Browsing by Author "Buenavista, Gladys"

Now showing 1 - 14 of 14
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    Assessing SANREM's impacts in Lantapan: Results of a survey
    Buenavista, Gladys; Coxhead, Ian; Kim, K. (Madison, Wisc.: University of Madison-Wisconsin, 1998)
    In this paper we report on a project impact study conducted at the Lantapan, Philippines field site of the SANREM CRSP project. To substitute for "with project" and "without project" samples of respondents (since other sources of heterogeneity may divide these) we construct several measures of "distance" from the project and locate our sample along these measures. While hypotheses of statistical causation remain to be tested, preliminary analysis of the survey results indicates that proximity to the project is positively correlated with heightened awareness of environmental linkages and concepts, more "environment-conscious" attitudes, and a higher propensity to adopt relatively costly sustainable agriculture practices such as integrated pest management (IPM), hedgerows and contour strips. These findings emerge in spite of a relatively brief project life (less than five years) and a concentration of project activities on research rather than training or extension. We conclude from the latter observation that a participatory
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    Assessing the impact of a participatory, research-oriented project: Results of a survey
    Buenavista, Gladys; Coxhead, Ian; Kim, Kwansoo (Philippine Council for Agriculture, Forestry and Natural Resources Research and Development, 2001)
    In this paper we report our attempts to evaluate the achievements of a project whose main purpose is, through applied research and participatory information exchange, to influence the environmental awareness, attitudes and practices of a group of mainly farm households in a Philippine watershed. Part of the project involves scientists engaging in applied research on water quality, soil management, and forest management by community members. The methods used to disseminate and acquire feedback on this research are mainly very informal. The output of the information exchange is hard to quantify, and moreover, attribution to the project is problematic when similar information may emanate from several sources and find its way to individuals by numerous paths. We report on a survey in which we attempted to minimize these difficulties.
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    Closing the gap between natural resource management research and policy-making: Reflections from the Manupali watershed and beyond
    Sumbalan, Antonio; Buenavista, Gladys (2001)
    The search for practical solutions in arresting environmental degradation in the developing countries has been the impetus behind catalyzed the creation of development of mechanisms to localize environmental conservation and management efforts on environmental conservation and management. In the Philippines, the inauguration of the 1991 Local Government Code formalized the transfer of environmental management responsibilities from the central to local governments. The passage of Tthis law leads to ushered a significant shift in the design and implementation of community-based environmental research and development projects.
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    Conclusions
    Buenavista, Gladys; Coxhead, Ian (Los Banos, Philippines: Philippine Council for Agriculture, Forestry and Natural Resources Research and Development, 2001)
    Concluding chapter of Seeking Sustainability summarizing the process of natural resources management in the Lantapan watershed.
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    From awareness to attitude to action: An iterative approach to evaluating impacts of NRM projects
    Buenavista, Gladys (Watkinsville, Ga.: SANREM CRSP, 2001)
    This brief illustrates how environmental projects can respond to donors' demands for evidence of impacts in the early stages of their implementation, before longer-term improvements in natural resource conditions have time to occur. The approach centers on a hierarchical classification of impacts that allows to capture "intermediate" steps, that is shifts in awareness and attitude that
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    How do research projects influence the design of local policies for environmental and natural resource management?
    Buenavista, Gladys; Sumbalan, Antonio; Coxhead, Ian (Makati City, Philippines: Philippine Institute for Development Studies, 2003)
    This paper documents and analyzes interactions between environmental and natural resource (ENR) management research and local goverance. It draws from the experiences of the Philippine-based Sustainable Agriculture and Natural Resource Management Collaborative Research Support Program (SANREM CRSP) to address the following questions: How do research projects influence ENR policy and design? What are the institutional arrangements necessary to sustain interactions between research and governance? The authors offer important methodological insights as well as lessons for practical efforts to link research and policy. These include(1)the conduct of participatory and collaborative research,(2)emphasis to process-related activities,(3)institutional innovations at the community level,(4)developing a plan for the dissemination and utilization of research results, and(5)sensitivity of the research project's design to the political context of the host country.
