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Sustainable Environmental Management Project for Northern Palawan

The ECAN Zoning Component of the JBIC funded SEMP-NP on its fourth year focused on the development of management plan to support the ecotourism progress in northern Palawan based on ECAN zoning. The POID pursued activities in close coordination with the DMOs and the PTSD to facilitate the delivery of project targets. As of December 2004, the ECAN Zoning Component of the JBIC funded SEMP-NP achieved a record high physical accomplishment of 64.35%. The accomplishment is distributed among the 4 sub-components of the project as follows: Survey and Research 25.96%; Mapping and ENRIS 8.03%; Institutional Capacity Building 22.40%; and Project Management Office 7.96%.

The necessary terrestrial baseline surveys which include flora and fauna, forest assessment and bio-diversity studies for the first and second priority areas covering the municipalities of Busuanga, El Nido, Coron, Taytay and Culion including two third priority areas (San Vicente and Linapacan) had been completed. Baseline survey reports, thematic maps and the draft ECAN Zoning maps for these municipalities were submitted to the PCSDS for comments. Meanwhile, the survey findings, thematic maps and participatory resource assessment and socio- economic profiles covering Busuanga, Coron, Culion and El Nido including the ECAN Zoning Map and Management Framework and Guidelines had been presented to the key officials of these municipalities for validation purposes. Details of accomplishment per sub-component are as follows:

Mapping and ENRIS

Eight staff from the TSD joined the ECAN Marine/Coastal Research Team of SEMP-NP in the conduct of baseline marine survey in San Vicente. Likewise, one GIS staff assisted the remote sensing/mapping team of the project in rectifying the satellite images of Linapacan, El Nido and Culion and annotating the satellite image maps. In addition, two more staff from the TSD joined the Mapping/Digitizing Team in the conduct of ground truthing survey in the municipalities of Culion and El Nido.

The Land Cover Map for Coron and the delivery of IKONOS data were made, presented and accepted by PCSDS. The sub-component completed the revision of the ECAN zoning map for Busuanga in a popular presentation format to Busuanga stakeholders. The draft ECAN zoning maps for Coron, Culion and El Nido as well as the finalization of the land cover maps, scale of 1:25,000 for Busuanga, Coron, Culion, and El Nido were done in 2004. Thematic Maps nd SPOT 5 Data Ground and Sea Truthing for Busuanga, Coron, Culion and El Nido have also been completed.

Relevant working maps for the survey and research sub-component, transformation of digital data and technical assistance on hardware and software operations were also rendered by the mapping and ENRIS team together with the completion of the ENRIS Framework and Design aided with partial installation of mapping hardware and software.

PTSD staff acted as counterparts in the conduct of coastal and marine surveys for the municipalities of Culion and El Nido, and in the terrestrial and marine fauna surveys in El Nido, Taytay and Linapacan. The staff also participated in the review of survey outputs of the project.

Technical manuals for terrestrial and coastal surveys have been completed including the conduct of actual field survey and report writing for Biodiversity, Fauna, Flora, Coastal/Marine and Mangrove survey and survey reports for Busuanga, El Nido, Coron, Culion, Taytay and San Vicente.

The POID prepared and consolidated the comments of sub-components’ counterparts for Institutional Capacity Building (ICB) as follows: Report on Institutional and Community Assessment for the Municipality of Busuanga, project physical and financial status, status of equipment for 2004 procurement options and financial (resources allocation), technical (spreading of man-months and resources) and operational (phasing of activities by priorities) concerns of the project.

It has also conducted IEC assessment, facilitated the Livelihood Development Workshop and prepared the corresponding report. Likewise, the counterpart staff of the Livelihood Component attended consultation workshops on potential livelihood projects in the municipality of Busuanga. The staff also appeared in the Sangguniang Bayan of Taytay and discussed the activities to be conducted under the SEMP-NP, continued coordination with the LGU of El Nido regarding the implementation of the said project, completed the field surveys for Culion and Linapacan and the conduct of Sustainable Development Planning Training to 40 participants from the PCDS, local government officials of San Vicente, El Nido, Roxas, Taytay, Puerto Princesa City, the provincial government of Palawan and Non-Government Organization from the Vietnamese Village.

The project's capacity building framework has been completed by the ICB project team as well as the production of IEC Assessment and IEC Plan for Busuanga, Coron and Culion, and relevant IEC materials. Institutional profiling for Busuanga, Coron, Culion and El Nido and El Nido and Busuanga PCRA were also prepared.

Busuanga, El Nido, Coron, Culion, Taytay, San Vicente and Linapacan Rapid Socio Economic Assessment was also conducted in 2004 together with the strengthening of ECAN Boards in the Calamianes and the finalization of the Livelihood Development Plan for Busuanga, Coron, Culion and El Nido.

The PMO facilitated the realization of the Technical Validation Workshop for Culion and El Nido participated by the PCSDS counterparts, project consultants and key LGU officials. The draft ECAN zones management framework and guidelines for Coron was prepared together with the initial draft of the San Vicente Tourism Development Plan.

Appropriate coordination activities among the 3 components of the SEMP-NP, (the other two include the Soil Erosion Protection Control Component being implemented by the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) and the Tourism Development Component under the Department of Tourism (DOT)) are regularly being done through regular consultations and meetings. The required thematic and ECAN Zoning maps which are pre-requisites for tourism development planning had been generated by the project and furnished to the DOT consultants. The geographical coordinates of the 60-km El Nido-Taytay Road were inputted by the Mapping and ENRIS in the thematic and ECAN Zoning map to determine the critical areas as basis for close monitoring by the newly formed Multipartite Monitoring Team (MMT) for the Project. Coordination with the USAID-funded FISH Project was likewise initiated to harmonize areas for collaboration and maximize benefits for the Calamianes.