A Sustainable Revival: Leyte After Yolanda

A SUSTAINABLE REVIVAL: LEYTE AFTER YOLANDA AN EXPLORATORY REPORT ON REGIONAL STANDARDS, A NEIGHBORHOOD TOOLKIT & STRATEGIES FOR ENVIRONMENTAL SITE ASSESSMENT

Prepared for Kusog Tacloban Palo, Leyte, Philippines

Trevor R. Buckley & Marie Macchiarolo The Conway School June 2014

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The Conway Team would like to thank the following individuals for their generous input and support in developing this report:

The numerous friends, families, alums, and other supporters who generously contributed to the Conway team’s fundraising campaign, without which the trip to Leyte would not have been possible.

The founders and volunteers of Kusog Tacloban who provided support individually and collectively, both remotely and during the Conway team’s time in Leyte.

Finally, innumerable thanks to the Conway School faculty, staff and classmates for their continued guidance, patience, and support.

The residents and barangay officials in Candahug, Palo who worked with the Conway team to test the draft process and neighborhood environmental assessment toolkit.

Salamat!

The staff of GIZ and the municipal officials and staff in Barugo, Javier, Palo, and Tanauan who provided unique perspectives on land use planning and disaster risk management, and critiques of the Conway team’s draft materials.

Storm surg e zone

ed tect Pro roves ng Ma

Proposed evacuatio n center

CONTENTS PREFACE....................................................................................................................................................2 I. INTRODUCTION...................................................................................................................................6 The Storm: Super Typhoon Yolanda.....................................................................................................6 Giving Strength to Tacloban..................................................................................................................6 The Project & the Contents of the Report..............................................................................................7 II. BACKGROUND & KEY FINDINGS...............................................................................................10 Focus Area & Target Municipalities.....................................................................................................10 Environmental Structure of the Region & Key Drivers of Landscape Change...................................11 Land Use Planning & Disaster Risk Management: Strengths & Gaps...............................................14 Typhoon Yolanda: An Unnatural Calamity, Poor Planning & an Opportunity to Build Back Better....15 Toward Integrated Planning & Community Input: Case Studies of Success in the Philippines........19 Central Themes to Guide the Project...................................................................................................23

III. DRAFT ENVIRONMENTAL STANDARDS...............................................................................25 IV. DRAFT NEIGHBORHOOD TOOLKIT........................................................................................31 Introduction to the Toolkit Concept.....................................................................................................31 Toolkit Components & Strategies.........................................................................................................31 Environmental & Hazard Risk Education.............................................................................................32 Participatory Planning..........................................................................................................................40

V. NEXT STEPS & RECOMMENDATIONS...................................................................................54 Next Steps: Recommendations for Kusog Tacloban & Its Partners....................................................48 Final Thoughts.....................................................................................................................................49

WORKS CITED.......................................................................................................................................50 APPENDICES.........................................................................................................................................52 Appendix A: Kusog Tacloban’s Standards & Criteria for Post-Yolanda Rebuilding & Revival...........52 Appendix B: Reference Sheets............................................................................................................54 Appendix C: Hazard Maps..................................................................................................................57 Appendix D: Scorecard & Questionnaire.............................................................................................66 A SUSTAINABLE REVIVAL: LEYTE AFTER YOLANDA

ACRONYMS BDC

Barangay Development Council

BDP

Barangay Development Plan

CLUP

Comprehensive Land Use Plan

DENR

Department of Environment and Natural Resources

DRR

Disaster Risk Reduction

DRRM

Disaster Risk Reduction and Management

GIZ

German Enterprise for International Cooperation

LCDRRMP

Local Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Plan

LGC

Local Government Code

MGB

Mines and Geosciences Bureau

MPDO

Municipal Planning and Development Officer

NDRRMP

National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Plan

NAMRIA

National Mapping and Resource Information Authority

PAGASA

Philippines Atmospheric, Geophysical, and Astronomical Services Administration

PHIVOLCS

Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology

SIMPLE

Sustainable Integrated Management and Planning for Local Government Ecosystems

CONTENTS & ACRONYMS

SECTION HEADER Subheader body. body.

A SUSTAINABLE REVIVAL: LEYTE AFTER YOLANDA — AN EXPLORATORY REPORT

PREFACE Resilience in Barangay Candahug: The Sea & Survival “Kun oras mo na, oras mo na. If it’s your time, it’s your time.” Describing their fate as a coastal fishing community, where the possibility of a tsunami or typhoon hovers on the horizon, the residents of Barangay Candahug invoke this adage of the Waray people. Accustomed to hazards and anchored by an abiding faith in God, the community has not succumbed to the despair that might have descended after a catastrophic typhoon devastated the community just eight months ago. Candahug is still reeling from the impact of Super Typhoon Yolanda; the community lost 150 of some 1,200 people, mostly to storm surge, and virtually every home.

Those who died were disproportionately men, leaving many women widows. The neighborhood, however, bustles with reconstruction activity now, and residents speak energetically of new projects. Simultaneously, they speak with a sense of humor about the risks to which their community is exposed. Come what may, they believe this community will survive and maintain its rootedness in the land, its ties to the sea, and its qualities of adaptability and buoyancy in the face of adversity.

events that may result from rising sea levels and warming waters in the West Pacific Basin during an era of accelerating climate change (Normile). Residents are aware of rising seas and note the disappearance of the beach beyond the stone sea wall that is now battered and crumbling away. Powerful political forces are also at play. Government authorities have issued a forty-meter no-build zone along the coast, and Candahug residents say that they have been slated by the municipality for permanent relocation, at some date yet to be determined­—probably in fifteen years time, some joke.

The possibility of relocation causes many to remember

This attitude, however, belies the fear that the community also openly shares, a fear of the uncertainty of when and how quickly change may come. Typhoon Yolanda is perhaps, as is said across Leyte, “the new normal,” an example of the trend toward increasingly hazardous storm Left page, at top and clockwise: homes in Barangay Candahug tucked behind the nipa palms and what remains of the coconut palms and other trees; residents meet with the team from the Conway School and volunteers from Kusog Tacloban to study neighborhood maps; the sea wall is crumbling both from Yolanda and from an encroaching coastline.

Top right: A row of new homes, built since Yolanda, on the edge of the village, next to rice fields.

Bottom right: A “No Build Zone Area” demarcating a set-back from the sea. Such a buffer could protect human settlements. How will the communities that are affected by these decisions and possible relocation be involved in such decisions?

Photos by authors

Preface

1

Preface another forced move, when, in 1976, the entire community was relocated a kilometer away from its former home, as the government embarked on construction of a large complex for provincial and national offices.

Conscious of their limited financial and political resources, residents are afraid of the unknown. If they are moved, “where will we go?” and “where will the jobs be?” they ponder. The situation of Candahug raises the question of how a barangay can make important decisions about rebuilding and rehabilitation when its limited resources and disenfranchisement compound its geographic vulnerability.

all stages of post-Yolanda rehabilitation work. This emphasis stems from a core belief in a just sustainability that respects the dignity and involvement of those affected by the recovery projects and development. Kusog Tacloban is at work on a set of standards for an ecological and socially sustainable future that will guide how projects can “build back better” after Yolanda. It wants residents to understand and use those standards to assess redevelopment, including that undertaken by communities themselves. This kind of community involvement requires a process, tools, and facilitation.

Kusog Tacloban and its partners would like to provide Who will make such decisions about rebuilding and revival guidance in this arena to Candahug and Leyte Province’s of a devastated region, and how will they go about that other communities. In a state of both uncertainty and a process? Much of the attention in the wake of this disaster pressing need to move forward, however, communities has focused on bold moves by politicians and rapid like Candahug will need to draw on their most immediate redevelopment activity. The government’s forty-meter noresources, the assets of the community. This neighborhood build policy has been criticized as arbitrary and potentially capital includes local knowledge about the community’s exploitative, driving vulnerable populations away and hazards and environmental conditions, knowledge that opening land up for commercial development. A group can enrich the available pool of information where other of leading scientists has called for a 100-meter coastal data does not yet exist. Drawing on outside resources greenbelt to assist in ecological restoration of mangroves paired with their own collective wisdom, and willing to and other natural coastal buffers (Luces; Primavera et al.). explore participatory planning, the residents and leaders of Though ecologically based, how does this recommendation Candahug can strengthen the community’s ability to make differ in its sweeping proclamation of what constitutes sound its own choices, voice its concerns, and chart its course policy? Who is explaining such ideas and decision-making for survival by the sea. Endeavoring towards a sustainable processes to the communities who will be impacted? Are revival, Kusog Tacloban is embarking on a project to develop some community members such as Candahug’s fisherfolk the standards by which those rebuilding communities and interested in leaving seaside neighborhoods? Do they have the communities themselves can make sound choices. a solid understanding of the relative risks between relocation options and staying put? How will they Looking over Candahug and hold the players in redevelopment east towards the San Pedro and San Pablo Bay accountable for their actions, and play a role in informed land use decisions now and into the future?

MacArthur Landing The non-profit organization Kusog

Sea wall Monument Tacloban believes in the power and importance of making information and processes accessible to all Residential residents and in engaging them in neighborhood Candahug faces the seas. The residential areas are on the left side of the aerial photo and were completely inundated during Yolanda. The government center on the right side was mostly spared by the surge, and now houses temporary shelter and relief depots.

