In the face of increasing risks brought about by environmental degradation and climate change, the ESSC three-day conference last 10 to 13 May 2011 brought into focus the human ability to adapt and the need to build this capability through strengthened institutional and social mechanisms.

Pedro Walpole, ESSC Executive Director, set the tone for the conference and shared that "learning, focusing, synergizing and workshopping are the seeds that will bring us forward. We are not just individuals, we also come from dynamic institutions. The obsession with data needs to be accompanied by an understanding of the methodology. We need capacity cooperation and LGU-grounded engagement."

Local governments and academic and research institutions shared and presented current initiatives in resource management in the areas of identifying and managing risks, instrumentation and modelling for disaster risk management, and building resilient communities. The conference also tackled the human capacity for analysis, the human ingenuity to use technology for forewarning, and the human capability for planning that allows us to increase our resilience.

Arthur Y. Pinggoy, governor of South Cotabato province, also shared with the 45 conference participants how AVLDA emerged. "There was a crack in the crater of Lake Maughan, now called Lake Holon that water burst in the Allah River causing the floods in 1995 and affecting thousands of families and over 500 million crops. It is in this context that the Allah Valley Landscape Development Alliance was born; to work collectively to sustain sub-watersheds and secure our areas from further disaster."

Dr. Urooj Malik, CEO and Chairperson of Hineleban Foundation, reported on the vulnerability and risk mapping in Asia and related the efforts of the Mekong program and other environmental NGOs. "When the floodgates opened up in Cambodia and the Mekong River flooded, communities are not as resilient as they are here in the Philippines. Education is a big problem in the Mekong, coupled with conflict and civil strife which make it difficult for mitigation."

Discussions also delved on the ‘elephant in the room' and allocation of funds of the government when this do not translate to concrete assistance. Jose Madanguit, provincial board member of South Cotabato expressed, "There is suspicion that the local government will not channel the funds, but with AVLDA, we institutionalized the process and it is now a government-initiated project."

Nathaniel Campo of the Presidential Task Force on Mindanao River Basin Rehabilitation and Development added, "While it is true that it comes from the top, it is tolerated by small people."

While the first day focused at the macro level, the second day was an effort to translate science to the daily realities of people living in high risk areas. It was evident that economic needs surpass the hazardous environmental risks faced by communities in Barangay New Dumanggas and Sitio Tunnel in Barangay Kematu, Municipality of T'boli, and in Barangay Colonggulo in the Municipality of Surallah.

"The feeling of everyone is that livelihood comes first and safety follows second. Anywhere and everywhere we go, it is the same problem - poverty, risk reduction, lack of political will. In New Dumanggas, homes are established in river beds, while in Colonggulo, there is no disaster preparedness. But still and all, they are able to fit into the system where they are in. People have a transitioning lifestyle due to loss of land and their other possessions," shared Groups 2 and 3 during the plenary discussion.

The conference is part of ESSC's collaboration work with local partners in Mindanao , Xavier University and Ateneo de Davao University, and Belgian partners University of Liege Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech, FUNDP University of Namur, and Catholic University of Louvain (UCL).

Other institutions in Mindanao who joined included: Ateneo de Zamboanga University, Central Mindanao University, Hineleban Foundation, Presidential Task Force on Mindanao River Basin Rehabilitation and Development, Municipalities of Surallah and T'boli in South Cotabato, Province of Sultan Kudarat, Municipality of Pilar in Bohol, Province of South Cotabato, Mahintana Foundation, Inc., and AVLDA.