Palawan Tropical Forestry Protection Programme

Programme Components

Catchment Management

The Approach. The focus on catchment areas came only after two years of Programme's existence. The call for Catchment Management Plans came with the Support Mission Report in 1998. A shift from a micro-project approach designed for implementation anywhere within the concerned municipality to a selected catchment as the focus of these program interventions was undertaken.

Furthermore, the St. Paul's Underground River Park, now known as the Puerto Princesa Subterranean River National Park, inspired the catchment approach. ð"e underground river has been considered as part of the Cabayugan catchment area. The ecological health of the river can only be maintained if the upper catchment is also protected.

As a result, the Programme asked the Local Government Units (LGUs) to select 12 catchments as priority areas for implementation of its programs and objectives. ð"ese priority catchments will serve as models for the LGUs in their forest protection and community development.

Development of CMPs. The goals for each of the 12 CMPs are rooted in the need to care for, to use sustainably and to understand continually the elements, the living dynamics and productivity facets of the catchments, which support a wide array of interrelated ecosystems.

The PTFPP assists in applying the lessons learned via Catchment Management Planning to arrive at the desired final product, which is a fully cohesive Comprehensive Land Use Plan (CLUP).

Reckoning the Outcome. Since 1999, CMPs have become the framework of the planning and implementation of program interventions. Plans have been completed for each of the 12 priority catchments. Three of which have so far been approved and adopted by the LGUs, while others are still in consideration. The completed and approved CMPs are now being prepared for translation to Filipino and for distribution.

For the year 2002, PTFPP plans to shift its focus from demonstration, providing test beds and demo-plots, to application.

A catchment is defined by a single river system from its watershed to the coast, including all its tributaries. It therefore links a series of sub-ecosystems from mountain to marine. Updating of the socio-economic profiles of the 12 priority catchments were completed. Data were analysed and results were reflected in the Catchment Management Plans (CMPs).

In northern Palawan, two of the CMPs, Inandeng in San Vicente and Ilian in Dumaran were adopted by the Local Government Units. The CMP of Umalad was adopted at the barangay level and the Maranreg CMP was presented and validated by the stakeholders.

In the south, CMPs were initially presented to the LGUs and series of consultations were made to reconcile and integrate the plans into the Comprehensive Land Use Plans (CLUPs).