Photo from Google Earth/Panaramio

2

Government Center nda Yola g Appr n uri oximat ge d e extent of t he storm sur

A SUSTAINABLE REVIVAL: LEYTE AFTER YOLANDA — AN EXPLORATORY REPORT

Maps at right and below: Candahug is located in Palo, Leyte Province. Kusog Tacloban has provided relief services to the community and selected it as the pilot community for development of environmental standards and a neighborhood toolkit. Bottom images, left to right: the chapel in Candahug, a center of community activity; looking across a rice field to a band of nipa palms, with a portion of Candahug’s residences in the background—in the far back, the devastated police station; the MacArthur Landing Monument, a national park and World War II memorial that is a local attraction for tourists. Top maps by authors (using an ESRI base layer); bottom map from OpenStreetMaps

TACLOBAN

Candahug

PALO

(standard layer); photos by authors

Preface

3

SECTION HEADER Subheader body. body.

TYP HO ON

4

HA IYA N/Y OLA NDA TRAC K

A SUSTAINABLE REVIVAL: LEYTE AFTER YOLANDA — AN EXPLORATORY REPORT

I. INTRODUCTION The Storm: Super Typhoon Yolanda In November 2013, the strongest tropical storm on record ever to make landfall struck the Philippines, affecting millions. Typhoon Yolanda (International Code Name: Haiyan) killed over 6,200 people, left an additional 1,800 missing, and destroyed over 500,000 homes (NDRRMC, USAID).

Communities along the east side of Leyte Island arguably bore the greatest brunt of the storm. In Tacloban City, Leyte Province’s capital and regional hub, and in towns to the south, storm surges of over five meters swept ashore, over a kilometer inland in some places (as mapped with Project NOAH storm surge model). The storm surge claimed the lives of many who stayed to watch over their property, and, tragically, many who evacuated to centers located within the inundation zone. Eight months after the storm, relief efforts remain underway, but recovery and long-term rehabilitation of the region are in the works. There is an omnipresent mantra of “Building Back Better” among those involved in these efforts. In spite of Yolanda’s terrible consequences, the aftermath of the storm affords an opportunity to design and plan for greater resilience—both in the physical infrastructure and construction of communities, and in the capacity of local governments and residents to tackle rebuilding through more environmentally informed development.

Giving Strength to Tacloban Kusog Tacloban (Giving Strength Tacloban) is a Philippine non-profit that was established to provide relief aid to Tacloban, neighboring municipalities, and other communities on Leyte and Samar islands after Yolanda. Its volunteer projects and aid distributions in the eight months since the storm have included roof tarping, mobile soup kitchens, psychosocial services, medical missions, and clothing donations, among others.

Kusog Tacloban’s aim is to serve communities where help is needed the most, using a transparent, methodical approach. The organization’s founders drew up an initial audit strategy of standards and criteria for use in assessing the appropriateness of projects and the fair and equitable distribution of aid, its own and that of other organizations.

The standards are framed around five broad questions that should be applied to a project during rebuilding and revival: •

Does it purposefully engage an informed community?

•

Does it serve the people/communities it should benefit?

Kusog Tacloban organized services for some of the worst hit communities, such as psychosocial services for children (top) and tarping for homes with damaged or missing roofs (bottom).

Courtesy of Kusog Tacloban

Left page, at top and clockwise: Super Typhoon Yolanda churns in the Western Pacific Ocean in the days prior to making landfall near Tolosa, Leyte Island in the Philippines; the storm surge, as well as catastrophic winds, wrecked communities and destroyed over 500,000 homes.

Photos from NASA (top) and by Daryll Delgado (bottom left), map by authors (PhilGIS Clearinghouse data for political boundaries and bathymetry).

I. Introduction

5

I. Introduction •

Is it the right project? Does it “build back better”?

•

Does it maximize money and materials? (Does it ensure that money and materials are not wasted or diverted to other purposes?)

•

At project completion and beyond: does the project achieve its intended result? Is it set up to succeed?

Kusog Tacloban intends to distribute the standards and criteria to other organizations; the BDO Foundation, Inc. and the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) have discussed application of these standards to their work. (See Appendix A for the full “Standards and Criteria for PostYolanda Rebuilding and Revival.”)

Kusog’s standards stress the ethical dimensions and longterm sustainability of projects. The organization is seeking to develop more specific standards in different focal areas. For example, Kusog Tacloban has engaged the University of the Philippines in discussion about architectural and engineering standards for more resilient structures and infrastructure.

Kusog Tacloban identified the need for more ecologically sound assessment to be used in the planning process and development post-Yolanda, and thus sought a set of environmental standards. Lacking expertise in field among their founders and volunteers, Kusog Tacloban engaged the Conway School (Massachusetts, U.S.) graduate program

in sustainable landscape planning and design to draft a strategy for developing such standards.

The organization intends for its standards, including the environmental set, to reach a wide audience including residents and local officials, especially at the barangay or neighborhood level. Thus, the standards and associated tools must be written, illustrated, and delivered in an accessible and non-technical fashion. Communities should be able to self-audit, and this kind of product should assist them in doing so. In the case of environmental assessments, a neighborhood toolkit should integrate the standards and other tools in a practical, approachable format

The Project & the Contents of the Report Kusog Tacloban has identified a basic process for creating standards whereby drafts are tested in communities and the feedback is used to refine the product. After repeating this process in multiple communities, the product will be ready for distribution. The Conway team worked with Kusog Tacloban on creating a draft process and strategy for the specific work of developing the environmental standards and toolkit; this is detailed in the table below. This report details the findings of the Conway team, including both research conducted remotely in the United States and in interaction with local officials, municipal employees, and residents

A Draft Process and Strategy for Creating Regional Standards & A Neighborhood Toolkit for Environmental Assessment

6

Step

Activities

Current Progress – June 2014

1. Determine key environmental factors and create products for conveying the information.

Explain, map, and illustrate regional environmental conditions and hazards with new and available educational materials.

2. Devise standards and associated tools for making environmental assessments of development projects and land use decisions.

Generate regional environmental standards and criteria, and more directed questionnaires, checklists, score cards, decision trees, etc.

Some materials have been drafted at each step in Steps 1-3. This report explains how the different materials fit together into a neighborhood toolkit. A comprehensive product, however, has not been assembled.

3. Create a neighborhood toolkit that incorporates the standards and associated tools.

Integrate educational materials and hazard risk maps with questionnaires and other tools.

4. Test and refine the standards and toolkit using community feedback and ground truthing.

Meet with local officials and residents to share, discuss, and work with draft materials (on the ground in Leyte).

Draft materials were shared with officials and staff in four municipalities, and with barangay officials and residents of Barangay Candahug in municipality of Palo.

5. Strive for standards and a toolkit that are replicable and can be used in communities across Leyte.

Incorporate feedback from multiple communities.

Keep the guide adaptable to local conditions, and simple, non-technical, and accessible for nonexperts.

This goal has been kept in mind during generation of all draft materials. A replicable guide will require several rounds of Step 4.

A SUSTAINABLE REVIVAL: LEYTE AFTER YOLANDA — AN EXPLORATORY REPORT

during a ten-day trip to Leyte Province in June 2014. (This trip is documented in a blog at www.conwayinleyte2014. blogspot.com). This is an exploratory report, documenting the progress made thus far in testing the process and strategy, and in drafting standards and a toolkit. The figure below shows where Conway’s involvement falls within the scheme of the larger, long-term project of completing the standards and toolkit. Further exploration of a process and strategy, beyond what this report includes, is needed.

•

Draft Neighborhood Toolkit explains the two major components of a draft strategy for equipping neighborhoods to conduct environmental assessment: education and participatory planning.

Various media and approaches in these disciplines are explored, including the draft materials and processes that the Conway team generated in Spring 2014. The feedback/critique that the team received on these draft materials and processes, and the initial revisions that have been made, are included.

•

Next Steps & Recommendations offers guidance for continued exploration of the draft process and strategy and refining of the draft standards and toolkit with an eye towards the implementation phase of this project. The conclusion includes thoughts on Kusog Tacloban and its partners’ potential role in eventually delivering these products to communities across Leyte.

This report includes four sections: •

Background and Key Findings identifies the environmental structure and key drivers of landscape change on Leyte; discusses the integration of land use planning and disaster risk management in the Philippines; introduces two important case studies of integrated approaches to planning with community involvement; and describes the major themes for Kusog Tacloban’s goal of creating standards and a toolkit.

•

Draft Environmental Standards introduces the standards that the Conway team generated in Spring 2014. In their current form, these standards comprise broad and more detailed questions meant to be applied to development projects and land use decisions. Specific positive and negative examples are used to illustrate the ecological design principles embodied in the questions.

These questions and examples are sorted under the major questions posed in Kusog Tacloban’s current “Standards for Post-Yolanda Rebuilding and Revival” (listed above on pages 5 and 6).

The Project: Development of Environmental Standards & A Neighborhood Toolkit for Leyte

Future Projects Potential sponsors: Kusog Tacloban & Partner Organizations

Sponsor: Kusog Tacloban This Report Project Concept

Exploratory Phase: Draft Process & Strategy

Implementation Phase: Systematic Process & Strategy

Working with Pilot Community(ies)

Working with Multiple Target Communities

Final Product

Delivery of Standards to Neighborhoods Replication & Distribution Across Leyte

April–June 2014

I. Introduction

7

SECTION HEADER Carigara Bay Subheader body.

