A DAVAO City-based environmental group proposed employing Nature-based Solutions (NbS) as a way to mitigate flooding in the city.
Interfacing Development Interventions for Sustainability (IDIS) said it is calling on the City Government of Davao to go beyond pilot initiatives and integrate NbS into its planning, development, Comprehensive Land Use Plan, as well as future flood management programs.
Idis said that by integrating NbS approaches into long-term policies and investments, the city would become more resilient, climate-adaptive, and cost-effective in reducing flood risks while protecting Davao's natural ecosystem.
“Lasting resilience cannot be achieved by the government alone. It requires collective action of communities that recognize that nature is not an obstacle to development but one of its greatest allies,” Idis said on July 17, 2026.
“As climate impacts continue to intensify, Davao City’s future depends on choosing to work with nature, not against it,” Idis continued.
Idis then encouraged Dabawenyos to help build a flood-resilient Davao City by learning about NbS and adopting practical measures at home, such as installing rainwater catchment systems, using permeable surfaces, and planting native vegetation to reduce stormwater runoff.
Nature-based solutions
As Davao City continues to experience flooding, Idis proposed a more cost-effective and sustainable approach to mitigating flooding in the city.
The group proposed that more green spaces should be established, as these would act as "flood parks" that would absorb excess water, especially during heavy rains, while also providing areas for recreation.
Idis said there is a need to preserve and rehabilitate the city's wetland fragments, protect its watersheds, and rehabilitate mangroves. The group said these would serve as natural flood buffers instead of relying on new concrete infrastructure.
The group also called for the strict implementation of City Ordinance No. 0298-09, otherwise known as the Rainwater Ordinance of 2009, which requires proper rainwater harvesting, storage, and utilization in the city. The legislation also mandates homes and establishments to install their own Rainwater Catchment Systems (RCS) so that the city's drainage systems are not left to absorb rainfall alone.
Flooding problems
Idis said that after a heavy downpour in Davao City, most of the water recedes. However, the group said that viewing flooding as not being a serious problem "misses the bigger picture." The group said that the speed at which floodwater drains says nothing about whether an area should be flooded at all.
It added that many of the flood-prone streets and barangays were once not flood-prone because wetlands, creeks, and natural ground cover previously existed in these areas.
“When those same areas flood today, even briefly, it is a sign that the land’s natural drainage function has been lost, not proof that the situation is manageable. If left unaddressed, these ‘quick-draining’ floods tend to become more frequent, more intense, and slower to recede over time, as remaining green cover and absorptive land continue to shrink,” the group said.
Despite being well-built, engineered drainage systems are never designed to hold the same volume of water that natural wetlands and marshlands did, the group said, hence flooding still occurs even if the infrastructure has been improved.
The group said that one of the city's core problems is that the city paved over terrain that used to perform this function naturally and replaced it with concrete infrastructure that requires money to construct.
Wetlands in the city
Idis said that the city was once composed largely of wetlands and that historical land-use data from old Spanish and American-era maps show that Davao City was situated in an area with a large network of riverine and estuarine wetlands connected by creeks and waterways, most of which are now located in Poblacion, Agdao, Cabaguio, Matina, and Talomo.
The group said that several years of unsustainable urban development have reclaimed, converted, and altered these natural ecosystems. As a result, Davao City has lost 95 percent of its wetlands since 1945.
Idis added that about 51.6 percent of the wetland loss was due to high-density residential development, while 33 percent was attributed to commercial development.
The group then outlined some of the major wetlands in the city, such as those in Laverna, Bajada Avenue, and Matina Aplaya, Crossing, and Pangi, which have been converted into commercial and residential areas. These areas used to be wetlands that naturally absorbed water but are now places where water pools on the surface because it can no longer seep into the ground.
With the severe weather conditions brought by the Southwest Monsoon (Habagat), Davao City has been experiencing light to heavy rainfall, causing street flooding in major thoroughfares and several barangays. RGP
