Thesis Ikahalan

8/14/2019 Thesis Ikahalan

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CaseStudy

The Ikalahan Ancestral Domain,the Philippines

Grace B. Villamor and Rodel D. Lasco World Agro orestry Centre (ICRAF), Los Banos, the Philippines

IntroductionLong be ore the concept o Kyoto Protocol and terms like carbon sequestration

were popularised in the Philippines, the Ikalahans (literally, people o the broadlea orest) were ar ahead o them. How was that possible? This paper presents theproject Rewarding Upland Poor for Environmental Services (RUPES) they provide inKalahan, Nueva Vizcaya, Philippines and the activities o the Ikalahans or carbonsequestration.

The Ikalahans - Building the FoundationThe Ikalahans are the indigenous people in the province o Nueva Vizcaya in thenortheast o the Philippines. They belong to the Kalanguya-Ikalahan tribe, whichinhabits the Ikalahan ancestral domain. The domain, which includes the Kalahan

Forest Reserve, covers 38,000 ha in Nueva Vizcaya plus about 10,000 ha in NuevaEcija. The entire area is mountainous. It receives rain all rom 3,000 to 5,000 mmper year. Much o the area is orested, mostly with dipterocarp species, although the

western edge is mostly pine. Some o the orests are primary, but most are secondary.Broad areas in the east are barren because o logging done by outsiders several decadesago1.

The Ikalahans are known or their indigenous knowledge practice systems, which are environmentally sustainable. For generation a ter generation, the indigenouspractices were trans erred, protected and maintained. Among these practices are the

1 KEF 2003 Kalahan forest service project proposal for RUPES action research, Kalahan EducationalFoundation, unpublished. 14p.


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| Case Study 7. The Ikalahan Ancestral Domain, the Philippines

day-og and gengen, which are ancient composting techniques on level and slopingland respectively to restore ertility o the soil in the period o three months. The

pang-omis is a method o expediting the ollow that was invented by one o the tribalelders whilebalkah is a contour line o deep rooted plants which trap eroded topsoilat the belt line (Rice 2000). With these, thousands o hectares o orestlands werepreserved rom urther land conversion.

In 1973, Ikalahan tribal elders organised the Kalahan Educational FoundationInc. (KEF) to protect communities rom possible eviction by land grabbers. Theoundation was used as an instrument since the government at that time was unableto negotiate or their rights. The KEF mission is to promote the education andprotect the environment o the Ikalahan people and their ancestral domain. Amongits aims is to provide sustainable orest-based livelihoods, improved watershedsand biodiversity (KEF 1993). Since then, KEF is considered a community-basedorganisation or a community-led organisation. It represents the legal personality o

the Ikalahans in their Community-Based Forest Management Agreement as pioneersin the Philippines.The oundation engaged heavily in community resource management and set up

rules and regulations or resource use. The Ancestral Domain Sustainable Developmentand Protection Plan strongly expressed their connection with conservation. It states:

We, the Kalanguya-Ikalahan tribe, invariably equate land and the resources withinit with li e itsel . We nurtured our indigenous systems or our land and resourcesmanagement that have endured the test o time. For this reason, the recognition o our indigenous ability to sustainably manage our ancestral domain was made a mattero policy.

In 1994, the carbon stock measurement was set up. They promoted the ForestImprovement Technology (FIT) to expedite the growth rate o indigenous trees withinthe orest to improve carbon sequestration. According to Espaldon (2005), theiractivity is an indication that the orest management in the reserve is about 10 yearsahead in terms o measuring ecological benefts o protecting orest ecosystems.

RUPES Programme Connects PaymentsThe RUPES programme, which aims to enhance livelihoods and reduce poverty o the upland people while promoting environmental conservation, recognized thee orts o the KEF. In 2003, Kalahan was chosen to be the frst pilot site in thePhilippines or the development o a carbon sequestration payment mechanism.RUPES tries to build working models o best practices or success ul environmentaltrans er agreements rom this case.

For this purpose, the RUPES in Kalahan ocused on the continuation o thecarbon sequestration study set up in 1994 by the KEF. The main objective is toexamine the rate and extent o carbon sequestration potentials o the Kalahan ForestReserve in the ancestral domain, and to look or potential buyers o this ecologicalservice. With RUPES, the e orts o the Ikalahans to sequester carbon are recognizedand could be rewarded through market-based mechanisms. Assessment and projection


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Grace B. Villamor and Rodel D. Lasco |

tools are implemented with di erent partners to urther understand the possibleenvironmental service rewards.

RUPES Kalahan in ActionThe Ikalahans community-led approach accounted or achieving the main objectiveo the RUPES Kalahan. RUPES Kalahan, through KEF together with the World

Agro orestry Centre (ICRAF)Philippines, is actively working to implement the fvemain strategies o RUPES.

Quantifying Environmental ServicesIn 1978 KEF started measuring the biomass in its old growth orests. The Ikalahanshave their own community oresters who are continuously monitoring the growtho trees. From these records, carbon stocks were calculated. The accuracy o the

calculations, however, was uncertain. It was not until 2003 under the RUPES projectthat improvements in the quantifcation o carbon stocks were made. The recordsrom 1994 to 2004 are being updated. Also, the KEF started to quanti y its watershedunctions.

