Effective and sustainable disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation is almost impossible to achieve without safeguarding the health of ecosystems. And in some cases, the solution to protecting a community from natural hazards lies in nature itself. Mangrove reforestation, for instance, can serve as a small-scale mitigation measure to strengthen community resilience.

Barangay Sabang is one of 11 coastal villages in Calabanga, Camarines Sur prone to storm surges and flooding. But by transforming a vast expanse of abandoned fish ponds into a lush mangrove forest, the community built a shield against hazards. This was done through the collaboration of the local government, national government agencies, civil society organizations, academic institutions, and a dedicated group of volunteers from the community, who planted more than 150,000 mangrove propagules along riverbanks and throughout the coastal areas of Calabanga.

After the rehabilitation of the mangrove forests, residents of Barangay Sabang observe that inland flooding brought by storms have become less intense compared to the ones they used to experience. The mangrove forests also help mitigate saltwater intrusion to nearby agricultural barangays; thus, preventing damage to crops.

A boom in the population of marine species was likewise noticeable, with mud crabs and a variety of fish now calling the roots of the mangroves home. The forests also serve as a sanctuary and breeding ground for freshwater species. These days, villagers say their waters teem with small fish and play host to the occasional butanding (whale shark).

In many of CARE and ACCORD’s partner communities, both urban and rural, there are individuals who stand out because they go above and beyond what is asked of them. These are our champions of resilience: people who are driven by their compassion for others, and the recognition that

resilience-building is everyone’s responsibility.

But what inspires them to take the lead in the service of their communities?

“It is my joy to see that people don’t get hurt during calamities, that nobody gets left behind,” says Mariedel Barbin, 52 years old, of Barangay Potrero, Malabon. Barbin is a housewife who was appointed barangay executive officer because of her active participation in disaster risk reduction-related seminars, meetings, and other activities. As the executive officer, she is part of the Barangay Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Committee.

Eulalio Orlandez, a community development worker from Barangay La Flora in Talacogon, Agusan del Sur, conducts trainings to bolster his community’s capacity to overcome hazards. He says, “I simply want to help. This is what fuels me.” Talacogon experiences periodical flooding and is underwater four months out of the year, usually from November to March.

In 2013, Haiyan barreled across the Philippines and left destruction and massive loss on its path. Millions of people were affected, particularly poor communities, farmers, older persons, and persons with disabilities — those most vulnerable to extreme events such as Haiyan — and many have yet to fully recover and strengthen resilience.

Barangay Bayabas in the municipality of Dagami, Leyte, was almost flattened by strong winds. Apart from houses and structures, their livelihoods were wiped out as well.

But through humanitarian actions after Haiyan, followed by development projects, Barangay Bayabas was able to bounce back. Collective action played a big role: members of the community came together to form the Bayabas Farmers Association, which today has 64 members and four

different types of farms: communal, group, individual, and an organic learning farm. Members say their products are becoming popular.

Through these collaborative efforts, Barangay Bayabas is a community on its way to achieving a protected, diversified, and strengthened livelihood.

Disability inclusion is key in building truly inclusive and resilient communities. It requires addressing barriers that prevent persons with disabilities from engaging in community life, recognizing that these members can be active partners for meaningful change, and fostering an environment that empowers them to do just that.

In Dagami, Leyte, several locals with disabilities participated in ACCORD’s resilient livelihood program and ended up playing important roles in their communities.

Roger Ubaldo, 45 years old, a stroke survivor, had no other sources of livelihood after Typhoon Haiyan destroyed coconut trees. The different trainings on farming techniques and business management; however, helped him find alternative sources of income and he was eventually chosen to become their group’s sales distributor.

Adelaida Madalena Garsilaso, 50 years old, visually impaired since childhood, did not let her disability stop her from contributing to her community and is now a beloved teacher at Barangay Camono-an’s daycare center.

With their tenacity and strength of spirit, they broke barriers for themselves and helped their villages become more sensitive to the needs of persons with disabilities and their role in resilience building.

Safe and adequate shelter is an important factor an affected community needs to recover from a disaster.

In 2013, Typhoon Haiyan wiped out homes across Barangay Macaalang in the municipality of Dagami, Leyte. Many of these houses were far from sturdy and did not stand a chance against Haiyan. But through the collective action of community members, and CARE and ACCORD’s

program equipping the community with the necessary knowledge and skills to build back better and safer, Barangay Macaalang was able to rebuild in no time.

“ACCORD advised us to group together to make the rebuilding easier. If we do it individually, it will take a long time,” says Helena Olimpo, barangay councilor. The community received shelter assistance and materials. Apart from learning about how to build back safer, they also participated in other capacity building activities such as understanding hazards and disaster risk reduction, inclusion, and community drills based on their revised contingency plan.

