The Philippines
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| Implemented by: The Institute of Cultural Affairs: Japan LUCRE International Highland Indigenous People in Mapidya |
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Virgin Forest 1．Virgin forests are remaining in Mt. Pinanganakan and Mt. Kinubabawan of the Mt.Mapidya range. Endemic species of trees such as Octameles sumatrana, ferns, and orchids, mammals such as monkeys and wild cat, and reptiles are living there. Endangered pieces of predatory birds such as Philippines Eagle are also thriving. |
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Denudation 2．Mt. Mapidya belongs to Sierra Madre mountain range which is the largest mountain range in the Philippines. Sierra Madre mountain range covers ten provinces, and its part in Nueva Ecija province is one of the most badly damaged. According to the low landers, the mountains were burning almost every night because of the mountain fire caused by loggers. |
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3．Illegal loggers from the lowland villages are using the river to transport the logs. They come into the forest trying to get out of the poverty, not realizing that they are destroying the watershed they are dependent upon to get out of poverty. | |
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Sitio Mapidya 4．In 1998, some people started to settle down to practice farming and to help each other, and a community was created in Sitio Mapidya."Sitio" is a district of a Barangy (village). Majority of the community residents are Dumagats or Igorots, and they also think of themselves as united highlanders using the acronym HIP meaning Highland Indigenous People. |
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5．41 families are living in Sitio Mapidya. A Multi-Purpose Hall was constructed in 1997. | |
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6．Villagers have been making continuous efforts not to rely on illegal logging since the project has started. This family decided to make rattan baskets to get alternative income source. | |
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Sitio Salasa 7．Sitio Salasa. It is a new community formed in April 2000. 28 families are living there. |
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8．Villagers of Sitio Salasa. They appeared with their best dresses for photo taking. | |
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9．Tatan Tarzan, the eldest man around the project area. He decided to settle in Salasa and participate in the tree planting activities. | |
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9．Tatan Tarzan, the eldest man around the project area. He decided to settle in Salasa and participate in the tree planting activities. | |
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Training Centers 11．Pugad Lawin Training Center in Mapidya was established in 1999 in order to implement activities in sustainable and effective way. Pugad Lawinﾓ in Tagalog means "Hawk Crest", and we can observe hawks in the sky every day. Center consists of bunkhouse, green house cum laboratory, and demonstration farm, and is located about 1km away from the community. |
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12．"Sitio Salasa needs a facility where people can learn!" Peopleﾕs dream came true. Salasa Learning Center was established in the community in 2000. Villagers joined their hands and participated in construction. They can be trained in skills such as agroforestry, and have literacy and environmental education at the center now. It is also used as a meeting place, and it has been helping people who did not have much sense of community, to unite. A demonstration farm will be established next to the center in the future. | |
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Accessibility from Low Land to Mt. Mapidya 13．Seeds and seedlings were purchased in Manila, and other materials were purchased in Rio Chico, the closest lowland town to Mt. Mapidya. It is about 32km from Rio Chico to the project site. |
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14．There is a passable mountain road for vehicles from Rio chico, which is about 16km long, covering half of the way. However, the road condition is bad, and it becomes impassable when it rains. | |
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15．There is no way other than walking for another 16km. Carrying heavy luggages on their shoulders all the way is not an easy job. | |
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Nursery Activities 16．A newly prepared seed bed in Sitio Mapidya. Plants are grown at the seed bed until they become mature enough to be transplanted into plastic pots. |
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17．Nursery activities at Sitio Salasa. Filling plastic pots to transplant seedlings from a seed bed. | |
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18．The whole family participated in nursery preparation. Participants enjoyed working together. These activities are strengthening peopleﾕs unity, and helping them to create a sense of community. | |
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19．Make a hole and put in a seedling. Children learned how to take care of the seedlings as well as the adults. | |
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20Mr. Digan at the left side is from Sitio Mapidya. He often visits Sitio Mapidya to supervise nursery preparation and tree planting activities. | |
