Monitoring and community awareness in Cambodia and the Philippines

Forest and landscape restoration play a pivotal role in building resilience to climate change in livelihoods and ecosystems.

In Cambodia and 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 working with ICEM – International Centre for Environmental Management and World Agroforestry (ICRAF), to implement the regional technical assistance project “Investing in Climate Change Adaptation through Agroecological Landscape Restoration: A Nature- Based Solution for Climate Resilience”.

Survey of tree survival in Cambodia

In April 2023, the project team joined the Maddox Jolie-Pitt Foundation (MJP), the Forestry Administration and the Ministry of Environment (MOE) on a mission to five restoration demonstration sites in the headwaters of the Sangker River Basin, Battambang Province in Cambodia.

The mission included an assessment of newly planted seedlings, an evaluation of water supply and soil erosion at each site, and the establishment of locally managed plant nurseries. Local community members, forestry officers, rangers, and the MJP field team, collaborated with the project team in field survey and information collection.

Harnessing cutting-edge drone technology, the team employed aerial survey and field observations to assess the growth and survival of seedlings and site conditions.  Access to adequate water supply and weeds were found to be the main constraint on planting success. Hydrological patterns were studied and mapped to determine the best locations for water storage infrastructure.  Water tanks were designed, and a watering regime defined to ensure adequate supply at each restoration site during the dry season.

The assessment of plantings and management to date found a high survival rate ranging from 71% to 94% across the community forest sites. Where seedlings were lost the team noted the conditions and revised the planting plan to cover replacement of seedlings.

Restoration demonstrations in the Philippines

The project has established five demonstration sites in the Philippines in the Manupali watershed in the headwaters of the Mindanao River basin. Landcare Foundation of the Philippines (LFPI) is the project’s NGO partner working in collaboration with the project team and local communities to restore degraded sites and encourage the adoption of ecological farming techniques.

Farmers have been supported in preparing restoration plans for their land and drainage corridors, beginning by planting a diversity of tree species and crops in the demonstration sites in April. Planting materials and seedlings of native species were transported from local nurseries established by the project to the demonstration plots.

Species selection and planting regimes followed the restoration plans designed to enhance livelihoods, achieve gains in biodiversity and build resilience to climate related hazards. For instance, buffer zones along drainage corridors and on edges of agricultural plots aimed to reduce soil loss, increase local water supply, establish plant diversity and stability in production, and halt encroachment on natural forest support income diversity for farmers. Established farms aimed to promote use of native species and implement nature-based solutions and more sustainable agricultural techniques.

As of May 2023, LFPI reported the successful planting of over 2,300 seedlings in the five demonstration plots. The seedlings, all native to the region, include Kalingag or Mindanao cinnamon (Cinnamomum mercadoi), Malakawayan (Podocarpus rumphii), Benguet pine tree (Pinus kesiya), Red nato (Palaquium luzoniense), and White lauan (Shorea contorta). Additionally, fruit-bearing trees such as jackfruit, durian, avocado, coffee, and tea have been planted on some parcels as those species are known to grow best within agroforestry models.

To read more about the project, click here.