BARUGO Population: 31,100 Fourth class municipality TACLOBAN Population: 221,000 Highly urbanized city

body.

Barangay Candahug PALO Population: 68,000 Second class municipality

San Pedro & San Pablo Bay

TANAUAN Population: 52,000 Third class municipality

Ormoc Mount Lobi

Ormoc Bay

Mahagnao Volcano Currently listed by PHIVOLCS as inactive, but the agency has mapped areas at risk to lahars (see page 58).

The population sizes are approximate, based on 2013 figures, which may not include deaths as a result of Yolanda.

The administrative class denotes budget size and funding from the national government.

8

JAVIER Population: 26,300 Fourth class municipality

A SUSTAINABLE REVIVAL: LEYTE AFTER YOLANDA — AN EXPLORATORY REPORT

Leyte Gulf

II. BACKGROUND & KEY FINDINGS Focus Area & Target Municipalities Kusog Tacloban chose four target municipalities for the Conway team’s work to constitute a group of communities representative of the range of conditions and needs in Leyte.

Because most of Kusog Tacloban’s work to this point has focused on communities in northeast Leyte Province, those communities are the focus of this report.

The four target municipalities, highlighted in the map at left, that were consulted on the project and that the Conway team visited in June 2014 are: •

Barugo

•

Javier

•

Palo (in which Barangay Candahug is located)

Leyte Province (on Leyte Island) is in the Eastern Visayas Region (administrative Region VIII), located in the middle of the Philippine archipelago. Tacloban is the provincial capital.

•

Tanauan

Barugo: Mangroves border the densely settled downtown, buffering the district from the waters of the Carigara Bay. Here, fishermen’s boats lie on the mud flats at low tide.

Yolanda largely spared the town.

Javier: The municipality spans from the mountains to the coast.

According to municipal staff, Yolanda felled 40 to 50% of its coconut trees. Here, rice fields lie within an agricultural reserve overlay district, in which construction is restricted.

Palo: This coastal town, home to many government offices, suffered from devastating winds and storm surge during Yolanda.

A triage center still sits outside of the municipal hall.

Tanauan: The municipality has aggressively pursued rapid redevelopment post-Yolanda, including these new permanent homes that resettle coastal communities 1.5 kilometers inland.

Photos by the authors

II. Background & key findings

9

II. Background & key findings All of these communities share the same basic environmental structure, climate, and types of hazards. The level of risk from specific hazards varies, however, as well as the population and population density across the landscape.

Each community was affected by Yolanda, but in different ways for a number of reasons, including location relative to storm track, physical infrastructure, economic activity, land use policies, and the disaster risk management program of each municipality.

Environmental Structure of the Region & Key Drivers of Landscape Change An understanding of the region’s fundamental environmental structure and key drivers of landscape change is essential for ecologically sound land use planning and disaster risk management. Natural processes and human activity from the ridge to reef shape the landscape. The environmental conditions and hazards that define each community will differ based on location and the scale at which planning is being conducted. Some municipalities in Leyte span from mountain to the sea, while others are located entirely within coastal plains. Even smaller, barangays—the target level of governance for this project—may be characterized by a relatively homogeneous environmental quality (e.g., all forested upland or all urbanized lowland). What is of common concern, however, is the fundamental reality that what takes place upslope and upstream in watersheds impacts the landscape downslope and downstream, and processes acting out on land will impact coastal resources on which so many in Leyte depend for their livelihoods. A general awareness of and appreciation for the interconnectivity of all ecosystems, land uses, and hazards should underlie planning efforts.

•

Agricultural and urbanized coastal zones

•

Mangrove complex (mangroves and nipa palms)

•

Reefs and the sea

This basic framework is based on what is popularly known as ridge to reef planning (used in GIZ’s SIMPLE planning process–see page 18), and on mapping completed in GIS with the available data.

This landscape is dynamic and several key drivers affect landscape change on Leyte, including: •

Natural hazards, such as landslides, earthquakes, floods, and tropical storms

•

Human activity, such as deforestation (in both upland areas and in coastal mangrove belts), urbanization along the coastline, and pollution of coastal waters and resources

•

Climate change, in which global human activity has produced “natural hazards” that manifest themselves locally through higher temperatures, sea level rise and increased tropical storm activity

Hazards create disasters when human settlement converges with areas of risk, and the severity of a disaster is determined by the vulnerability and coping ability of a population living at risk (see figure below). Human activities can exacerbate the risks, by compromising natural systems’ ability to lessen the effect that hazards can have on the landscape and the degree to which they impact human settlement.

Across the Island from Ridge to Reef Leyte Island is a part of the Philippine volcanic archipelago. Two mountain chains run along the western and northeastern sides of the island, between which spans a broad valley used for agriculture (see page 11). A conceptual cross-section of the island from the mountains to the coast (see page 11) includes several major environments:

10

•

Moist forested uplands

•

Agricultural uplands

•

Agricultural and urbanized lowlands

Hazard risks to human communities are determined by a community’s: • Capacities • Exposure • Vulnerabilities

Human & Environmental Disasters

Natural Hazards Human activities exacerbate risks, including: • Upland and coastal deforestation that increase flood and landslide susceptibility • Poorly planned development patterns that expose people to greater risk.

A SUSTAINABLE REVIVAL: LEYTE AFTER YOLANDA — AN EXPLORATORY REPORT

Right: a simplified map of major environments; below: a conceptual cross-section of the major environments, from the ridge to the reef.

Photos by the author

Moist forested uplands

Agricultural uplands

es grov

Man

es grov Man

Summary of Limitations on Available Data Some NGOs and many municipal officials recognize the limitations of the currently available data and mapping of land use/land cover and hazard risks. Most of the government-issued maps are at a regional scale (1:150,000 to 1:50,000) and therefore inadequate for accurate municipal level planning, let alone planning at a barangay level, beyond establishing broad patterns. During Yolanda, the

Carigara Bay

ds an wl l Lo ura ult ds ric lan Ag Up al ur ult ds r ic plan Ag ed U rest st Fo Moi

The illustrations on pages 11 and 12 depict the spatial relationship between environmental conditions, human activity, and hazards in this regional landscape. A general map of patterns of key drivers, including natural hazards and human activity is shown on page 12. Maps of hazard risks are discussed in more detail in Section IV, “Draft Neighborhood Toolkit� (pages 34 to 35), and full versions of draft maps are available in Appendix C.

Ormoc Bay

Based on land cover data from the PhilGIS Clearinghouse (philgis.org).

Data may be outdated or incomplete. This map is conceptual in nature.

Agricultural and urbanized lowlands

Leyte Gulf

Mangrove complex

Reef and sea

II. Background & key findings

11

II. Background & key findings

La

nd

e grov Man restation defo

sli

de

s

Ce te Ley al ntr

Rapid urbanization

lt Fau

s es ke ua slid hq ud art s, m ee ide rat dsl de lan mo n,

tio sta

e for De

Typhoons

Ormoc Bay

Liquefacti on, st orm surge, tsunami

Right: a simplified map of Leyte showing the location or occurrence of major hazards or human activity; Bottom: a conceptual cross-section showing the location of various hazards across the landscape and their interaction with certain human activities

Carigara Bay

available maps for storm surge (showing surges up to four meters), published by PAGASA (the Philippine national weather agency) proved inadequate for both the warnings that PAGASA issued (seven meter surges) and what actually occurred (five meters). Some of the data, for land use and land cover for instance, is also out-of-date, even more so in the wake of Yolanda which felled millions of trees, among others impacts. While the Mines & Geosciences Bureau has begun work on 1:10,000 scale maps for flooding and rain-induced landslide susceptibility, the production of other maps and new models for hazards, such as storm surge, is unknown at this time. The limitations of these maps and data are explored more in Section IV, “Draft Neighborhood Toolkit.” As is discussed later on in the report, community mapping exercises may play a role in filling gaps in local data.

Leyte Gulf

deforestation in the uplands active volcano

rapid urbanization

deforestation of mangroves

lahars landslides Areas of least risk/ preferred evacuation zones

12

river floods

storm surge liquefaction tsunami

A SUSTAINABLE REVIVAL: LEYTE AFTER YOLANDA — AN EXPLORATORY REPORT

pollution of coastal waters

Livelihoods and Changing Land Use Confirming original assumptions, the Conway team repeatedly received feedback during the trip to Leyte that discussion of the environment must address people’s livelihoods, for several reasons. For one, basic needs, including the need to make a living from the land’s resources, can take priority over concern for the environment. Environmental assessment and standards for ecological sound design must be linked to livelihoods. Secondly, Yolanda impacted livelihoods tremendously in many ways, through damage to property and the storm’s alteration of the landscape (over 30 million coconut palms, a major commodity, are estimated to have been lost [USAID]). These losses, as well as the ongoing and potential resettlement of communities, could likely affect the ability of many residents to carry on their livelihoods. This will almost certainly have some long-term impacts on land use, and the standards that Kusog Tacloban hopes to develop should include guidance that addresses challenges related to land use and sustainable livelihoods.

