In the mountainous province of Bukidnon in the southern Philippines, local indigenous groups are being forced to adapt to the alarming impacts of climate change. With United Nations support, communities are making significant strides, using centuries-old knowledge to forge sustainable solutions.
Local tribal leader Jemuel Perino discussed the success of local initiatives, supported by the UN Development Program (UNDP) Adaption Fund Climate Change Innovation Accelerator (AFCIA), in educating his community on effective prevention and mitigation techniques to deal with the growing impacts of climate change.
“The indigenous cultural communities have their own centuries-old knowledge, systems, and practices and have kept them alive,” Perino said. “In the Philippines, the government is promoting their use in environmental protection and conservation.”
Chairman of the Council of Elders of the Bukidnon Umayamnon community, Perino has seen the impact of climate change up close. Erosion, deforestation, and biodiversity loss have emerged as key threats with devastating implications for the culture, youth, and livelihoods of his people.
“In the Philippines, most of our forest lands and headwaters fall within the ancestral domains of the various indigenous cultural communities,” he said. “There is a real need for the world to fully recognize their important contributions in conserving the environment that benefits the entire population.”
Heavy tolls
Climate change is exacting a heavy toll on Filipinos’ lives, properties, and livelihoods. Left unaddressed, it could hamper the country’s ambition of becoming an upper-middle-income country by 2040.
Many farmers have reported longer and more severe periods of drought and rainfall than previously considered normal. Floods wiped out more than a dozen houses of community members along the Pulangi River in 2012 and 2013.
“Since then, the Pulangi River has been flooding every year,” Perino said. “In 2022, the river caused so much riverbank erosion that it was widened by about 50 meters from its regular width.” UN News
(To be continued next week)