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    Implementing a participatory natural resources research program
    Buenavista, Gladys; Coxhead, Ian (Los Baños, Philippines: Philippine Council for Agriculture, Forestry and Natural Resources Research and Development, 2001)
    Implementing a participatory natural resources research program proved to be a great challenge for the SANREM CRSP. At the time the program was initiated, no established model existed that researchers could use to successfully carry out an integrated, interdisciplinary research in
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    Integrated natural resources management on the poverty-protection interface in an Asian watershed
    Garrity, Dennis P.; Amoroso, V.; Koffa, Samuel; Catacutan, Delia C.; Buenavista, Gladys; Fay, P.; Dar, W. (2001)
    There are serious methodological and policy hurdles to be overcome in effective integrated natural resource management that alleviated poverty while protecting environmental services in tropical watershed. We review the development of an approach to integrate biodiversity conservation and agroforestry development through the active involvement of communities and their local governments. The work focused on the Kitangaland Range Nature Park in the upper reaches of the Manuplai watershed in central Mindanao, Philippines. Agroforestry innovations were developed to suit the biophysical and socio-economic conditions off the buffer zone, including practices for tree farming and conservation farming with annual crops. Institutional innovations improved resource management, resulting in an effective social contract to protect the natural biodiversity of the Park. Natural vegetative contour strips were installed on several hundred sloping farms. Stream corridor vegetation was restored by the local Landcare groups. The practices decreased soil erosion and runoff, while the buffer strips increased maize yields by an average of 0.5 t/ha on hill slope farms. Fruit and timber tree production dramatically increased, re-establishing tree cover in the buffer zone. The scientific knowledge base guided the development and implementation of a natural resource management plan for the Municipality of Lantapan. A dynamic grassroots movement of farmer-led Landcare groups evolved in the villages near the park boundary. It has had significant impact on natural resource conservation in both the natural and managed ecosystem. Encroachment in the natural park has been rescued 95% in the past four years. This integrated approach has been recognized as a national model for local natural resource management planning and watershed management in the Philippines. Currently, the collaborating institutions are evolving a negotiation support system to resolve the interactions between the three management domains: The park: the ancestral domain claim, and the municipalities. The consortium that evolved this integrated systems approach operated effectively with highly constrained funding, suggesting that commitment and impact may best be stimulated by a drip-feed approach rather than by large, externally funded efforts.
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    Integrating research and policy for natural resource management: Lessons learned in the Philippines
    Buenavista, Gladys (2003)
    In this brief we analyze interactions between environmental research and local governance, using the SANREM CRSP experiences in the Philippines to show how a participatory approach contributes to ensuring research relevance and fostering policy linkages.
  • Landcare on the poverty-protection interface in an Asian watershed
    Garrity, Dennis P.; Amoroso, V.; Koffa, Samuel; Catacutan, Delia C.; Buenavista, Gladys; Fay, C.; Dar, W. (Waterloo, Ont.: Resilience Alliance Publications, 2002)
    This paper presents an integrated approach to natural resource management (INRM) that addresses both conservation of biodiversity and development to increase incomes and well-being in impoverished, fragile regions. The new approach suggested by the authors focuses on grass-roots movements to increase sustainable development. In the case study region, which is situated in the buffer zone of the Kitanglad Range Natural Park in the Manupali watershed, central Mindanao, the Philippines, there was successful widespread implementation of tree farming and conservation farming agroforestry techniques. The growth of fruit tree and timber farming increased tree cover in the buffer zone, and the use of buffer strips both decreased soil erosion and runoff and increased crop productivity. Local farmer-led Landcare groups helped to enhance conservation, restoring stream-corridor vegetation and contributing significantly to the 95% decrease of encroachment in the national park over three years. To resolve the overlapping, sometimes conflicting, management roles of the park, the ancestral domain claims of the indigenous people, and the local governments, the involved institutions are now developing a negotiation support system. The INRM applied to this region can serve as a national model for sustainable local natural resource and watershed management. The success of this approach, which worked with a very limited budget, suggests that projects based on high local commitment and involvement with "drip-feed" funding are preferable to large projects with generous external funding.
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    Looking back on the landscape: Impacts and lessons from the SANREM CRSP
    (Watkinsville, GA: SANREM CRSP, 1998)
    One of the major challenges in the 21st century is to provide adequate food for the growing population while protecting the environment. Since SANREM is a participatory natural resource management program, it serves to try to integrate these two goals through diverse stakeholders and resolution of conflicting demands. In this document, SANREM's approach is outlined, research results are reported, and impacts and lessons learned from the first five years are reported. The main lesson that has been learned is that sustainability can be achieved only through enhancing the decision-making capabilities of local people.
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    Seeking sustainability: A synthesis of research in SANREM CRSP-Southeast Asia, 1993-98
    Coxhead, Ian; Buenavista, Gladys (Los Baños, Philippines: Philippine Council for Agriculture, Forestry and Natural Resources Research and Development, 2001)
    Addressing site selection criteria, the NRC panel had emphasized the need to identify and work in sites that are representative of a broad crosssection of ecological conditions, and stressed that research must be responsive to local constraints and concerns&a learning process must take place, not only at the scientific level, but at the policy level, in the host country's capital (NRC 1991: 45). The SANREM partners identified the southern Philippines as broadly representative of upland agricultural conditions in the humid tropics, and as displaying common forms of environmental stress associated with unchecked resource exploitation. From the set of feasible sites, the Municipality of Lantapan in Bukidnon province, Northern Mindanao was chosen for a variety of reasons relating to the landscape-based approach to SANREM research.
  • Seeking Sustainability: Challenges of Agricultural Development and Environmental Management in a Philippine Watershed
    (Los Baños, Laguna, Philippines: Philippine Council for Agriculture, Forestry and Natural Resources Research and Development, Dept. of Science and Technology, 2001)