Tuesday, May 23, 2006
Oledan: Strains and challenges
By Radzini Oledan
Slice Of Life
THERE are strains and challenges confronting upland communities. Fieldwork last week at several rural areas for the forestry sector of Ecogov project showed the many faces of people who are experiencing dramatic changes in many areas of their survival as they explore development opportunities and face the threats of development aggression.
Uplands provide the backbone for the lowland economy. Hence, their production systems and income are key components for their survival. For instance, their active participation will determine the success or failure of our integrated watershed management efforts.
These are the same communities suffering from shaky land tenure, unavailability of alternative livelihood and poor if not total lack of technical skills, aside from difficulty in accessing market and capital. Their dilemma is destruction of depleting resources.
Pressure for increased food production and market opportunities for corporations, which have encroached several communities, has led to the unhealthy and dangerous practice of utilizing hilly portions for agricultural production.
The expansion of production areas has been pushed toward unfavorable sloping lands, and to the forest margins. Ironically, prime agricultural lands are being converted to non-agricultural uses to give way to urbanization.
In these fragile areas, inappropriate farming practices significantly degrade the resource base through severe soil erosion, loss of bio-diversity and sedimentation of downstream areas like rivers, creeks, coastal areas, and farm lands.
There may be different tenurial instruments and projects in the uplands, each following different recipes of program intervention. However in most of these projects, difficulties in sustaining specific activities lie on the weaknesses of peoples' organizations in the area or institutions to sustain group action, including some technologies that do not provide options for farmers to diversify or improve their system of exploitation.
These are some of the realities confronting the upland project of the city government and ECOGOV. They present greater challenge on the appreciation of different socio-cultural, political and economic base and specific issues in upland communities for better understanding of differences and design of appropriate intervention mechanisms.
It may be one that rapidly and inexpensively diffuses conservation farming technologies, agro-forestry practices and other natural resource management systems. More importantly, it should be grounded on knowledge-sharing, skills enhancement and appropriate education and information as the basic resource in effecting lasting changes in the community.
The task can be daunting but it must be done hand in hand with the community. The convergence is critical in building trust and commitment, which in turn shapes their formation, maturity and sustainability.
It may be argued that participation has limits and may come in different forms but it is the only way to provide the foundation for long term sustainability, when consciously and appropriately nurtured.
For Bisaya stories from Davao. Click here. (May 23, 2006 issue)
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