Developing Environmental Service AgreementsThe legal identity o the KEF as a corporation and oundation (registered with theSecurity Exchange Commission) not only obtains the right to control the Ikalahansancestral domain, but enables them to negotiate e ectively with local and internationalpotential buyers .

To develop environmental service agreements, tools such as the Forest Agro orestLow Value, Landscape or Wasteland (FALLOW)2 model were implemented to betterunderstand the environmental service o the Ikalahans and equip them or the processo negotiation and development o agreements.

Supporting an Enabling Policy Environment The Indigenous Peoples Right Act o 1997 (R.A. 8371) is a law that strengthens therights o the Ikalahans to their ancestral land, and in 1999 ancestral domain claims

were approved or a total land area o 58,000 ha.

Also, the Memorandum o Agreement No. 1 o 1973 is an agreement betweenthe KEF and the Bureau o Forest Development that recognizes the right o theIkalahans to manage their ancestral land and to utilize the area to the exclusion o all other parties not already subsisting within the area at the time o signing. Theagreement established 14,730 ha o land to be managed by the occupants through theKEF or a period o 25 years, renewable or another 25 years.

Moreover, the Philippines signed and ratifed the Kyoto Protocol in 2003.

2 The FALLOW model is a spatial model of landscape dynamics. It is expected to capture annual dynamicsof peoples livelihoods by simulating how livelihood activities extract natural stocks and how natural stocksreplenish, among others (Van Noordwijk 2002).


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Raising Awareness of the Value of Environmental Services

The Kalahan Academy is the educational arm o the KEF. Through this, the KEFconducts ecology seminars and training activities in and around the domain. Subjectslike ecosystem services and the Ikalahan indigenous practices are part o the curriculumor high school students. Special ecology seminars and training are given to armers(Figure 7.1 ).

Forming Effective PartnershipsMost o the carbon buyers are international frms and/or groups. Though the KEFhas already established partnerships with international research organisations, it is still

widening its links as much as possible to tap carbon buyers. Promotional activitiessuch as the publication o in ormation kits about Kalahan are carried out.

The Ikalahans developed FIT, a technology to expedite the carbon sequestrationo their old growth orests through that resembles natural culling and whose goal itis to improve the orest. Trees are cut continuously in small numbers every year by alocal resident or orest armer. In this way, the orest ecosystem is maintained and inthe long run will lead to more sustainable income. The Ikalahans are confdent that

with this technology, carbon sequestration can be doubled in their orests.

The Counting ContinuesCurrently, the Ikalahans are developing two marketsthe Kyoto and the non-Kyotomarkets. The e orts they allotted since 1970s to measure the biomass o their old

Figure . . Raising awareness of farmers on the value of carbon sequestration in theancestral domain (photo: KEF).


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Box . . Forest Improvement Technology

FIT ollows the natural rejuvenation process o the orest. Trees die or are elled by storms, while new seedlings will sprout and develop. Mature trees that have stopped growing are

removed to create avorable conditions or orest rejuvenation. I this is done every year,the orest will continue to develop and improve. The removal o individual trees does nothurt the orest or its environment and provides frst class lumber.

Each year the orest armer makes a selection o trees to be cut. The armer checks orcrooked, damaged or crowded trees that need to be removed to improve the orest. Simpleequipment is used, and the sawdust, tops and branches are le t to rot because they restoreertility to the orest soil and help maintain biodiversity. The armer does not separate thepotential crop trees rom the other trees because he knows that all trees have a role to play in the orest.

I there are large open spaces, a orest pioneer species will be planted frst. Agriculturalcrops are not planted between the trees because they would bother the other plants thatneed to grow to make a good orest. Enrichment planting can increase the populationo one or two species o large or small plants. This can be highly avorable as long as theorest is not turned into a plantation. The orest armer will cut only a small amount o growth, allowing the orest to improve each year.

When the orest fnally has its proper amount o wood, which is approximately 270 m3

per ha, the armer can begin to remove an amount equal to the total growth rate o 15 to20 m3 per ha per year. The armer will have to do that to allow the seedlings to grow.

The growth rate presently expected in Philippine orests is about 4.5 m3 per ha per year.Under proper management, using FIT, the orest can produce as much as 15 to 20 m3 perha per year. Such a orest still retains the characteristics o a natural orest.

It still has high biodiversity and is an e ective watershed with a high percolation rate. It will also provide a sanctuary or many kinds o wild orchids, animals, birds and insects. I each orest armer cares or 5 ha o good orest, he may harvest up to 80 m3 o frst classlumber every year without damaging the orest. That would provide him with higher cashincome than many pro essionals and he would still have plenty o time to produce hisown ood on the arm. Once the orest has developed, it can be sustained indefnitely.

Source: Rice (2000)

growth orest are not wasted. With improved ormulas or the quantifcation o carbon stocks, results can be utilized to negotiate or the non-Kyoto markets.

