Ongoing Projects

An Integrated Assessment of Climate Change Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability in Watershed Areas in Southeast Asia (AIACC AS21)

Scientists working on climate change in Southeast Asia have limited experience in impacts and vulnerability assessment.  This project is designed to address the lack of research on climate change impacts, adaptation and vulnerability of watershed resources and local communities in the Philippines and Indonesia.

Sustainable Development Indicators for Global Change in the Philippines: A Multi-Scale Approach

Sustainable development is a much desired but elusive goal.  Global environmental change has further complicated man's desire to attain sustainable development.  One of the challenges facing the scientific community is how to integrate global change issues in sustainable development indicators (SDI) at various scales of the nature-society system.

Watershed Research and Development Support Project

The Watershed Research and Development Support Project is the research and development arm of the Water Resources Development Project-Watershed Management Improvement Component (WRDP-WMIC) of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources. It is a backstopping effort to provide empirical data and information on watershed management throughout the country. The research and development group is composed of professionals from the University of the Philippines, College of Forestry and Natural Resources, Isabela State University, and the Ecosystems Research and Development Bureau, DENR.

Currently, studies on watershed hydrology, influences of land-use change, socio-demographic status, status of the watershed management council and the economic aspects including water pricing are being conducted to help in the watersheds of Kaliwa, Tanay, Rizal, Philippines.  The results of these studies are expected to help the Department of Environment and Natural Resources to manage watersheds, especially critical ones.

Ecosystems and People: The Philippine Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA)  Sub-Global Assessment

The Philippine Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA) is one of the sub-global assessments from Southeast Asian Region.  The MA is an international assessment on the consequences of ecosystem change for human well-being.  It is a multi-scale assessment, meaning, that it involves components from local communities to global scales.

• It was launched by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan in June 2001.

• Its main goal it to meet the needs of the decision makers and the public for scientific information about the consequences of ecosystems change for human well-being and options for responding to those changes.

Sponsors:

Specifically, the project aims to:

• understand and assess the pattern of land use change within a particular NPC managed watershed and identify the key driving forces for change
• improve the existing information base on socio-economic data and bio-physical attributes of the watershed
• determine the extent and dynamics of land uses and formulate a pattern that may anticipate the changes in the watershed's landscape
• identify the priority areas needing immediate rehabilitation and suggest appropriate measures (immediate and long-term) to address the situation
• formulate a Geographic Information System (GIS)-based Land Use Monitoring Plan which shall serves as a "Mitigation and Enhance Measures", in order to prevent and/or lessen the possible and actual adverse effects of current land-uses, at the same time augment at the advantageous repercussions. This plan shall also arm a continuous and facile updating of Land Use Information/Database.

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