Out Now! Natural Resource Management Agenda: Principles and Guidelines for Sound Upland Resource Management in Mindanao
2008-04-21

Recognizing the need to mitigate the current situation of resource exploitation and degradation in the country, the Alternate Forum for Research in Mindanao embarked on developing an Agenda that provides guidance toward better use and management of resources in the island-region of Mindanao. The island is rich in forest, mineral, and coastal resources. It also abounds with agricultural lands and is inhabited by people of culturally diverse backgrounds. Resources should be managed and utilized by Mindanao’s tri-people (Moro, migrant settlers, and indigenous peoples). Being resource-rich, the island has attracted a variety of private and commercial interests.

The Agenda includes background information on the state of resources in the region as well as discussion on relevant institutions that govern resource management. Environmental policies and laws seem to be complete enough (Indigenous Peoples’ Rights Act and Executive Order 263 (Community-Based Resource Management) and can serve as effective guidelines for specific resource uses. It is the lack of strict implementation of these laws that proves to be one of the causes of environmental degradation. Further, tying up the different environmental laws is also problematic as some are overlapping (e.g., duties of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources and the Department of Agriculture) or conflicting (i.e., the Indigenous Peoples’ Rights Act and the Mining Act).

Aside from these conflicting and overlapping laws, three factors also add to the failure of realizing sustainable resource management: neoliberal policies, weak institutions, and poverty. Liberalization of policies have caught many sectors in the country unaware of the impact on them. The government’s inability to formulate supporting policies has had disastrous results. These include the displacement of workers and the shutting down of some industries. Weak government institutions are generally described as corrupt and has overlapping mandates. Poverty is a defining factor as well. Even though Mindanao is resource-rich, some provinces in the island-region remains among the top poorest provinces in the country. Given all these restricting factors and the exploitative nature of resource use, a natural resource management agenda has been prepared.

    Based on a series of workshops with multiple stakeholders, a vision statement and principles and elements  for resource use and management for Mindanao has been formulated. The principles and elements for resource management  can serve as guidelines for resource managers’ more effective decisionmaking. The five principles include: sustainability, equitability, responsible stewardship, systems orientation, and just peace. The six elements that aid the fulfillment of the vision include: tri-people focus, self-determination, gender-sensitivity, participatory and consultative decisionmaking, decentralized and emancipatory management, and food sovereignty.

Strategies concerning the specific use and management of forest, mineral, and agricultural resources are also listed in the Agenda. Some of these strategies include the strict implementation of laws; resource account and mapping, and promotion of community-based resource management. Finally, the Agenda identifies the key roles that each stakeholder (national and local government, indigenous peoples, nongovernment organizations, industries and local communities) should play or improve on for better natural resource management.

By: NRM

---

View News Archives