Some post-Yolanda changes may be for the better, economically. The Conway team learned of the recent spread of mechanized rice production in Tanauan, which is expected to raise yields, and officials in Javier are exploring innovative farming techniques such as interplanting coconut palms with coffee and cacao, after the town lost an estimated 40 to 50% of its coconut trees. Such projects should undergo an environmental assessment, especially as they may eventually be implemented on a large scale. Will these practices improve the environmental impact of agriculture, or have negative effects? How can the stewardship of resources be embedded into the standards and associated tools in a way that will support the agricultural lands and coastal resources on which so many residents on Leyte depend for their livelihood?

Land Use Planning & Disaster Risk Management: Strengths & Gaps If human activity and land use choices can either impair or maintain ecosystems’ ability to reduce hazard risks or to lessen the impact of an impending disaster, then disaster risk management should be integrated into land use planning. This puts priority on planning policies that prevent disasters in the first place. Residents need to be engaged in planning discussions as the requirements of

Fishermen take off in their outrigger boats from the municipal pier in downtown Carigara.

Photo by the authors

Rice paddies in Javier. Rice or palay is a major agricultural commodity of Leyte, located mostly in the lowlands.

Photo by the authors

their livelihoods, especially those that are tied to the land and sea, need to be met without impairing ecosystems and their vital functions. Kusog Tacloban would like to see this level of engagement at the barangay/neighborhood level. There is an existing governmental framework in place in which neighborhood participatory planning can and should play a role (see below), especially as there are existing programs that support this and examples to draw on (see case studies, pages 18 to 22). There are gaps in the current operation of

II. Background & key findings

13

II. Background & key findings the governmental system, however, as this section explains, which gives impetus to the creation of a neighborhood toolkit that barangays can also use to work independently of the government hierarchy when necessary.

Responsibility at the Local Level The Philippines’ Local Government Code (LGC) places significant responsibility on local governments for planning, the regulation of environmental plans, and disaster risk management (particularly for preparation and response). From the provincial down to the barangay level, Development Plans and Local Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Plans (LDRRMPs) are mandated by national law. The Comprehensive Land Use Plan (CLUP) and Zoning Ordinance, however, are established at a municipal level where there is typically a planning and development staff to write these documents and guide activities at the barangay level. The hierarchy of local government units is shown in the figure below The major instrument of barangay involvement in this municipal planning process is the Barangay Development Plan (BDP), which is developed by the Barangay Development Council (BDC). The BDC comprises the full Sanggunian Barangay (Barangay Council or assembly), plus a representative of the local congressman and a minimum of 25% civil society representation in order to include the voice of the community in the creation of the document (though the civil society members are appointed by the barangay captain/chairman). The BDC is also responsible for coordinating disaster risk reduction and management planning.

Philippines Local Government Units (Manasan 2 qtd. in Yilmaz and Venugopal 229)

Provinces

Municipalities

Component Cities

Barangays

Barangays

Highly Urbanized Cities

Barangays

This report focuses on what work is done at the barangay-level (highlighted in red).

14

Typhoon Yolanda: An Unnatural Calamity, Poor Planning, & an Opportunity to Build Back Better The Philippines on the whole is no stranger to disaster.

In 2012, the U.N. ranked the archipelago nation the third most disaster-prone country in the world; on average, ten-thousand people die each year as a result of natural disasters (out of a national population nearing 100 million) (Mucke 9; UNISDR). The national government has made great strides in recent years to strengthen disaster mitigation by shifting emphasis from reactive response to a regulatory framework striving to reduce disaster risk. In spite of these changes, the quality of available data and assessments from national authorities and the flow of that information to local governments is wanting. Yolanda made this problem evident, when the lack of communication and coordination between various levels of governance plagued the preparations for the storm and immediate response and relief efforts.

Disaster Risk Management Framework The current National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Plan (NDRRMP), enacted in 2012, comprises four “distinct and mutually reinforcing” thematic areas (Alejandro), as shown in the figure on page 15. The plan requires the creation of the LDRRMP, which should include land use planning that prevents and mitigates disasters (Alejandro). National scientific institutions and other agencies are supposed to supply information and resources from risk mapping and models to early warnings. The whole system is supposed to work as one of close coordination between the various levels of government.

Kusog Tacloban’s standards and associated tools for rebuilding and recovery that “builds back better” span the needs for rehabilitation and recovery and that of prevention and mitigation.

(Some site assessment needs that have arisen during this exploratory phase of the project, such as those for evacuation routes and evacuation centers, also fall into disaster preparedness.)

Based on the NDRRMP and associated law, the general trends in DRRM that the Conway Team has found in its research, and the findings of the case studies included in this section, the standards should emphasize integrating planning and DRRM, and how barangay officials and residents can participate in these activities at the neighborhood level.

A SUSTAINABLE REVIVAL: LEYTE AFTER YOLANDA — AN EXPLORATORY REPORT

A Fragmented System & the Problems that Yolanda Made Evident

The bottom figure below illustrates how these systemic problems impacted the flow of information and coordination through the system and thus the capacity of local government to prepare and respond. This report does not examine how this inefficient and faulty system affects

Yolanda was a storm of monstrous proportions. Still, the scale of its wrath stems from long-term and systemic problems, political, economic, and social, all of which have taken a toll National Disaster Risk Reduction and Mangement Plan (NDRRMP) on the region’s environment—as Enacted in 2012, as mandated under Republic Act 10121 (2010) has occurred all over the Philippines in the second half of the twentieth century. The rapid urbanization Discussion about evacuation of areas near Tacloban in recent centers and routes falls under preparedness decades, the rise of informal Prevention and Mitigation Preparedness settlements along the coast, and the deforestation of coastal mangrove forests have been Project Disaster “Building fueled by long-standing policies Four Thematic Areas Scope Occurs Back Better” and politics. These perpetual problems, combined with the faulty preparations and lack of knowledge Rehabilitation & Recovery Response preceding Yolanda, all conspired to create an epic disaster.

This diagram represents the authors’ interpretation of the cyclic nature of DRRM as applied to the Philippines’ framework and four thematic focal areas.

Source of Disruption to the Disaster Management Framework NATIONAL GOVERNMENT ROLE •

LIMITATIONS

LOCAL GOVERNMENT ROLE

Strong but only recently implemented regulatory framework for DRRM

•

Political dysfunction

•

Patronage/corruption

•

Change from reactive to proactive stance

•

Lack of accountability

• •

Multiple scientific institutions tasked with educating the public and disseminating information on the environment and hazard risks

Rapid urbanization, especially in coastal areas

Information & Coordination

•

•

Tasked with land use and development planning

•

Disaster management (all areas, but especially preparation and response)

•

Citizen preparation for disasters

Persistent poverty

The basic governmental hierarchy of the Philippines, with the barangay highlighted. For simplicity’s sake, municipalities in this Fragmentation Information & Coordination document refers to municipalities, component cities, and highly urbanized cities.

II. Background & key findings

15

II. Background & key findings planning processes, but the problems that arose out of Yolanda seem to stem from dysfunction on multiple levels of governance and a disconnect between important information and the local government and residents who needed it.

That disconnect will, if ignored, continue to plague effective planning for sound land use and disaster management.

What Happened During Yolanda? What Can Be Done?

Storm surge is coastal flooding caused by high winds and low atmospheric pressure. Typhoon Yolanda’s storm surge varied across the region that Yolanda impacted, but was worse near the northeastern portion of Leyte Island toward the San Jaunico Strait. The storm’s strength combined with high tides at the time of landfall and perpendicular wind direction against the shore near Tacloban City combined to bring five meter and higher waves ashore, inundating a broad swatch from Tacloban south, including Barangay Candahug (see imagery on page 17).

Why was Yolanda’s storm surge so deadly? Multiple factors contributed into the situation, as summarized in the table below. One reason cited by various officials and news outlets, and confirmed by conversations that the Conway team had in Leyte, is that of the public’s response to the storm surge warnings, or lack of response. Despite warnings, dire in some cases, many residents stayed at home, likely to secure and look over property. Anecdotally, in many communities such as Candahug, men returned to the community after evacuating women and children.

In several instances, however, people died at an unlikely location—the designated evacuation centers. In the worse hit municipalities, some of these centers, including schools or municipal buildings, were located within the inundation zone of the storm surge (Neussner 37-38), and some evacuees died when the facilities flooded (ABS-CBN News). This may have occurred because PAGASA (Philippines Atmospheric, Geophysical, and Astronomical Services Administration), the national weather agency, had inadequate models—at least those publicly available in the maps PAGASA had produced—for the forecast that it delivered just one day in advance of the storm (Neussner 41). Without such models and maps, officials and planners’ placement of evacuation centers must have been ill-informed, though some, such as the Tacloban Astrodome, where lives were lost, were located right next to coastal waters.

This analysis points to a need for a multifaceted plan to better prevent a disaster from storm surge, by educating residents on the lethal threat that the surge poses; by better incorporating hazard risks into planning, including anticipating the worst-case scenarios (Yolanda-type storm surge events), especially in placement of evacuation centers and other key facilities; and by getting whatever information is available to officials, planners, and residents alike so that they can make the most informed decisions as far ahead of time as possible. Ideally, such planning will anticipate the risks as much as possible in order to stave off disaster before an event ever looks likely to occur.

