Implemented by partner organizations of the CFTU Network
for the
Central Visayas Region of the Philippines
The Visayas region of the central Philippines faces some critical
problems in environmental management. These include enhancing
the effectiveness of watershed management initiatives, improving
dissemination and local understanding of recent changes in national
legislation affecting protected areas, and, in general, dealing
with key challenges arising in local and regional environmental
governance. Cornell University and Leyte State University
(LSU) led a larger, broad-based partnership to support local government
and community-led efforts to improve management of critical watersheds
in the Central Philippines. The lead universities partnered
with NGOs, government agencies, and other academic institutions
to carry out institutional capacity building, research, curriculum
development, and outreach to address issues identified through
a participatory planning process.
- to strengthen local environmental governance so that communities
and local governments can better manage watersheds in communities
characterized by diverse stakeholder interests
- to strengthen
capacity of partner institutions to support community-based natural
resource management through education, research and outreach
partnerships with local governments, NGOs and peoples organizations
- to increase
rural residents’ and local governments’ understanding
of the National Integrated Protected Area law and the roles and
responsibilities of local representatives to Protected Area Management
Boards, and,
- to develop innovative curricula and experiential
learning approaches for preparing community development practitioners
and natural resource management specialists. A fifth goal – to
enhance agricultural productivity and sustainability in and around
critical watersheds – was added early in year two of the
project.
Sixteen collaborative working groups supported through this project
engaged in applied research, curriculum development, teaching and
outreach that supported project objectives. Final working
group reports and selected outputs, sent separately, document a
very active and highly productive partnership.
:
- local government units, NGOs, and peoples
organizations that are better informed and technically prepared
for watershed planning and management; and
- demonstration of
effective approaches for bringing together universities’ research,
education and extension capacity with partner NGOs’ community
organizing, advocacy and participatory learning and action capabilities
to support local efforts toward effective and equitable resource
management. .
The project partnership mobilized faculty expertise from
Cornell University and Leyte State University for collaborative
research, human capacity development and outreach in support of
local government and community-led watershed management initiatives
in the Philippines' Visayas region.
There are five major themes that the project has focused
on during the project. (The fifth was added after the project was
already ongoing). These are:
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