Wednesday, May 17, 2006
Oledan: Innovations
By Radzini Oledan
Slice Of Life
NO ONE could probably appreciate the abundance of the sea than those who directly rely on it for livelihood and survival.
Jovencio Tubing of the Barangay Fisheries and Aquatic Resource Management Council (CFARMC) said that the participation of coastal communities in the effort to prevent, if not eradicate illegal fishing and stop the intrusion of commercial fishing in the municipal waters is the only way to keep the marine resources alive.
This means that bio-diversity concerns could only be sustainable if interventions are community-led with the government and academic institutions playing the facilitative mode.
The exclusion of fisherfolk in so-called development programs and interventions in their own community partly explains why this sector remains marginalized. In fact, a research study reveals high level of malnutrition incidence among children of fisherfolk.
The city waters cover an area of 19,827 hectares or about 10 percent of the Davao Gulf, which is a major fishing and priority bio-diversity conservation area. This is also a common fishing ground where several fishers try to compete with commercial fishers, hoping against hope that they could get at least a kilo or two, which they could sell to support their basic necessities.
However, despite the reliance on coastal and marine resources, the socio-economic and ecological values of the coastal areas have not been sufficiently addressed and taken into account.
Twenty-six out of the 182 barangays of Davao are in coastal areas. This translates to 43 percent or an estimated 104,204 households out of the total 240,057 households that are directly dependent on the resources of the sea for their survival.
This makes the fisheries sector as an important source of livelihood and income for a significant portion of the population. Responding to the challenges confronting this sector entails not only management plans and intervention but more importantly, enabling fisherfolk to take the lead in coastal resource management.
After all, the fisheries, is also a basis for a major trade industry with the total value of capture fisheries production amounting to P488M in 2004 alone.
Part of the Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) signed by the City Government with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR)-XI and the Philippine Environmental Governance Project 2 (EcoGov2) last June 9, 2005 was directed towards improving coastal resources management.
It identified technical assistance in the determination of coastal management zones as the framework for an integrated city-wide CRM plan, recognition of the need to arrive at a consensus on priority use areas and prospective development of coastal and marine resources in the city.
The whole process is heavily biased towards the active participation of local folks because such processes not only intend to empower, but do empower.
By listening to the voices of local folks like Joven and ensuring that community recommendations are taken into account in local governance, we can be assured that any programs will be responsive to their condition.
It is only by going to these communities and learning from them that relevant information is generated from local and indigenous knowledge that is crucial to any community-based coastal resource management.
Community folks can do their part when other stakeholders pull their resources together to help strengthen local capability to manage, protect and develop their local resources.
There are no limits on innovative practices that can be done.
For Bisaya stories from Davao. Click here. (May 17, 2006 issue)
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