The KEF began monitoring the growth o its orests. Its methods were not very accurate but they were help ul. When the RUPES consortium entered the pictureand o ered to help, we made contacts with a carbon expert at the University o

the Philippines Los Baos (UPLB) who helped us to improve our computations toinclude branches and tops o the trees, not just the trunks. We discovered that we hadunderestimated the e fciency o the Ikalahan orests by at least 60%. (Delbert Rice,KEF director or research)


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In 2002, KEF estimated around 38,383 tons o carbon dioxide were recycledby the Kalahan orests3. To date, the KEF is analyzing the 19942004 data usingthe improved ormulas to quanti y carbon stocks. Also, orest inventories are beingcarried out in the 62 blocks (approx. 10,000 ha). It is a huge task but the Ikalahansare confdent that by the time they fnish the project, they will able to compare thegrowth rates o three orest types (dipterocarp, pine and oak orests) and the carbonsequestration rates o 15 indigenous tree species.

In the meantime, the RUPES Kalahan team is preparing the CDM ProjectDesign Document or the Kyoto market. The Kalahan orestry team, with technicalassistance rom ICRAF, also prepared the Forestry Project Idea Note (PIN) onSequestration Project in the Ancestral Domain o Ikalahan. The PIN proposes acarbon sequestration project on the 900 ha grassland portion o the domain. Amongthe activities conducted was the feld measurement o carbon stocks in the grasslandareas, which was carried out by the Kalahan orestry team.

The grassland areas to be re orested have been covered with grasses at least since1990, and without the project activity they are expected to remain so. Thus theproject sites are expected to regenerate as they have or decades, at a level consideredinsignifcant under the CDM. For cropland areas, a similar baseline situation applies.These areas have been under cultivation with annual crops or decades and areexpected to be planted with annual crops (Lascoet al . orthcoming).

The environmental service (carbon sequestration) to be provided by the projecthas been estimated under three rates o growth scenarios (Figure 7.2 ). The simulation

was done based on the tree growth rates using the Philippine derived values (Lasco

3 KEF 2003 Kalahan forest service project proposal for RUPES action research.

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Figure . . Estimated net cumulative CO 2e removals by the proposed Kalahan ReforestationProject, the Philippines


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et al . 2004) plus other assumptions and projected them using MS Excel program.The main purpose o the exercise was to assist the Kalahan indigenous people inobtaining unding or carbon sequestration services they could provide. For thispurpose the estimated carbon sequestration rates will su fce since the objective is toshow potential buyers the expected range o benefts.

In 2004, the KEF established two nurseries producing seedlings o various treespecies or re orestation within the Kalahan Reserve and the adjacent communitiescovered by the ancestral domain. A total o 89,702 assorted, mostly indigenousorest trees were planted on approximately 40 ha within the ancestral domain, andenrichment plantings were done in many other portions o the orest. The KalahanForestry team initiated re orestation and rehabilitation activities in the grasslands,brushland and open areas.

ConclusionsThe Ikalahans initiated all the project activities described or their aspiration o sustainable development o orests on mountainous terrain. They are working hardto achieve rewards rom this environmental service. The Ikalahans carry all o theburdens while the people in the lowlands receive all o the benefts, as one localresident exhorted. And Rice (2004) points out, It seems that most o the neededlegislation to enable the Ikalahan people to be remunerated or the orest services

which they provide is already in place. The next step is to begin the dialogues with thebenefciaries o the orest services to convince them to pay or the services rendered.

Although monetary payments are not yet realized, KEFs hard work is nevertheless well recognized. With the RUPES project, it builds the capacity o indigenouscommunities to begin the negotiation. It will also increase awareness and participationin carbon sequestration and other related issues in and around the ancestral domaincommunities through public education programmes. The KEF is looking orwardthat its e orts will soon be compensated with the best rewards.

ReferencesEspaldon, M.V. 2005 Looking through the eyes o the uture: the RUPES Bakun,

Benguet, Philippines (unpublished report). 5p.KEF 1993 20th year oundation day. Kalahan Education Foundation, Imugan, Santa

Fe, Nueva Vizcaya.Lasco, R., Pulhin, F., Roshetko, J., and Banaticla M.R. 2004 LULUCF climate change

mitigation projects: a primer. World Agro orestry Centre. Southeast Asia RegionalResearch Programme. 21-30p.

Lasco, R., Villamor, G., Pulhin, F., Catacutan, D. and Bertomeu, M. ForthcomingFrom principles to numbers: approaches in implementing payments orenvironmental services in the Philippines.

Rice, D. 2000 The Ikalahan: towards sustainable orest use. ILEIA Newsletter(September). 21p.


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Rice, D. 2004 Watershed development by Ikalahans. Paper presented to the 6th National Watershed Management Assembly, Malaybalay City, Bukidnon, 2426November 2004. 10p.

Van Noordwijk, M. 2002 Scaling trade-o s between crop productivity, carbon stocksand biodiversity in shi ting cultivation landscape mosaics: the FALLOW model.Ecological Modelling 149: 113126.

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Thesis Ikahalan