watershed management realities - Philippine Institute for ...

Realities of the Watershed 

Management Approach: 

The Magat Watershed Experience 

Dulce D. Elazegui 

University Researcher 

ISPPS, UPLB 

Edwin A. Combalicer 

Faculty Member, College of Forestry 

Nueva Vizcaya State University

Introduction 

…showcase the 

experience of the 

Magat 

watershed… 

…Proclamation 

No. 573 on June 

26, 1969

actors and 

players 

policy and political 

environment 

Watershed 

Sustainability 

social and institutional 

mechanisms 

Introduction 

financial 

support

MAGAT 

WATERSHED

Classified Area within the Magat 

Watershed 

Lower Magat Forest Reserve 

Barobbob Watershed 

Imugan-Cabanglasan Subwatershed 

Dupax Watershed Forest 

Reserve 

MAGAT 

WATERSHED

Biophysical Characteristics 

MAGAT 

WATERSHED 

Type II

MAGAT 

WATERSHED

MAGAT 

WATERSHED

Sedimentation 

Accumulated Sediment Vol. (Million 

cu.m) 

250 

200 

150 

100 

50 

0 

1982 1984 1989 1995 2000 

Year 

MAGAT 

WATERSHED

Socio-economic Socio economic Conditions 

Population 

Watershed population as of May 2001 … 

483,411 

Nueva Vizcaya accounts … 76% …watershed’s 

population 

Average household …4.92 persons 

Average population density ….205 persons/km 2 

Population growth rates of Nueva Vizcaya and 

Isabela are lower than the national average …2%


Ethnicity Interaction with 

external Societies 

• Ilocano and Ifugao 

• Others 

Bugkalots 

Ilongots 

Kalanguya 

Gaddang 

Some communities 

enjoy intensive 

support, resources, 

information or 

influence from NGOs 

and donors 

Other communities 

are quasi self-reliant


Revenue Generation 

Agriculture, livestock, and 

service 

service sector … 45.73% 

agriculture sector … 43.12% 

livestock sector … 11.15%



Magat watershed resources 

Timber (From Natural and Plantation Forest) 

Rattan 

Quarry (Gravel and sand, mines) 

Wildlife 

Agroforestry land 

Rangeland for grazing 

Reservoir surface area



Major watershed users 

National Power 

Corporation (NPC) 

National Irrigation 

Administration 

(NIA), 

Fisherfolk 

Upland farmers 

Peoples’ organizations 

Barangay residents 

within the watershed 

Non-government 

organizations 

Water operators 

Mining companies

WATERSHED MANAGEMENT REALITIES: 

AN INSTITUTIONAL ANALYSIS 

Economic considerations or 

financial capital 

Technical and administrative 

capacity/intellectual capital 

Capacity for social governance, 

i.e., social and institutional capital 

Legal framework within which 

the management approach 

operates, i.e., political capital





Economic Considerations 

(Financial Capital) 

DENR- JICA (2003)…Master Plan Study for 

Watershed Management in Upper Magat and 

Cagayan River Basin 

Watershed management initiatives … land use 

planning, forest management, rehabilitation 

and restoration, soil conservation, livelihood, 

capacity building, and cost sharing mechanism





Economic Considerations (Financial Capital) 

Watershed and Water Management Initiatives 

Most projects … DENR, Provincial ENROs of Nueva 

Vizcaya, Isabela and Quirino, and CENROs of Nueva 

Vizcaya (Dupax del Norte, Bayombong, and Aritao), 

Isabela and Quirino 

Supervision and control of utilization and protection 

of water resources are exercised by the National 

Water Resources Board (NWRB) 

NPC, NIA, POs, … involved in watershed protection 

projects in Magat







Watershed projects … generally implemented 

in collaboration with other stakeholders 

National Commission on Indigenous People 

… identification of ancestral land domain, 

and organization of indigenous cultural 

communities and indigenous peoples 

NCIP … mediated in resolving conflict







Watershed management initiatives … shortterm 

to medium-term projects 

DENR … yearly allocation of PhP2.6 million 

for natural forest protection … PhP1.6 

million per soil and water conservation 

measures from 1994-2003 

NIA … PhP3 million for a one-year project 

NPC spent …PhP2 million in 2000 for 

regular patrolling … PhP2.7 million for 

information dissemination







Provinces within the Magat watershed … 

budget allocations for forest protection 

Nueva Vizcaya … budget allocation of 

PhP728 per ha 

Created a provincial Environment and Natural 

Resource Office (ENRO)

1. Reforestation by 

Administration (REFO-A) 

2. Reforestation by Contract 

(REFO-C) 

3. Watershed Rehabilitation 

Project (WRP) 

4. International Tropical 

Timber Organization 

(ITTO) project 

5. NIA and NPC project 

6. Provincial Waterworks 

Office Activities 






Scope of Projects 

7. Grow a Family Tree for 

Legacy 

8. Barobbob Watershed 

Resource Management 

Project 

9. Lower Magat Forest 

Management Project 

10. Center for People 

Empowerment in the 

Upland (CPEU) 