Why Was Yolanda’s Storm Surge So Deadly? What Can Be Done Differently Next Time?

PROBLEM

16

CONSEQUENCE

NEED

•

Lack of understanding among residents about the term “storm surge” and its dangers

•

Residents stayed with property and did not evacuate

•

How can the fundamentals of hazards and risks best be conveyed?

•

Poor planning and placement of evacuation centers in inundation zones

•

People in evacuation centers perished

•

How can hazard risks be better incorporated into planning?

•

Limited availability and quality of data on potential inundation areas by storm surge; did not match PAGASA’s 7 meter warning

•

No accurate model available for storm surge, or at least not yet publicly available

•

How can neighborhood officials and residents access the best information available, and anticipate worst-case scenarios?

A SUSTAINABLE REVIVAL: LEYTE AFTER YOLANDA — AN EXPLORATORY REPORT

For the purposes of this project, which focuses on the work of rebuilding in an ecologically sound way, there are many questions that arise from Yolanda, including: •

Are there safe areas for evacuation centers in the community, given the hazards and all other conditions?

•

Can homes and other property be situated for maximum resilience during a storm surge event?

•

How might ecological restoration, such as establishment or reestablishment of mangrove forests, provide a buffer from storm surge?

•

Are the hazards so great in some areas that relocation provides a desirable option? Does the community understand how the risks in areas of proposed relocation compare with those of the current location of the community?

This report does not propose answers to these questions; rather, the draft environmental standards and neighborhood toolkit include principles and draft versions of resources of the kind that may eventually assist communities in making more informed decisions possible. This exploratory phase of the project has tried out a draft process and strategy for presenting, testing, and refining these materials and an integrated planning approach, which is described in detail in Section IV, “Draft Neighborhood Toolkit.” An examination of two programs that have had success in integrating planning with community input, shared in the case studies below,will guide development of this draft strategy.

Storm Surge in Barangay Candahug

Residential area and Barangay Hall

STORM SURGE

Government Center

Nati

ona l Hig

hwa y

Above: The storm surge washed ships ashore, including this large cargo vessel perched in a residential neighborhood in Tacloban City. Courtesy

hilip Pan -P

Right: The storm surge swept across Barangay Candahug in Palo municipality, hitting the residential area the hardest, where it flooded up to the second story of the Barangay Hall. Imagery from Google Earth,

MacArthur Monument

pine

of Kusog Tacloban

STORM SURGE

Storm surge model of Yolanda from Project NOAH

1 km

II. Background & key findings

17

II. Background & key findings Toward Integrated Planning and Community Input: Case Studies of Success in the Philippines GIZ’s SIMPLE: An Integrated Ecosystem Planning and Management Approach Efforts have been underway in Leyte and elsewhere to integrate disaster risk management into land use planning, well before Yolanda. A major player in this work in Leyte is the Environment and Rural Development Program (EnRD), a joint venture between the Philippine and German governments. The German entity GIZ, the German Enterprise for International Cooperation, has developed a program for integrating ridge-to-reef planning into development policy at the provincial, municipal, and barangay levels, whereby planning processes at each level feed into one another.

SIMPLE, or Sustainable Integrated Management Planning for Local Government Ecosystems, moves municipalities towards managing their entire territorial area with participatory input from the barangay level. The program was developed in response to a dire need for stronger municipal planning; though mandated by law, many municipalities were without an up-to-date land use plan or any plan at all (Lange et al. 9).

The SIMPLE program has two main components that stand out. First, GIZ has prepared communities for the long term through training municipal staff to be the community facilitators of planning activities at the barangay level, and establishing a staff person(s) capable in Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and other software so the municipality can produce the best quality maps and planning products possible, in-house. SIMPLE supports mainstreaming of DRRM into planning, of which the GIS training is one component. (Outside of SIMPLE, GIZ has also developed early warning systems in communities, and is developing multi-hazard maps that combine the risks of different geohazards of the region—with the probability of occurrence in a specified time period—on different construction types. This tool could enable new analyses of which areas pose the greatest risk for typical buildings.)

Second, implementing SIMPLE commits municipalities to involving barangays in the development of the Comprehensive Land Use Plan (CLUP.). At a minimum, this involves the municipal staff facilitating the completion of Barangay Development Plans (BDP). The Barangay Development Council (BDC) completes the plan and must

18

receive 70% approval of the entire barangay at a “validation assembly.” (Assemblies are open to all residents age 15 and older.) The BDC can also request barangay residents to participate in consultations. These neighborhood meetings often include thematic mapping of communities. This typically involves creating maps that isolate in separate layers different types of information, such as infrastructure, protected areas, roads, geohazards, and some simple overlays such as areas of land use conflict. (Municipal planning staff, trained in GIS, may re-render these maps in a digital format for the BDP.) This isolation of information allows for observation and interpretation of the patterns and role of one condition or element in the landscape. From this, overlays of information can made to study the relationship between elements.

This helps the municipalities’ planning work, as the barangay thematic maps can be stitched together to create thematic maps covering the entire area of the municipality (for the municipal CLUPs). Consequently, the Zoning Ordinance can be established and enforced for the whole municipality.

These barangay and municipal thematic maps can provide land cover, hazard risk, and other data in much more detail than the currently available national agency maps provide.

The barangays benefit from their representation in the CLUP and the improved services that a municipality can offer from a stronger CLUP. The CLUP is necessary to create the Comprehensive Development Plan, which lays out the municipalities’ projects and programs and is necessary for creating budgets and investment plans to meet planning and development goals.

The poster for GIZ’s SIMPLE plan hangs in the planning and development department at Barugo Municipal Building. Photo by authors

A SUSTAINABLE REVIVAL: LEYTE AFTER YOLANDA — AN EXPLORATORY REPORT

Key Take Away Points for Kusog Tacloban’s Project GIZ has worked with 54 municipalities on SIMPLE implementation in Leyte and beyond, including this project’s four target communities. Barugo, Tanauan, and Javier have all produced CLUPs that draw on maps from the Barangay Development Plans. Municipal staff in Barugo and Javier with whom the Conway team met reported deep satisfaction and success in working with all or nearly all barangays to use the SIMPLE program in training barangay leaders, facilitating participatory planning, and assisting the barangays in completing their BDPs with thematic maps.

SIMPLE points to a process and strategy that emphasizes strengthening barangay-wide involvement in the BDP, and the barangay’s working relationship with a well-trained municipal staff. For Kusog Tacloban’s development of the neighborhood toolkit, this may mean emphasizing the role of community thematic mapping, with the participation of residents, and showing how thematic mapping can strengthen the BDP and CLUP. SIMPLE emphasizes the ecological need for municipalities to plan for and update the Zoning Ordinance to include their entire geographic area. This ensures that all land uses, resources, and hazards are accounted for and that all potential conflicts and opportunities can be identified through a comprehensive resource inventory and mapping scheme. For the development of Kusog’s standards, this means incorporating principles of ridge-to-reef planning into questions and criteria, and a variety of site or communityscale analyses that could be conducted using both government-issued maps and community thematic maps.

The Conway Team and representatives of Kusog Tacloban met with GIZ staff to discuss the environmental standards and toolkit project. Having learned about the widespread distribution of SIMPLE and its methodical approach, GIZ staff were asked for feedback on/critique of the Conway team’s draft products. Dori Neuvas of GIZ emphasized that creating an entirely new process for participatory planning is unnecessary, given GIZ’s investment in and development of SIMPLE. GIZ’s confidence in SIMPLE and the enthusiasm with which some municipal staff described the program suggests that Kusog Tacloban and its partners should research the program further, primarily by looking into other communities where the program has been implemented, and to what degree the program has benefited barangays through its different facets. As Kusog Tacloban continues to develop both a process and materials, the organization

During a meeting with the Conway team (top photo), Barugo planning staff shared a copy of a Barangay Development Plan (BDP) that included eleven thematic maps (bottom photo), which have been integrated into the Comprehensive Land Use Plan. Photos by authors

may consider how to use SIMPLE as a model; explore opportunities to bring it to communities where GIZ has not worked; and determine how to incorporate or pair new ideas and materials with SIMPLE. Could the standards and toolkit that Kusog Tacloban hopes to create also guide communities in municipalities where municipal staff and officials are not actively facilitating neighborhoods’ involvement (as they are through using SIMPLE and other programs)?

GIZ staff indicated, in the meeting with the Conway team, that any amount of education Kusog Tacloban can provide to residents on the hazard risks and environmental conditions of the region will be valuable, and that there may be a role for the organization to play in training and facilitation of neighborhood participatory planning, if that is of interest to the organization.

II. Background & key findings

19

II. Background & key findings Albay Province: A Model for Resilience Albay is a province situated on the southern tip of Luzon Island (map at bottom); like Leyte Province, its location on the eastern seaboard puts it in the path of seasonal tropical storm activity, and tsunamis are a threat along the coast.

Albay is also under the ever-present shadow of the Mayon Volcano. As the most active volcano in the Philippines, it has erupted 48 times in recorded history, threatening villages and residents near the base of the mountain (PHIVOLCS).

