EMCC

Concern with a sustainable environmental future has become a central issue in the debate over development at global, regional, and local levels. This dialogue in Southeast Asia includes questions of responsibility for stewardship, preserving biodiversity, and protecting endangered habitats.  That responsibility, traditionally vested in the state, is being increasingly modified by trends toward decentralization and devolution of natural resource management, especially forest resources. These dual strategies call for achieving conservation and sustainable resource management by placing greater authority for decision-making and management in the hands of local managers, communities and stakeholders (Orlove & Brush, 1996). These principles suggest that decision-making needs to be supported by devolved responsibilities with power and authority, the social basis for collective action need to be understood, ways are needed to combine local government concerns with those of other non-formal stakeholder groups, and a comprehensive scientific data base as a foundation for informed decision-making (Mercado, 2000). 

Threats to the diverse marine and terrestrial ecosystems of the Philippine archipelago are more extensive than elsewhere in the Southeast Asia , a region rich in biodiversity. In 2002 a Philippine Stakeholder working group designated three high priority biodiversity ‘hot spots’ in the archipelago. Among these is the Eastern Mindanao Corridor, a sub-region of the Greater Mindanao Biogeographic Region. This area contains large numbers of endemics, numerous species of endangered vertebrates, and the largest remaining bloc of dipterocarp forest in the country. In 2005 the Philippine Eagle Foundation initiated a research and capacity building project designed to assess and archive these threatened biodiversity resources. The Eastern Mindanao Corridor Biodiversity Assessment and Archiving Project (EMCBAAP) seeks to build capacity to map biodiversity, set scientifically based conservation priorities, and then monitor progress in priority areas within this sub-region of the Greater Mindanao Biogeographic Region While the project’s priority study sites are on Mt. Hamiguitan, Mt. Hilong-hilong, and Mt. Puting Bato, it also aims to generate skills and information that will be used to develop a corridor-wide conservation framework for use by government and civil society working in partnership to conserve Eastern Mindanao's biodiversity.

To strengthen their capability to undertake this comprehensive biodiversity assessment, the PEF established a collaborative partnership with several local and international organizations. The University of the PhilippinesMindanao agreed to establish a geospatial documentation and GIS mapping and training center in support of the EMCBAAP. Colleagues at the Northern Mindanao Institute of Science and Technology (NORMIST) are contributing to PEF field activities and providing support for data standardization and computer-based data analysis. Finally, the Geoscience Department, University of Massachusetts (UMA) is assisting in building a computerized data archive, supporting UPM’s computer mapping capabilities, and undertaking geospatial mapping and modeling of species distribution, species habitats, and threat profiles for endangered species in each of the EMCBAAP priority areas. The original UMA Eastern Mindanao Conservation Collaborative (EMCC) focused initially on the Mt.Apo Nature Reserve has become a supporting partner in the EMCBAAP biodiversity assessment and capacity building project.