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21．Whole view of the nursery in Sitio Salasa. Seedlings of forest trees and fruit trees such as Narra, Mahogany, and Mango were grown. They were transplanted to 7ha deforested area in November and December, 2000. This is a great beginning towards planting 1000ha, and having established a culture of environmental conservation and forest management. | |
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Tree Planting
2．16 people in Sitio Mapidya and 15 people in Salasa joined in the tree planting activities, and planted 19,690 trees. Multi-purpose trees such as Narra, Mahogany, and G-melina, and fruit trees such as mango and soursup were planted in 7 hectors. |
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23．Some of the villagers joined in tree planting with their babies. ﾒI am happy to see the wasted land turning into a beautiful place because of tree planting. ﾓThe trees will grow together with our dreams of becoming self reliant.ﾓ For High Land Indigenous People, the future of the mountain means their own future. | |
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24．Reforestation area with G-melina trees. The planted trees are growing healthy. The cleared slope will be a bench terrace, and vegetables and grains will be planted after installing a irrigation system. | |
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Towards Food Security 25．Creeks in the project sites sometimes lose water during the dry season. Villagers can not conduct farming during dry season, and they ususally look for food in the forests where resources are very limited now. Maintenance of nursery and tree planting sites becomes difficult, too. Irrigation systems were established in Sitio Mapidya in 1999, but there was none in Sitio Salasa. Two irrigation hoses were installed to bring water from upstream of Salasa creek to the community in May 2000. |
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26．Making a farm using Carabao. Currently, many villagers can eat only once a day. Food security is one of the major issue for them. | |
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27．SALT (Sloping Agriculture Land Technology) has been promoted in the project area. This bench terrace was established by one of the project participants using SALT. Vegetables such as tomatoes, beans, and pechay (green leaf vegetable) are grown. | |
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Literacy & Environmental Education 28．There is no formal school in sitio Mapidya and Salasa. Literacy and environmental education is conducted in the project to provide learning opportunities and raise environmental awareness. Teachers are villagers who are literate. |
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29．The first step is learning alphabet and numbers, and then students learn how to spell their names, and basic reading and writing. | |
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30．For environmental education, students bring nature samples, and discuss their environmental and economic value. Posters on forest, forest life, soil, climate, topography are also used as learning materials. | |
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Project Monitoring & Evaluation Seminar 31．A seminar on project monitoring and evaluation was conducted for project participants in March 2001. The purpose of the seminar is to provide project participants with practical knowledge of various processes of a project and project evaluation so that they can implement projects more effectively. |
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32．Topics were "Action Plan Analysis", "Activity Chart Analysis", "People Involvement", and "Qualitative and Quantitative Analysis". Participants learned that there were various stages in a project, and that they need to implement the project and meet objectives according to implementation plans. | |
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Project Expansion to Sitio Bignay 33．Project has been replicated in Sitio Bignay since April 2001, using knowhow which was developed through activities in Sitio Mapidya and Salasa. It is about 16km from lowland to Bignay, and it is accessible by a vehicle when weather is fine. Forest destruction has been a big issue in Bignay, and most of the mountains are already denuded. |
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34．People who live in Bignay are mainly Tagalog, Dumagat, and Irocano. Most of the villagers migrated recently. Charcoal making is widely practiced in this area, and it is one of the causes of forest denudation because of unsustainable use of wood. | |
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35．Project participants are enthusiastic about the project. They installed water hose, and brought water to the center of their community in February 2001. | |
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Workshop 36．Long-term planning session was held in sitio Bignay in February 2001. Maki Hasegawa of ICA: Japan, project coordinator, Eli Nasino, project director, and other field staff facilitated the workshop. |
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37．38 people participated in the planning. Participants generated ideas about communityﾕs vision, contradiction, proposals in this two-day workshop. Womenﾕs participation was outstanding throughout the session. | |
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38．Participants draw how they want their community look like five years later. Their vision is that they develop the community without poverty which is surrounded by a lot of trees, and that they live in harmony with other living creatures. | |
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