Forest Foundation Philippines’ Board of Trustees (BOT) visited its grantees’ project sites in Busuanga Island, Palawan as part of its monitoring and evaluation program. Palawan, which is dubbed as the country’s last ecological frontier, is one of the focal sites of the Foundation.
The BOT visited C3 Philippines’ project site for the Strengthening the Protection of Busuanga’s Beach and Mangrove Forests project, which aims to enhance and protect the mangrove and beach forest ecosystem of Busuanga Island. By protecting these areas, the forest-dependent and surrounding communities will continue to benefit from the vital ecosystem services that these forests provide.
They also spent time with Palamigan Co. to discuss challenges and lessons learned from the Provision of Micro-Ice Plant as an Alternative Livelihood for COVID-affected Community-based Enterprises project. In 2021, the Foundation awarded a grant to Palamigan Co. to provide an alternative source of livelihood for its ecotourism-based partners in the communities amid the pandemic. By continuing the support for livelihood in these communities, the Foundation and Palamigan Co. are optimistic that forest conservation gains will be sustained despite the lockdowns, which has significantly affected their business operations.
The BOT also met with the Community Crafts Association of the Philippines (CCAP) to talk about project updates. The Foundation awarded a grant to CCAP for the implementation of the Scaling Up Community-based Enterprise in Coron and Busuanga through Forest Conservation project, which aims to sustainably manage the local forest as a community asset contributing to resilient, forest-based enterprises.
Lastly, the BOT also visited the project site of the Calamianes Resilience Network (CRN). The Foundation and CRN are working together for the implementation of the Increasing Calamianes Resilience through Watershed Mapping and Management Planning project, which aims to increase the community’s capacity for evidence-based integrated forest and watershed management, protection, and conservation for resiliency.
The learning visit is part of the Foundation’s strategic planning process for its 2022-2026 grant program, which will be launched during the third quarter of the year.