11. Comprehensive Agrarian 

Reform Program (CARP) 

Project





Technical/Administrative Capacity 

(Intellectual Capital) 

ISU 

NVSU 

Watershed 

Management 

Discipline 

QSC 

ISCAF

Agencies involved in Magat watershed 

management … full-time work basis 

CENRO … one to five 

PENRO … one 





Technical/Administrative Capacity (Intellectual Capital) 

Number of Personnel in Watershed Management 

ENRO … four personnel 

NIA and NPC have six and eight





Technical/Administrative Capacity (Intellectual Capital) 

Educational Background of Personnel 

Personnel … technical background with 

degrees 

Personnel … training … watershed 

characterization, erosion control, Geographic 

Information Systems (GIS), soil and water 

conservation, environmental impact 

assessment (EIA), and community 

organizing





Social Governance Capacity (Social/Institutions Capital) 

Social Governance Capacity 

Governing (Social/Institutions structure and sharing Capital) of responsibilities 

DENR provides resources and services … to ensure 

effective protection, development, and management 

DENR-PENROs plan, coordinate and control various 

activities and guide, supervise, and provide logistics to 

CENRO operations 

NIA and NPC … to manage, develop, and rehabilitate 

portions of Magat Dam 

LGUs encourage and promote participation of the 

private sector and entrepreneurs …lead and provide 

assistance to communities … endorse applications to 

CBFM Agreement






Community Participation 

18 POs 

Twelve POs are in Nueva Vizcaya 

Five in Quirino 

One in Isabela 

POs … CBFM projects, trainings on 

accounting, entrepreneurship, leadership, 

IPM, and reforestation






Sharing of power and responsibilities 

Barobbob Watershed Resource 

Management 

Tree for Legacy 

Lower Magat Forest Management 

Project 

CBFM project of the Federation of Vista 

Hills, Kalongkong Upland Farmers 

Associations, Inc.






Barobbob Watershed Resource 

Management 

Galing Pook award of excellence in 1999 

… declared a protected area 

Devolved to the province 

People organized … Barobbob Watershed 

Occupants Association 

Provincial government entered into a Land 

Management Agreement with BWOA 

Provincial ENRO of Nueva Vizcaya …a composite 

management team … in the watershed







Tree for Legacy 

Motivated people’s participation by providing 

incentives 

Ownership and harvesting rights (Tree for 

Education, Enterprise), and usufruct certificates for 

protection forest (Tree for Legacy) 

Started with 500 ha in 1993 … over 2,000 ha 

2,000 individual participants, 205 schools, 205 

Parent-teacher Associations, 230 NGOs and POs, 

and 26 line agencies involved







Lower Magat Forest Management Project 

Co-management agreement 

LMFMO … Governor and RED 

DENR appropriated funds for research … transfer 

of technologies to LMFMO 

Provincial government … operating budget 

22% of the forest reserve … 28 Agro-forestry Land 

Management Agreements and Community-Based 

Agro-forestry Land Management Agreements







CBFM project of the Federation of Vista 

Hills, Kalongkong Upland Farmers 

Associations, Inc. 

Model Sustainable Development Project 

Regional Model search by the Regional Council for 

Sustainable Development 

Funded by ITTO and assisted by DENR and the 

Buenavista Upland Development Advisory Council 

(BUDAC)





Legal Framework (Political Capital) 

National Policies 

Proclamation 573 of 1969 

Executive Order 281 of 1995 

DENR Memorandum Order No. 

14 of 1994 

DAO No. 05 of 1993






Interface Between National and Local Level 

Memorandum of Agreement 

Land Tenure Agreement 

Certificate of Tree Ownership (CTO) 

and Certificate of Usufruct (CU) 

Certificate of Land Ownership Award

Local Policies 






Sangguniang Panlalawigan No. 321-1993 

Executive Order No. 64-1996 

Sangguniang Panlalawigan Ordinance No. 209- 

1997 

Sangguniang Panlalawigan Resolution No. 98-138 

LMRMS Administrative Order No. 99-01 

Sangguniang Panlalawigan Ordinance No. 99-013 

Barangay ordinances






Informal Management Practices 

Private Woodlot Management System (Muyong 

System) 

Communal Forest Management System

Conflict Management 

Water use 

Land use 






Tree harvesting rights 

Strategic Agriculture and 

Fishery Development Zones 

(SAFDZs)

FACILITATING AND 

CONSTRAINING FACTORS 

Conflict and disputes … stakeholders 

over resource use; 

Weak and unsustained support … 

people and other stakeholders; 

Limited or restrained capacity of 

LGUs … policy provisions and/or 

inconsistency …

Conclusion 

Watershed as a ‘lifeshed’ 

Land 

Human 

Water resources

Conclusion 

Competence and Motivation 

LGU 

Political 

Leadership 

Participatory 

Resourceful

‘Lifelines’ 

Partnership/ 

Conclusion 

Co-management 

Co management 

Incentives 

Sustainable 

Watershed

Salamat sa 

Pakikinig…

watershed management realities - Philippine Institute for ...

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