| ESSC provides mapping and training assistance for the Marikina Watershed Initiative |
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| Wednesday, 17 August 2011 | |||
ESSC recently signed a partnership agreement with Fostering People's Education, Empowerment and Enterprise (FPE3) to assist its ongoing project
Marikina Watershed Initiative (MWI) led by the Philippine Disaster Recovery Foundation, a broad alliance of business organizations and NGOs.
The MWI has the following aims: to achieve a sustainable forest cover by rehabilitating an additional 34% of idle and degraded areas of the Marikina watershed or at least 9,520 hectares (the initial assumption is that the Marikina watershed has only 20% forest cover); to assist the community in developing sustainable livelihoods; and to establish a framework and system of cooperation among the different sectors of society to rehabilitate, protect, and restore the sub-watersheds starting with the Boso-boso and Tayabasan sub-watersheds of the Marikina watershed.
ESSC will develop an updated Marikina watershed map that intends to illustrate actual conditions of the watershed such as forest cover, resource conflict areas, reforestation areas, settlements, hazard areas, and other information that can be gathered. Previously, ESSC developed a series of maps that showed the historical flooding in the Marikina watershed and the extent of flooding as a result of typhoon Ondoy in September 2009. Accompanying this map development is a training workshop by ESSC to assist in building the capacity of FPE3 staff, community workers, partner NGO staff, and leaders of people's organizations in gathering data so these can be integrated into the Marikina watershed map. The updated Marikina watershed map will be useful as a tool for planning, monitoring and evaluation, and for resource conflict management and is a critical guide for advancing the protection and rehabilitation of the Marikina watershed. FPE3 will also use the map as an advocacy tool to promote sustainable approaches in the watershed to local government units, business groups, and the general public. As part of the MWI, FPE3 also developed a partnership with the Manila Water Company to reforest 500 hectares in the Boso-boso sub-watershed and identify another 500 hectares for reforestation in the Tayabasan sub-watershed. The project will also support community organizing (through organizational development and addressing resource conflicts) and developing options for sustainable livelihoods. |
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| Last Updated ( Wednesday, 17 August 2011 ) | |||