The “Post-Haiyan Self-Recovery Housing Program” in Leyte, Iloilo, and Aklan was one of the winners of the 2017 World Habitat Awards.

There are several assumptions about COVID-19 – how it can be spread, how it can be it be killed, among others. Apart from keeping our social distance and maintaining our health, we must also be fully informed about what COVID-19 is in order to assure that we can act and react best based on accurate facts about the virus.

Below is a set of social media cars covering myths about COVID-19.

The information featured in these designs was sourced from the World Health Organization.

The Philippines holds valuable lessons in the merging, unique practice of Integrated Risk Management (IRM) in the urban context. The MANATUTI River Basin, which is one of the primary focuses of the Partners for Resilience (PfR) project, is located in the highly urbanized National Capital Region, specifically in Quezon City, Caloocan, Malabon, Navotas, and Valenzuela (QC-CAMANAVA). The multiple jurisdictions governing the landscape and the complexity of intermingling factors present in the urban context provide a challenging arena for the practice.

The first four targets of the Sendai framework for action directly focus on the decrease of diaster mortality, affected people, economic loss, and damage to critical facilities and services. Meeting the targets is a huge task for highly-urbanized landscapes, where larger, more concentrated populations, investments, and critical facilities are exposed to higher risks. This makes all the more imperative to perfect the practice of urban IRM.

To read more about constructing IRM in urban ecosystems, click the link below to view and download the document.

Click here to view and download the complete IRM and its Complex Cities document. 

This document contains a compilation of key messages about Integrated Risk Management (IRM). It also includes a discussion of the resilience strengthening roles of local government units (LGUs), civil society, and community participation in IRM.

Among the cases featured are integrated solutions for Lake Manit, IRM for complex cities, nature-based solutions to coastal zone protection in the City of Tacloban and the Municipality of Palo, and the resilience of communities in Barangay Bayabas in Dagami, Leyte after the damage brought about by Typhoon Haiyan.

Read more about these stories by clicking on the link to the full document below.

View and Download Key Messages and Case Studies on Integrated Risk Management here.

Manila Bay is strategically located and used to facilitate commerce and trade with other neighboring countries. In its heyday, the bay was known for clean and blue water where people could fish and children could play along the shore. It also used to be filled with mangroves, thus capable of protecting the shore from big waves. Today, however, Manila Bay has become quite the opposite as it is mostly known for intense pollution and unsanitary water.

Due to the increasing population, many of the urban poor communities live in or near the coastal areas. Because these vulnerable populations have limited resources, many people cram into these areas and result to high-risk living conditions with the general housing of community made of only lightweight materials.

The Malabon-Navotas-Tullahan-Tinajeros or MANATUTI River System is one of the three river groups draining into Manila Bay. MANTUTI has been classified as a dead river and can no longer sustain forms of life which affect the quality of life of the fisherfolk near these bodies of water. They have to travel to distant waters in order to catch fish, hence increasing their expenses and reducing income. Aside from this, the communities who reside in areas, such as those by Manila Bay or its comprising river systems (usually informal settlers) are most prone to flooding, fire, storm surges, liquefactions, and earthquakes which are expected to be intensified in the next five to ten years due to climate change.

The Manila Bay Rehabilitation Program is simultaneously ongoing with the Manila Bay Sustainable Development Master Plan which is a joint effort of the Philippine government and the Netherlands Government. The latter serves as more of a guide on how future plans for Manila Bay will be carried out, however it is a mere guide that does not have the teeth to enforce its provisions. This is where Partners for Resilience (PfR) steps in. PfR aims to harmonize the process of planning, particularly since one main challenge of large areas such as Manila is that there are simply too many plans.

In Voices of Manila Bay, resilience-building efforts for not only the local government unit officials, but also of the community members themselves through joint and inclusive initiatives and platforms are featured. Through PfR, people from these communities, as well as members of the local government were given an opportunity to create consultations and discussions about their natural environment, their surroundings, their vulnerabilities, and their capacities in order to form a stronger mindset and clearer perspective on the situation. Eventually, this was able to inform the plans and decisions they made for community resilience.

Without PfR, many of the small but most vulnerable communities would not have any idea that there is an ongoing planning and development process for Manila Bay. Therefore, they would not have a chance to share their grievances, inputs, and aspirations about what they want for Manila Bay as the most affected population.

As a whole, this film aims to encourage a dialogue around the participation of communities and local stakeholders in large infrastructure development projects.

To see the full film, please watch the video below.