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“One of the most significant challenges of watershed governance and management is the fact that the costs and benefits are unevenly distributed, and that security over the rights is uncertain,” said Dr. Gil C. Saguiguit, Jr., Director of the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA).
“This sets the stage for potential conflict,” he said
“Policies and decisions about watersheds still tend to be viewed largely in hydrological terms and management generally remains fragmented, uncoordinated and often insensitive to the rights and well-being of people affected, especially the poor and the powerless,” Saguiguit said.
To demonstrate how cooperation and long-term collaboration among stakeholders is essential, a forum on Watershed Governance in a Context of Climate Change: Tenure and Policy Reform Processes will be held on August 6-10. It is the seventh of SEARCA's Executive Fora on Natural Resource Management.
The five-day executive forum is a collaboration between SEARCA, the Regional Community Forestry Training Center (RECOFTC) for Asia and the Pacific and the ASEAN Social Forestry Network.
It will
focus on key concepts, governance models, practical tools and techniques for
conceptualizing, designing, implementing and managing processes and
institutions for effective, equitable and ecologically sustainable use and
management of watersheds and their ecosystem goods and services.
Dr.
Doris Capistrano, Advisor, ASEAN-Swiss Partnership on Social Forestry and
Climate Change, leads the line-up of resource persons: Dr. Rex Victor O. Cruz,
Chancellor of University of the Philippines Los Baños; Dr. Antonio G.M. La
Viña, Dean of Ateneo School of Government; Dr. Herlina Hartanto, Learning and
Application Senior Manager, Indonesia Forest Program, The Nature Conservancy;
and Dr. Yurdi Yasmi, Ms. Celina Yong and Mr. Toon de Bruyn of RECOFTC.
The forum will enable participants from eight Southeast Asian countries to demonstrate understanding of the range of issues and challenges in governing watershed tenure and possible options for responding to them. It will explain the dimensions of resource-related rights, how they are often infringed, and how tenure and governance processes and mechanisms can promote equity and protect the rights of vulnerable groups.
Based on
evidence and lessons from cases around the globe, it will provide insights on
the practicalities associated with institutional and management tools and
interventions.
Senior-level
land use planners and government officials responsible for community forestry,
water, natural resources and environmental management and regulation, with a
minimum of 10 years working experience in Southeast Asia, will attend the
forum.
Board
members and leaders of watershed associations, councils and water resource
users federations as well as senior staff of civil society organizations and
corporate units actively involved in implementing or supporting the
implementation of watershed-based development strategies, management programs
and projects, are also expected.
Participants
will prepare and share issues and challenges they face in watershed management,
focusing on tenure and governance processes. The case study will form the basis
for group discussions during the forum.
They
will also develop institutional designs and governance mechanisms to address
the issues and challenges they have identified.
Sent by ScienceNewsPhilippines