Traditionally, many residents of Albay, as in other areas of the Philippines, have viewed disasters as acts of God with no need for human intervention (Espinas 8). Residents have called upon their local and cultural knowledge by using the warning systems derived from observing changes in the landscape and animal behaviors. When a calamity appears on the horizon some municipalities toll church bells, while others still use a bandillo (town crier) to notify residents of the impending danger. However, those in more remote areas rely mostly on radio broadcasts for announcements. It’s widely understood and accepted that residents are generally responsible for making their own decisions on evacuating.

Albay

Legazpi

Leyte

Tacloban

Over the last two decades, however, the province has undergone a major shift in its disaster risk management from a reactive approach to one that’s more proactive. After adopting many changes, Albay experienced a reduction in disaster-related deaths. Between 1994 and 2010, officials report that there was only year with any such deaths. In 2006, Typhoon Reming slammed Albay with 466 millimeters of rainfall (the highest in forty years). This deluge resulted in flooding, mudflow, and lahar that tore through communities in the foothills of the Mayon Volcano. The damage that Reming caused resulted in the permanent relocation of over 10,000 families; between Reming and two other storms, 655 people died in Albay in 2006.

A Shift in Disaster Risk Reduction Albay’s shift in approach began in the late 1980s, when the province adopted an initiative with the support of the Italian government to institute community-based disaster response programs, including strategies to: •

Institutionalize disaster management education

•

Invest in radio communication equipment and reinforce select evacuation facilities

•

Launch income-generating projects to encourage people to be involved in disaster management strategies (Romero qtd. in Espinas 10)

Alongside these initiatives, the provincial government of Albay developed a set of guiding principles aimed at reaching the end goal of “safe development.” This goal is to be achieved by integrating disaster preparedness, disaster response, and environmental protection into the planning and economic development efforts of the province. These guiding principles mitigated later disasters. For example, in 1993, the Mayon Volcano erupted. While this event claimed 77 lives, the government and residents celebrated the successful evacuation of 63,000 residents. Officials and residents alike share the belief that this event could have been much worse if not for the community-based disaster preparedness projects adopted in this initiative (Romero qtd. in Espinas 10).

In more recent years, Joey Salceda, Albay’s governor since 2007, has served as a well-known champion of DRRM. He established CIRCA (Center for Initiatives and Research for Climate Adaptation), which focuses mainly on research and policy-writing related to climate change adaptation and risk reduction, and established the Albay Millennium Development Goals Office (AMDGO), an office of seventeen

20

A SUSTAINABLE REVIVAL: LEYTE AFTER YOLANDA — AN EXPLORATORY REPORT

staff that coordinates recovery efforts by using the “safe development” goals as guides (UNISDR).

Albay’s New Set of Tools Albay’s model of Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) adopts strategies that include disaster preparedness, disaster response, preemptive evacuation, and “building back better.”

Central to their DRR management strategies are natural and engineering interventions that require an integrated management approach that understands that processes and systems across the landscape are all interconnected.

change adaptation (CCA) into school curricula. This program showcases models of disaster-resilient communities that attain sustainable and holistic development. For example, the Conservation Farming Village was a project implemented in three barangays in Ligao City to promote sustainable farming practices across sloping land. This ongoing project engages the residents farming the marginal, sloping uplands, and educates farmers on sustainable land management practices, while also enhancing farming productivity (Barangay Sagip).

The Social Action Center (SAC), an arm of the Diocese of As a component of disaster-proofing, the Albay government Legazpi, is an NGO with a long history of providing relief developed a tool to determine where to best locate to the region. Disaster after disaster, it saw one-time relief development based on the conditions of the landscape and efforts as insufficient and therefore saw an opportunity to its relative hazards. The tool assigns a landscape with a include, engage, and empower residents in DRR. One of the “development grade,” which communicates the benefits and current components of SAC’s Disaster Management Program limitations for investing (see box below for more information). is the “Participatory Hazards, Capacities, and Vulnerabilities For example, a lowland area with no hazards is a “1,” while Assessment.” SAC used this program in two of the most a “coastal area or municipal waters” is a “9.” An increase hazard-prone barangays in the coastal municipalities of in grade indicates a need for less investment in permanent Manito and Bacacay. Through the assessment, residents infrastructure. Using the principles outlined in this basic tool, planning and development efforts can Albay’s Development Grade System for Disaster Risk Reduction be customized to the landscape and its hazards Landscapes are categorized and assigned a developmental grade; this grade and (Espinas 17). a set of five principles are used to guide the locating of projects/investments.

In 1994, the provincial government created a permanent disaster management office called the Albay Public Safety and Emergency Management Office (APSEMO). This office is tasked with managing disaster preparedness, disaster response, recovery, and public safety. Specifically, this office conducts hazard and risk mapping, coordinates response efforts, conducts damage assessments, and secures funding from local and international organizations. APSEMO implemented a Community Based Disaster Risk Management Pilot Program in select barangays that enhanced the CLUP and implemented the communication and warning system (Espinas 20). The office has also distributed mobile phone packs and bicycles to communities to increase access and communication during times of disaster.

Albay’s Partners Albay welcomes strong partnerships with government and non-government organizations.

Bicol University, the major educational institution of the province, has proven to be a critical stakeholder.

Programs like “BU Global Actions” help to educate communities by incorporating DRR and climate

Landscape/Development Units Developmental Grade Lowland with no hazards 1 Upland with no hazards 2 Lowland with hazards 3 Upland with hazards 4 ECA lowlands under reservation 5 ECA uplands under reservation 6 ECA lowlands with hazards and under reservation 7 ECA uplands with hazards and under reservation 8 Coastal areas and municipal waters 9 *ECA stands for Environmentally Constrained Areas

Five principles for locating structures and other projects–the higher the grade: 1. The lesser investments shall be made to involve permanent infrastructure 2. The more the development shall focus on more easily “rehabilitatable” investments, addressing incomes and livelihoods and mitigating environmental risks. Among these are investments that improve vegetative cover (e.g. forest plantations) or stabilize slope (e.g. terrace farming).

3. The denser shall be the investments on innovative value-adding (e.g., educational tours on natural hazards) 4. The lower shall be the density and intensity of heavy industries (such as highvalue agricultural commodities) 5. The denser shall be the investments on nature-enhancement (e.g., on biodiversity) Summarized from Espinas (17)

II. Background & key findings

21

II. Background & key findings gathered together to collectively generate key information, like identifying hazard-prone areas in their neighborhoods.

They developed historical timelines by recalling details of past storm events, and they created risk maps by overlaying resource and social maps on the identified hazard layer (Espinas 27).

entities for expert input into this project, both from the region and abroad.

•

As APSEMO has equipped communities with disaster response tools, Kusog Tacloban’s development of the toolkit might include exploration of sourcing and equipping communities with the literal tools to complete their own assessments, such as easy-to-use scientific instruments and technology (e.g., GPS units; anglemeter and penetrometers to measure slopes and soil thickness). This type of initiative might look to the early warning systems that GIZ and Albay have developed.

•

Kusog Tacloban and its partners might explore SAC’s assessment program for barangays and the suite of tools that the organization used in Albay’s communities, as well as the public education campaigns that APSEMO conducted.

Albay’s Successes and Lessons for Kusog Tacloban Albay’s strategic, multi-pronged approach is one of the Philippines’ most well known examples of integrated planning and DRRM. Kusog Tacloban and its partners could draw on Albay’s models for planning tools, programs, and processes that engage barangays in development of standards and a toolkit. Albay’s successes include: •

Developing relationships, in which the province encourages and embraces relationships with local institutions and international organizations.

•

Building capacity, in which education and information dissemination enhances the community’s capacity to prepare and respond to disasters, including the development of a community-based early warning system.

•

Participatory planning, which engages residents in projects like the SAC’s “Participatory Hazards, Capacities and Vulnerabilities Assessment,” and gives residents an avenue to contribute information critical to a comprehensive Barangay Development Plan (BDP).

•

Institutionalization of Disaster Risk Management, in which developing APSEMO enhanced the capacity of municipalities through research, education, and early warning systems and implemented mitigation and preparedness programs that reduced fatalities.

Though Albay has become known for successfully institutionalizing DRRM at the provincial level, some limitations in its system persist. As in communities across Leyte, there is still a need to better integrate DRRM into the whole of the province, down to the municipalities and barangays of Albay. Map accuracy and scale is a limitation here, as in Leyte, hindering effective DRR and CCA abilities at the barangay level.

Lessons from Albay for Kusog Tacloban and its partners include the following: •

22

Kusog Tacloban should continue to engage with partner organizations to draw on a diverse range of

Central Themes to Guide the Project The thematic framework for this project began to develop prior to the visit to Leyte, during research and conversations with founders of Kusog Tacloban. The organization emphasized from the very beginning the community needs of education and participatory planning; these are both necessary to communities’ involvement in developing and eventually using the standards and toolkit. After an extensive literature review, meetings with officials and staff in four municipalities in Leyte, and feedback from and interactions with barangay officials and residents in Barangay Candahug, Palo (the pilot community for testing this process the draft documents), the Conway team has devised a broad framework to guide development of the standards and toolkit, and a process and strategy for testing and refining it (see page 27). This framework holds that: •

Most residents and non-experts involved in participatory planning will require environmental and hazard risk education and training, and this education must relate to people’s immediate needs of shelter and livelihoods to make environmental concepts relevant.

