Presented at the CAPRi International Workshop on Collective Action, Property Rights, and Conflict in Natural Resources Management. June 28th to July 1st, 2010, Siem Reap, Cambodia. http://www.capri.cgiar.org/wks_0610.asp

1. Conflict, Cooperation & Collective Action: land use, water rights and water scarcity in Manupali watershed, southern Philippines Caroline Duque-Piñon, Delia Catacutan, Beria Leimona, Emma Abasolo, Meine van Noordwijk and Lydia Tiongco DENR

2. Outline Introduction The Manupali watershed: land use and water balance Water conflicts Cooperation and collective actions Conclusion

3. 1. Introduction WATER – ESSENTIAL FOR HUMAN SURVIVAL Water is indispensable to livelihoods and most forms of economic production However, access to water, its allocation and use, are critical concerns that can drive conflicts

5. National level: between different sectors (e.g. farmers, industries, tourism, environmentalists, etc.) on policies affecting water management

6. Local level: between users over access to water, or people affected by projectsPolitical, socio-economic and cultural factors at each level often determine the complexity of water conflicts

7. Some local-based water conflicts in the Philippines Conflicting water use: fisheries, transport, drinking water and water sink Compensation issues for changing water allocations The Philippines Misallocation of irrigation water Angat Dam Saltwater intrusion Laguna Lake San Pablo City Batangas City Privatization of local water facility Tuburan, Cebu Cebu City Bayugan City Local violence on water at the local level are often direct conflicts, and can spill over into wider-scale conflicts

9. Survey-interviews and focus group discussions

10. Stakeholders’ analysis

11. Literature review

12. Local ecological knowledge (LEK)

13. Policy-makers ecological knowledge (PEK)

15. 60% agriculture and 40% forest

16. maximum annual rainfall 2,522 mm (1987-2005)

17. elevation 320 to 2,954 masl

18. 70% has slopes greater than 18%

19. 51,406 people (2007)The Philippines Manupali River Manupali watershed Bukidnon Province Manupali River

20. Water users in Manupali Farmers Households LGU Water Works Swine and poultry Tugasan Maagnao Kulasihan Banana companies Alanib Manupali River NIA - IAs National Power Corporation

22. Table 2- Average water balance of Alanib and Kulasihan sub-watersheds during a 12-year GenRiver simulation (MEK results)

23. RESULTS Kulasihan River during dry months CAUSES Banana plantation in Alanib village Water diversion for banana plantations

24. Fig 3- Simulated net water yield during a 12-year simulation period (1994-2005) versus volume of water rights granted (2007) in three sub-watersheds

27. 3. Water Conflicts Conflict: Stealing/cutting of water pipes from rivers Involved: Farmers VS farmers in the upper communities Conflict: Destroying small impounding reservoirs Involved: Upper farmers VS middle farmers …Issue of ‘who came first’ and ‘benefit-sharing’ between upstream and downstream users

28. Conflict: Privatization of open-access water Involved: Land owner (poultry) vs community Issue of access to springs within private lands

30. Water allocation (upstream and downstream

31. Institutional weaknesses (e.g. red tape, illegal processing of water rights applications)

32. Surreptitious water diversionInvolved: Banana companies VS NIA, banana companies VS community people DOLE-Skyland MKAVI NIA

35. Poor maintenance of canals and damsInvolved: AMSFC VS NIA AMSFC Converted to banana and corn NIA - IAs

36. Overlapping of water management regimes and uncoordinated watershed management efforts 2. LGU – Local Government Code 1. DENR – NIPAS Act 3. NCIP – IPRA Law 4. NWRB – Water Code Involved: Indigenous communities, NIA, LGU, DENR, banana companies

37. Tension between statutory and customary rights (e.g. failure to obtain pre-and-prior informed consent) Banana companies LGU Water Works Involved: Indigenous communities vs. banana companies, DENR, LGU-Lantapan and NIA DENR

38. 4. Cooperation and Collective Action Community conservation & livelihood projects 2938 IP communities Resource share HIVAC Green River Gold Ranch Income share Cawayan Village Gov’t Hilltop Coop 1500 meters above sea level Financial assistance 1100 DOLE LGU NPC MKAVI 600 Reforestation & livelihood projects Irrigation service fee Irrigation service fee 320 AMSFC ManRIS Water users

39. (1)Collective action through cooperative agreements can mitigate hostile confrontations between multiple resource users !!! These agreements are only short-term solutions and do not address the root cause of water scarcity Key messages (2)Evolution of cooperation and collective actions between water users because of mutual recognition of value and scarcity of water, and existence of social capital and legal basis for voluntary agreements !!! However, cooperation does not emerge easily with self-interest

41. 5. Conclusion (1) Shared understanding on the link between water balance and land use patterns is important in unpacking complex issues on water (2)Voluntary agreements are important short-term solutions to resolve immediate water rights conflicts (3) Land use policies and incentives for sustainable land use are inevitable for the long-term solution of water scarcity (4) Despite relative vagueness of policies, they provide legal bases for the emergence of voluntary agreements (5)Therefore, coordinated cooperation among all users is important to foster watershed-level collective action

42. Acknowledgement RHA team members Dennis Ferrera, Johnny Mancawan, CelsoPillerin and Carlos Sioquim for generating the data used in this study, and CecilleEgnar for coordinating the Bukidnon-TULSEA project.