Towards greater human security in Mindanao by establishing strategic research partnerships to strengthen local governance in land and water management

Objective:
To establish a scientifically sound and culturally adapted participatory strategy for land use planning and monitoring at a catchment level in the uplands to assist local government in its achievement of greater human security.

Study area: Mindanao Island, Philippines

Expected results:
1. Local knowledge, land use, tenure, needs and suggestions on land management are surveyed in two catchments and used as an overview for a land information system and representativeness of target communities
2. Biophysical contexts of four target communities are identified including assessed risk and sustainability
3. Basic agro-economic agro-system efficiency, social characterization and topsoil fertility is assessed in communities
4. Land information system is built, scenarios are generated and alternatives presented to stakeholders
5. Local capacity for conducting land and water research and analysis is built and shared among the local academic partners and government

Summary:
The mounting pressure on land in Mindanao over the last 20 years under the influence of rapid land use conversion, migration, globalization, and climate change call for new rules of land tenure, use and management, revised farming systems and effective tools in agro-environmental evaluation, monitoring, prevision and alert. At this level, soil as a slow renewable patrimonial resource is a key factor to address the threats of erosion, nutrient depletion, pollution and flooding; all of which are influenced by water-related processes. Poverty is a growing phenomenon in the uplands as communities struggle with extensive agriculture-based livelihoods on increasingly unproductive land.
The project seeks to gain a useful understanding of the current state of land use in select areas of Mindanao with the intent to work with both migrant and indigenous communities in arriving at more productive and sustainable land use practices that are compatible with both the biophysical and social contexts of the areas. For this reason the project aims to 1) familiarize partners with principles of an original methodology integrating geomorphopedological, agropedological and socio-economic parameters and approaches, 2) practise as much as possible the FAO guidelines for land use planning, 3) implement a Land Information System at micro level as a participatory tool for decision making regarding the aforementioned pressures and threats, and 4) build the capacity of the local partners, academe with participation of local government, in performing the required analysis while providing a learning environment for the Belgian partners to study the local dynamics of land use in Mindanao.