•

Resources and educational material should include both scientific knowledge presented in an accessible format to non-experts and the collection and sharing of local knowledge for the community’s record and its inclusion into planning activities.

A SUSTAINABLE REVIVAL: LEYTE AFTER YOLANDA — AN EXPLORATORY REPORT

•

Participatory planning should link neighborhood-level planning into existing governmental processes in the municipal planning system, including development plans, and work for community-based development that is more or less independent of the government.

This framework proposes addressing the community needs of education and participatory planning through parallel channels: one channel consists of inputs—resources and processes—from outside of the community, and another consists of input from within the community. This is a concept for environmental assessment that is based on the on-theground realities in the Philippines, and the approaches that communities elsewhere have taken to engage with government while also building the ability to make decisions at a neighborhood level.

Background research, conversations, and the visit to Leyte made clear to the Conway team that barangays’ role in the established system for municipal planning and development can benefit residents through sound land use and development plans. Barangay planning work, under the Local Government Code (LGC), becomes integrated into municipal planning. However, not all communities have equal access to high-functioning municipal governance or planning, or a municipality that values the barangays’ input. Thus, standards and a toolkit that residents and barangay officials can use for decision-making and planning projects outside of the municipal planning process are equally important.

In the aftermath of Yolanda, this framework will benefit communities, given the political fragmentation and economic inequities that affect the flow and distribution of information and data from national agencies and the coordination of disaster risk management activities. With a flurry of redevelopment activity taking place in many communities across Leyte, communities need to be able to assess the projects proposed for and taking place in their neighborhood. They also need to assess their own needs and priorities and the projects they take on.

Building back better requires an understanding of the fundamentals of the regional and local environment and hazard risks; the crucial link between human activity and settlement and its impact on the natural systems; and the role that these systems play in lessening the risk or impact of disasters. This knowledge should be founded on both science and on traditional knowledge, the latter comprising communities’ familiarity with the landscape and longstanding attitudes and perceptions towards hazards.

This report does not detail all the ways in which this approach will be laid out and organized, but the Conway team’s current findings point towards these themes as important in communities’ ability to proactively work toward rehabilitation and land use planning, in an ecologically and socially sustainable manner.

Community Needs for Barangay-level Environmental Site Assessment Input from outside the community EDUCATION on environmental conditions and hazard risks

Accessible scientific knowledge

Input from within the community

Shared local knowledge

Informed community

}

Community needs

PARTICIPATORY PLANNING processes

Municipal planning system

Communitybased development

Engaged community

}

Resilient community

II. Background & key findings

23

III. DRAFT ENVIRONMENTAL STANDARDS The founding members of Kusog Tacloban developed a set of five broad standards that could be used to assess projects as the region rebuilds and recovers from Yolanda.

•

Is it the right project? Does it build back better?

•

Does it serve the people/communities it should benefit?

•

Does it purposefully engage an informed community?

•

Does it maximize money and materials? (Does it ensure that money and materials are not wasted or diverted to other purposes?)

•

At project completion and beyond: does the project achieve its intended results? Is it set up to succeed?

Kusog envisions that these standards will be used by: •

Kusog to audit projects in which they are currently involved.

•

Kusog to audit outside organizations.

•

Other organizations to conduct self-audits.

•

Community members to hold governmental nongovernmental agencies accountable.

the EIA, it issues an Environmental Compliance Certificate.

This allows the project to proceed to the next stages of development (DENR-EMB). This process requires the DENREMB to be the central auditing entity.

A Rapid Environmental Assessment (REA) is another model, typically used immediately following a disaster to assess the damage caused to environmental conditions. It does not necessarily require technical expertise; the results are therefore more subjective in comparison to a formal EIA (UNHCR).

While many useful tools like the REA and the EIA exist, it’s unclear if or how these tools are being used at a local level in the Philippines during the long-term recovery process after disasters. Using the first three Kusog questions as starting points, the following pages outline a proposed framework to begin the process of assessing if a project is environmentally sustainable. Researching the hazards and ecosystems of the Philippines, talking with municipal and NGO leaders about Disaster Risk Reduction efforts in Leyte, and meeting with residents of a coastal barangay in Palo informed the Conway team’s development of this proposed framework. These draft questions are intended to evaluate development and land use planning project proposals. However, this is not a comprehensive and fully developed list; other questions may emerge, and some questions may be changed or deleted. Additional research needs to be completed so that each question can be further developed into standards, criteria, and requirements to concretely audit projects and to determine if Kusog Tacloban can adopt an EIA model.

Kusog asked the Conway team to augment its standards with questions that are rooted in environmental sustainability.

Various environmental assessment models are used by governmental and international agencies in the Philippines and across the world. Two examples are: •

Impact Assessments, used by the International Association for Impact Assessment (IAIA)

•

Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA), used by the Philippines’ Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Environment Management Bureau (DENR-EMB)

Though they vary slightly in definition and implementation, these assessments are tools used to predict, evaluate, and mitigate the effects of current or future projects on environmental conditions. In the Philippines, once the DENREMB determines the project (either public or private and as outlined in Presidential Proclamation 2146) complies with

24

A SUSTAINABLE REVIVAL: LEYTE AFTER YOLANDA — AN EXPLORATORY REPORT

How to Read and Use the Environmental Standards Question from the current Kusog Standards

KUSOG QUESTION: Is it the right project? Does it “build back better?”

Is the project contextually relevant both at the regional and local scale?

Lead question Why the lead question is critical to creating a resilient community.

Secondary question, further clarifying An example of how a project would meet this standard.

The project should consider and value the ecology of the area, including the

geohazards, protected areas, agricultural land, and critical habitats of the region.

Does the project view the community through a localized ecological lens?

ü

The project prioritizes and protects the habitats for migratory birds.

û

The project replaces prime agricultural rice farms with a new housing development.

An example of how a project would not meet this standard.

KUSOG QUESTION: Is it the right project? Does it “build back better?”

Is the project contextually relevant at both the regional and local scale?

The project should protect and strengthen the particular ecology of the area, including agricultural land, protected areas, water bodies, and critical habitats of the region. The project should see everything in the landscape as interconnected; what happens upslope affects everything downslope.

Does the project value and strengthen the local ecosystems?

ü

The project promotes intercropping or multi-story farming. Planting cacao and coffee between coconuts increases the biodiversity and the resilience of the land, over a monocrop of coconuts.

û ü

The project proposes replacing prime agricultural rice farms, a major source of the community’s income, with a new housing development.

Does the project take into consideration the overarching regional environmental structure (ridge to reef)?

ü

The project preserves upland forests by creating conservation areas and encouraging sustainable timber harvesting, where harvesting is appropriate.

û û

The project encourages clearcutting forests without regard to landslide susceptibility.

Deforestation and heavy rains can cause damaging mudslides and flash floods.

III. Draft Environmental Standards

25

III. Draft Environmental Standards Does the project minimize its negative environmental impacts?

Subheader body.

The project should engage in sound ecological practices to reduce waste, reduce energy consumption, build soil, improve wildlife habitats, and improve local watersheds. On the whole, the project should strive to leave the project site in a better condition than in body. its previous state.

Does the project require only necessary disturbance of the project site?

ü

The project proposes minimal tree removal. Trees are cleared only for the area of the building footprint.

The project design “fits the landscape” and requires minimal re-grading.

Only trees removed

û ü

The project proposes the clearing of trees for development over a large area. This practice reduces shade, promotes soil erosion, and decreases wildlife habitat.

Proposed building

Does the project preserve the watersheds, water bodies, and floodplains?

ü

Where a stream needs to be culverted, the proposed construction mimics the natural form and function of the stream bed, thereby promoting wildlife migration and preserving the overall quality of the stream.

û ü

The project proposes to drain and fill a wetland, to make space for a suburban shopping center.

In addition to acting as a natural filter, wetlands are important wildlife habitats.

Is preference given to native species in landscape planting plans?

ü

The project encourages sourcing native tree species during a marsh reforestation project in an abandoned fish pond.

û û

Water hyacinth, a species known to spread quickly and clog waterways, is introduced in a pond because of its attractive appearance without regard to its impact on surrounding species.

Photo by Wagaung, from Wikicommons

Does the project employ a variety of

ü 26

The project design includes plans to plant trees to the south of the building to create a cooler, comfortable outdoor space.

energy conservation methods?

Shaded outdoor space

û ü

The project proposal does not include new tree plantings to shade the building. Instead, it proposes several small air conditioner units to create a cool, indoor work space.

A SUSTAINABLE REVIVAL: LEYTE AFTER YOLANDA — AN EXPLORATORY REPORT

KUSOG QUESTION: Does it serve the people and communities it should benefit?

Does the project meet the basic needs of the residents?

Community assessments should be completed to determine the needs of residents (shelter, food, water, livelihood) and how these needs relate to the surrounding environmental conditions.

Does it meet the residents’ basic needs without compromising healthy ecosystems?

ü

A resettlement housing plan is sited in an area of least hazard risk and well outside of the wetland buffer. Its landscape plan includes an area for community gardens and access to a nearby community fish pond.

Wetlands

New Housing Development

û

Landslides Flooding

ü

A resettlement housing plan does not include sustainable stormwater management in its plan. Stormwater runoff can impact the health of the downstream aquatic life and increases flooding risks for downstream communities.

