was designed to support the reconversion of people previously involved in illegal mangrove cutting and illegal fishing. Tackling the issue of hunger through livelihood enabled the Municipality to convince its community to support the protection, preservation and proliferation of the forest. To date, the program is developing a sustainable financing system that will sustain the activity’s capacity to absorb shocks (e.g. COVID19 pandemic).
Actions
The mangrove forest serves as a protection from storm surges, it is a source of food and a carbon storage – all related to addressing climate change related issues. The project therefore seeks to preserve the largest contiguous mangrove forest in Surigao. On the one hand, it revolves around a community-based approach to achieve mangrove preservation and proliferation and eventually reduce the community’s vulnerability to climate change. On the other hand, this ecosystems-based approach brought significant changes in the behavior of the community, and steady recovery of the ecosystem.
The Community based Ecotourism Program of the Municipality of Del Carmen was designed to support the persons that were previously involved in illegal mangrove cutting and illegal fishing. In addressing the issue of hunger through livelihood, the community of Del Carmen was able to convince the people to support the mangrove forest’s protection, preservation and proliferation. Capacity-building activities, community organizing and educational advocacy campaigns were led to support the community’s behavioral change.
Outcomes
In total, the program supports 1,000 families, covering already 33% of the total number of families in the municipality. The rest are either working in government, or as micro-entrepreneurs that are not providing tourism services. Moreover, the public participation in the environmental program has increased since the beginning of the project.
For the Mangrove Program, the results are:
- 0% illegal mangrove cutting;
- 95% reduction of illegal fishing;
- An increase of mangrove cover by 600 hectares on 80% survival rate totalling 4871 hectares ;
- 200% increase in fish stocks.
- Information and education campaigns are necessary to promote behavioral change;
- Co-Creating Nature-based Solutions with the Community yields better results;
- Social Determinants to Climate Change Adaptation must be addressed;
- Innovations in Public Education, Public Health Services and Public Governance to overhaul the governing approach were introduced.
Partners
Technical partners:
Local Government Unit of Del Carmen, Climate Change Commission, Department of Tourism Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Metro Pacific Investments Corporation, Metro Pacific Investments Foundation, RARE, SIKAT, DELCAPTOA People’s Organization, Caub Barangay Local Government Unit, Surigao State College of Technology, Del Carmen Campus