Healthy ecosystems provide buffers against extreme weather conditions and disasters. They also bring multiple benefits to communities residing within them, such as food, water, clean air, income, and recreation. Strengthening the ecological infrastructure of a landscape by restoring forest cover and reintroducing biodiverse vegetation and cropping plays a vital role in building resilience to climate change, increasing biodiversity, and enhancing local livelihoods.

In the Philippines, The Asian Development Bank (ADB), with support from the Government of Japan through the Japan Fund for Prosperous and Resilient Asia and the Pacific, is implementing the regional technical assistance (TA) project, Investing in Climate Change Adaptation through Agroecological Landscape Restoration: A Nature-Based Solution for Climate Resilience. In partnership with CIFOR-ICRAF (World Agroforestry ) and local partner Landcare Foundation of the Philippines, ICEM is working with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources through the River Basin Control Office to implement nature-based solutions aimed to improve the hydrology of the river basin while reducing erosion and sediment transport. The restoration interventions promote biodiversity, rehabilitate drainage corridors, strengthen the communities’ resilience to climate change, and help enhance livelihoods.

Since 2020, restoration work has been undertaken with local communities and farmer-cooperators in the Manupali watershed, which is located at the headwaters of the Mindanao River Basin.

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