PUERTO PRINCESA CITY, Palawan – Some 22 Pala’wan indigenous peoples (IP) in the southern town of Brooke’s Point were trained recently on land use management system and farm planning in a bid to get their help in biodiversity conservation efforts.
The training was conducted on September 10-15 under the Protect Wildlife project of the United States Agency for International Development’ (USAID) with local partners, Lawrence San Diego, communications specialist of the foreign aid agency, said on Wednesday.
San Diego said the training for upland farmers in Barangay Mainit dealt with different farming techniques that are suitable for planting crops and trees in sloping lands.
The IP-participants were also trained on how to develop farm plans that would allow them to have access to the payment-for-ecosystem-services (PES), a conservation-financing scheme in Brooke’s Point, southern Palawan.
The participants received planting tools, seeds, and fertilizers after the training which they could use when they go back to their farms.
“Related ito doon sa sinusulong natin na PES scheme sa (This is related to the PES scheme in) Brooke’s Point. This is to adopt a PES scheme that can sustainably finance the conservation of watershed in Brooke’s Point, which (is) considered as the largest watershed in Palawan,” San Diego said.
The Protect Wildlife biodiversity conservation program started in Palawan in 2016, in partnership with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and the Palawan Council for Sustainable Development (PCSD), among others.
Protect Wildlife site manager Jeanne Tabangay said the Pala’wan farmers in the watershed community of Mainit are among the beneficiaries of the PES fund, which is derived from the one-peso-per-cubic-meter special levy paid by water consumers in Brooke’s Point.
Tabangay said about PHP321,000 has been collected from water consumers as PES fund from 2017 to May 2018.
The PES recipients are those doing the conservation of the watershed in order for the users of water to enjoy its sustainable benefits, she said.
Tabangay further said that the planting of high-value fruit trees is among the projects being pushed by the indigenous community, which is expected to increase their income and uplift their economic conditions.
The three water sources in Brooke’s Point, including the one located in Mainit, have a combined discharge of 10,200 cubic meters and can serve up to 13,000 household connections.
Currently, only 2,181 connections are serviced by the waterworks of the municipality.
USAID is promoting sustainable practices in agroforestry to help boost incomes in upland communities, while also increasing tree covers, rehabilitating watersheds, and protecting wildlife.
San Diego further said that hands-on exercises during the week-long training taught Pala’wan participants proper upland farming techniques, such as using a minimum land area for inter-cropping of vegetables and fruit trees. (Gerardo Reyes, Jr./PNA)
