(Photo source: Nordis )

Dallay Annawi

Indigenous peoples in the Philippine uplands face higher vulnerability to disasters, particularly landslides (and flooding), amid threats of more frequent and intense storms, higher rainfall, and extreme rainfall events as a result of climate change. 

Climate change can aggravate existing risk conditions or create new ones, threatening the security of indigenous peoples' homes and communities as well as the sustainability of their livelihoods and practices.

Although indigenous peoples are not major contributors to the rapid increase in atmospheric greenhouse gases (GHGs) triggering global warming and climate change, indigenous communities in the country experience the impact of climate change and how they are adapting to this situation is a useful input in climate change discussions.

Indigenous youth, as members of their respective communities, can contribute to current efforts in climate change adaptation. They can:

Help in relating technical information on climate change and indigenous knowledge and local experiences. It is important to know what the experts are saying, and to relate these to the local context and knowledge. Climate change and its impacts are projected on a large scale, but there are variations in how communities and individuals locally experience various aspects of climate change. An integrated understanding should form the basis of actions and plans to respond.

Participate in community-based disaster risk awareness building and in disaster preparedness planning, including warning systems and evacuation procedures. The impacts of climate change are felt locally, depending on site-specific conditions and resources. Thus, detailed assessments of risk exposure should be done at the community level.

Participate in linking with partners and concerned government offices and assisting groups in integrating their community disaster preparedness plans into the local plans. Depending on the integration of the indigenous communities in local governance and their external partnerships, the indigenous youth can also help in bridging their communities with the local government units, government agencies and partners in civil society.

Participate in other activities that assist adaptation to climate change impact, such as assisted natural regeneration (ANR) and waste management efforts. Sharing their knowledge of these indigenous tree species and involvement in nursery and planting activities are major elements of ANR. Activities that promote appropriate waste disposal and waste management practices can be given more energy and focus by youth groups.

Participation in community-based site assessments

The youth can participate in understanding their landscape and the landslide risk context of their communities. They can lend assistance to their elders and other community members in undertaking community site assessment, in which they will inspect their settlements and surroundings for signs of landslide potential. Besides inspection and observation, they can conduct interviews with their elders to know about their landscape and their histories (including past disaster experiences) and consult with technical professionals.

Most of the indigenous peoples are living in mountainous terrain, although there are also sea-based communities. The geohazard mapping done by the Mines and Geosciences Bureau of the DENR identified the mountainous Luzon provinces of Benguet, Mountain Province, Nueva Vizcaya, Kalinga, Apayao, Abra and Ifugao among the top 10 landslide-prone provinces in the country.

In terms of the location of their settlements, indigenous youth can ask the following questions:

• What could have been the criteria considered by their ancestors when they settled in the area?
• Considering their sloping locations, what are the indigenous knowledge and practices in terms of selecting sites for their homelots, building houses or mitigating landslides? The indigenous communities in the Cordillera, for instance, build stonewalls to stabilize slopes.

With the mountainous terrain as their community landscape, it is important for indigenous communities to know the conditions, onsite and offsite, that indicate an impending landslide to guide timely warning and evacuation.

Examples of conditions to watch out for include:

Emergence of springs. What do we need to understand about springs and groundwater in relation to slope problem? Among the Kankanaey in Besao, Mountain province, a belief that is still held by some is that there are spirits that reside in springs. On the adverse side, the emergence of springs near some houses following a period of continuous rainfall could be a cause for alarm - a warning sign of landslide.

Cracks on mountainsides. Are there cracks that occurred before on nearby slopes? The earthquake that hit northern Luzon in 1990 caused a crack on a mountainside in Tadian, Mountain Province above a settlement. Fearing that the crack would initiate a landslide, one family put up a concrete wall behind their house to protect them in case the cracked upper slope would collapse on their houses. During Typhoon Pepeng last year, the slope gave way and the landslide materials brought down the concrete wall on the house. Other places in the country where cracks on mountainsides occurred were advised to relocate.

Vegetation stand. Are the trees or coconuts in their communities standing upright? Trees that are curved at their bases or are leaning to different directions indicate that the area is not stable.

Vegetation or forest cover. What is the local understanding on the role of forests? Often, the loss of forests is blamed for landslides and this is valid for many cases. However, forests cannot prevent deep landslides that can be triggered by too much rainfall within a few days. A slope that has become very wet and soft will fail with or without trees. During torrential rainfall, communities must be ready to evacuate to safer locations. For reforestation activities aimed at stabilizing slopes, what indigenous tree species with deep roots should be planted in sloping areas?

There can be lots of other questions on the relevant features or conditions to observe in relation to location, drainage pattern, slope, evidence and accounts of past landslides, that the youth can put together from sources to do a comprehensive assessment.

Or they can start with what the community knows and integrate technical knowledge. In these efforts, it is important to build on local knowledge and practices, complementing these with technical knowledge and other adaptation strategies that are appropriate to the natural and cultural contexts.

Ms Dallay Annawi is a Research Associate at ESSC and this article was based on her presentation last 19 October 2010 in Davao City during the Kalindogan Festival (the National Indigenous Youth Peace Congress) whose theme was Climate Change Adaptation and Disaster Preparedness. The ESSC presentation was an input in the next activity, Disaster Preparedness, Hazards/Vulnerability Mapping and Contingency Planning.