Building institutional resilience in the context of climate change in Aurora, Philippines.

The role of local government units (LGUs) in disaster resilience is crucial for a hazard-prone country such as the Philippines. Although the country has its own institutional framework on disaster risk reduction, a number of issues limit LGUs' potential to perform its role. This study focused on building institutional resilience of LGUs towards building climate risk resilience in Aurora, Philippines by engaging key actors in the formulation of Local Climate Change Action Plans (LCCAP). The study adopted the shared learning process from the Climate Resilience Framework (CRF) to strengthen partnership and implement capacity building activities, aimed at developing the Climate and Disaster Risk Assessment (CDRA) and LCCAP beyond compliance. An institutional capacity assessment was administered through a survey involving 87 members of the Technical Working Group (TWG) from eight municipalities and provincial government. Institutional capacity was measured using 70 indicators representing access rights and entitlements, information flows, decision-making processes, application of new knowledge, capacity to anticipate risk, capacity to respond, as well as capacity to recover and change. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. Both Spearman Correlation and Cramer's V determined the interrelationship between socio-demographic variables and institutional characteristics. Results revealed that the LGUs performed better in risk response and management. A strong correlation between expertise and position vis-à-vis all resilient institution metrics was also observed, while gender is moderately correlated with all parameters except access rights and entitlements. Three key areas, not adequately articulated in current literature, need to be improved to enhance institutional resilience towards climate and disaster risks, namely: staffing and human resource; access to financial support from other sources; and development of knowledge management systems.

Factors Influencing Measure-based Adaptation of Rice Farmers for Slow-Onset Hazard: the Case of Saltwater Inundation in the Philippines and Vietnam.

This study sought to determine the factors influencing rice farmers' adaptation to a slow-onset hazard such as saltwater inundation. The research is based on a survey conducted through personal interviews using Kobotool App consisting of 326 coastal rice farmers in Northern Mindanao, the Philippines and 258 rice farmers in two provinces in the Mekong Delta in Vietnam. There were four levels of analyses for the assessment of the feasibility of the adaptation measures implemented by the farmers. First, it classified adaptation measures into specific categories: technology based, farm-based crop management, ecosystem-based adaptation, off-farm income diversification, and other measures. Second, it developed a multi-criteria assessment tool on adaptation measures based on stakeholder analysis and expert judgment based on four major feasibility criteria. Third, it determined the level of adaptation based on the combination of measures and the feasibility of the chosen measures by constructing a measure-based adaptation index (MAI). Finally, it came up with a model showing the factors influencing the MAI of the farmers. The results revealed that adaptation takes place at different levels in the two countries based on the diversity of measures, the feasibility of the various measures, and the varying conditions of saltwater inundation. The empirical evidence provides systematic support for the hypothesis that adaptation measures are influenced by a confluence of social, institutional, and economic factors.

People, power and timber: the politics of community-based forest management.

The potential of devolved conservation to empower people, reduce poverty and protect forest resources has yet to be realized in much of the developing world. This is particularly evident in the Philippines where the central state paradoxically recentralizes political power through devolution at the policy, program and project level in forest management. We investigate how centralized state power emanates through devolved networks to affect the success of local timber utilization involving community-based forest management (CBFM) on Mindanao Island, the southern Philippines. By examining broader shifts from centralized to devolved forest management, results suggest that centralized political power continues to control and adversely affect local uses of timber through CBFM. We discuss how in the process of state authorities recentralizing devolved rights and responsibility over timber management, community-based logging operations were threatened but sustained by members relying on community-based structures and their own capabilities. The conclusion asserts that broader state processes of devolving power over timber management remains constrained by political motives and interests and so largely fails to fulfill the objectives of community-based forest management.