Abstract / Excerpt:

Project inception

The movement to establish a Protected Area (PA) in accordance with the National Integrated protected Area System (NIPAS) to cover the vast Ligawasan Marsh has been ongoing for more than a decade. In the latter half of 2013, however, the Foundation for the Philippine Environment (FPE), which has long supported this initiative, invited the Tropical Institute for Climate Research (TropICS), the AI Qalam Institute for Islamic Identities and Dialogue in Southeast Asia (AQI), and the Ateneo Institute of Anthropology (AIA), all of which are based in the Ateneo de Davao University (ADDU), to join in the formation of what came to be called the Ligawasan Marsh Assistance Group (LMAG). The LMAG was intended to provide support to the campaign for a PA, which was then entering the period for public consultations, to be organized and conducted by officials of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).

Within the LMAG, Datu Massolini S. Sinsuat, AQI's Director, was chosen to lead the group. In this capacity, he requested the AIA to conduct a stakeholders mapping project, in recognition of the perceived need for more information on the attitudes of local communities towards the proposed PA an the issues bound up with that project. The AIA agreed to conduct the said research project.

In the planning of this project, the AIA considered the character of the DENR's public consultations, which tended to focus on local government unit (LGU) officials and representatives of government agencies. It was decided that rather than duplicate the efforts and output of the formal consultation process, it would focus instead on the Maguindanao farmers and fishers of the Ligawasan Marsh area, who constitute the majority of the population therein, but who most probably would have little opportunity to participate in the formal consultations. The AIA's research project-subsequently named the Ligawasan Marsh Stakeholders Mapping Project (LMSMP)-was thus designed from the start to complement the process and results of the formal consultation process spearheaded by the DENR.

Info

Source Institution	Ateneo de Davao University
Unit	URC
Authors	Augusto B. Gatmaytan, Ph.D., Leah H. Vidal, Ph.D.
Page Count	80
Place of Publication	Davao city
Original Publication Date	March 1, 2015
Tags	Ligawasan Marsh, Mapping Project, Stakeholders

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