Does the project promote and preserve the agricultural or coastal resource needs and activities of the communities?

The project should consider the resources specific to each community (timber, rice, coconut, banana, fish, etc.). Access to those livelihoods should be preserved or maintained.

Does the project support water- and land-based livelihoods?

ü

A resettlement project for a fishing village proposes an area for boat storage to remain by the water and provides public transit to the new residential area.

Long Route to boats

Former Boat Dock New Boat Dock

û

û

A resettlement project moves a fishing village to an area where access to the sea is difficult.

New Sea Wall

Does the project acknowledge that communities share common natural resources beyond their political boundaries?

ü

The project proposes that neighboring communities work together to remove trash and debris from the clogged storm drains connecting the neighborhoods.

Pentakasi

û

The project does not build into its proposal the opportunity for crosscommunity thinking and action.

ü

III. Draft Environmental Standards

27

III. Draft Environmental Standards KUSOG QUESTION: Does it purposefully engage an informed community?

Does the project integrate scientific knowledge and community familiarity with the landscape?

By combining local and scientific knowledge, projects that engage residents directly will get more support and may result in a more accurate and comprehensive product.

Does the project draw on the residents’ existing skills, assets, knowledge, and abilities?

ü

The project encourages young adults to interview community elders and make maps of areas that flooded in past storms.

û Flooding in the storm of 1995

The project proposes to move the community school without asking the residents about past flooding events in the new location.

ü Does it educate residents about their environmental conditions, including land use, ecosystems, and natural hazards of the region?

ü

Before a new school is built, signs on the site describe how it is planned to be built and what impacts the construction will have on the nearby stream.

New School Coming Soon

û

How will it impact the stream? Learn here!

The project proposes a resort to be built on the coast. No process is included to inform the community about why this site was chosen.

ü

Does the project rest on a participatory planning process through which residents generate or, at a minimum, validate the information?

ü

A new evacuation route is proposed that will affect three neighboring communities. The municipal officials agree to hold a meeting to answer questions and get community approval.

û

The project for establishing a new town market does not have a built-in mechanism for community involvement.

ü

28

A SUSTAINABLE REVIVAL: LEYTE AFTER YOLANDA — AN EXPLORATORY REPORT

Does the project mainstream disaster risk reduction management and climate change adaptation in planning and land use decisions?

The project should institutionalize Disaster Risk Reduction information and education on a local level. It should consider the effects of climate change at both the local and regional scale with the assumption that storms will be stronger, rainfall will be heavier, droughts will occur more frequently, and temperatures will rise.

Does the project acknowledge the benefits of local ecosystems and require their strengthening to assist in disaster risk reduction management?

ü

The project preserves and protects mangroves along the coast and initiates new planting programs.

Protected Mangroves

û

ü

The project removes mangrove forests to build resorts with a seawall, thereby removing the coastline’s natural barrier from destructive waves.

Does the project consider climate change effects including sea level rise and increased storm intensities?

ü

The project proposes siting evacuation centers well outside the worst case scenario storm surge zone or forecasted sea level rise.

Storm surge zone

ü

û

Proposed evacuation center

The project encourages rebuilding an evacuation center in the same location where it was destroyed.

Does it raise the local community’s capacity to handle disasters when the national government resources are stretched?

ü

An elementary school design includes a plan for rainwater harvesting and large storage tank.

Rainwater Storage Tank

ü

û

An evacuation center is proposed where no clean drinking water is available in the event of a disaster.

Drinking water will need to be provided by the government or an aid organization.

III. Draft Environmental Standards

29

IV. DRAFT NEIGHBORHOOD TOOLKIT Introduction to the Toolkit Concept The draft neighborhood toolkit and strategies are a collection of concepts for materials and processes that could inform residents and barangay officials about environmental issues and hazard risks and engage them in participatory planning.

If the draft environmental standards for rebuilding and revival (previous section) could provide guiding ecological principles for rehabilitation work, then the neighborhood toolkit and strategies are the educational materials and planning processes that, with further development, could be used by residents and barangay officials to better understand those principles and put them into action locally to assess development and land use decisions.

The tools and strategies may enable communities to take initiative in reducing their role in destructive land use practices and vulnerability to geohazards, major storm events, and the effects of climate change. A more informed and engaged community will be more resilient in the face of hazards and change. Poor and underserved communities, such as those that Kusog Tacloban has assisted, will benefit particularly well from such capacity-building instruments, as they may receive little or inconsistent governmental service or guidance and may live in areas that place them at greatest exposure to future disaster.

These preliminary toolkit concepts and the strategy for refining the designs through community feedback need further development. Kusog Tacloban’s goal is to create tools for communities that can be replicated for use across Leyte.

Once further developed, the materials and processes described here could be assembled into a comprehensive guide in which communities select the appropriate materials a la carte. The components could also be selected and reassembled to create guides specific and relevant to particular communities and their conditions.

Flooding symbol

30

It is assumed that communities that would use the toolkit would likely need technical assistance or facilitation in the initial delivery and in implementation of participatory planning programs. To be determined is who may provide that service and how the process and materials could potentially be delivered by different organizations, including some of Kusog Tacloban’s partners. Additionally, everything here is currently in English; translation into Waray-waray would be necessary to reach the widest audience in Leyte, where Waray is the predominant first language.

Toolkit Components & Strategies The neighborhood toolkit and strategies drafted by the Conway team include educational materials and planning tools such as: •

Reference sheets on ecosystems and ecosystem services and hazards

•

Hazards risk maps: regionally mapped, with zoomed in municipal and barangay level maps

•

Questionnaires, checklists, scorecards, and decision trees

•

A suitability index for land use, on which to evaluate scores for hazard risks and other conditions based on land use under consideration, as derived from scorecards

The reference sheets are intended to be keyed into the maps with symbols (see bottom of page); these symbols would also appear in the questionnaires to cue readers into the appropriate maps to answer questions and into the reference sheets for additional information.

Liquefaction symbol (definition on page 32) with a small earthquake symbol at top left

Storm surge (with tropical storm symbol at top left)

A SUSTAINABLE REVIVAL: LEYTE AFTER YOLANDA — AN EXPLORATORY REPORT

As explained in the following sections, all of these products are currently in draft form. The concept and draft materials of each component were shared with officials and staff of the four target municipalities, and with officials and residents in Barangay Candahug, Palo municipality, during the Conway team’s field visit to Leyte in June 2014. After community critique, some revisions were made during the visit and the revised materials were shared again with community members and Kusog Tacloban volunteers.

Important themes emerged during the testing process of the tools and strategies: •

Residents’ concern about their immediate needs can, in many cases, far outweigh environmental concerns or planning for the future. Residents are, of course, concerned about the environment, but there are larger systemic challenges that sometimes inhibit their ability to prioritize environmental standards.

•

Kusog volunteers and municipal officials reported that environmental education needs to be tied to the immediate needs of residents. They argued that the most effective way to teach residents is to connect this information with what they need to survive.

•

The lack of detailed scientific data at a neighborhood or even municipal level limits effective planning; local knowledge of conditions can fill this gap, but there is a hope that improved scientific data will become available.

Environmental & Hazard Risk Education Environmental and hazard risk education involves conveying scientific knowledge in an accessible format to non-experts and connecting people with available resources from government agencies. It should also draw on local knowledge shared by residents with one another and local government, to fill in the holes in the existing data (see figure below).

Accessible Scientific Knowledge As discussed in Section II, understanding the environmental structure and key drivers of the landscape is critical in making sustainable land use planning decisions. At the neighborhood level, one must be able to assess local and site environmental conditions, but understanding the larger factors at work in the environment are key too, hazards standing out as the clearest example. Scientific knowledge about environmental conditions and hazard risks should therefore be made available to residents in an accessible format. This section describes educational materials that could be employed in these efforts; some of these materials the Conway team has begun work on, while others are recommended for exploration.

Reference Sheets Two sets of reference sheets are recommended: one describes ecosystems and their importance, and another describes hazards of the region. Many people may have a fundamental understanding of how human activity affects natural systems for better or worse (e.g., agricultural practices that promote fertility organically, deforestation that increases the risk of landslides). There may be gaps though, in the understanding of how ecosystems may play a role in mitigating/lessening disaster risk and the effects of climate change (e.g., mangroves buffering coastlines from wave action and storm surge), and how land use decisions affect these ecosystem functions. Residents could also benefit from better understanding how protecting and preserving healthy ecosystems may support their livelihoods.

More of the feedback on and revision of these products is shared below. The time constraints of the current phase of this project (Conway team involvement) do not allow for much additional revision to be completed, beyond that done in Leyte.

If Kusog Tacloban chooses to continue this project, perhaps with the assistance of volunteers or outside consultants, a continuation of the process of revising, testing, and refining the Community Needs for Barangay-level Environmental tools will be necessary.

Input from outside the community EDUCATION on environmental conditions and hazard risks

Accessible scientific knowledge

Site Assessment

Input from within the community

Shared local knowledge

Informed community

}

ommunity eds

PARTICIPATORY PLANNING processes

Municipal planning system

Communitybased development

As explained earlier, officials and residents alike assigned blame for Yolanda’s lethal impact to many residents’ poor knowledge about the potential danger of storm surge associated with a storm of such strength, in spite of some government warnings about the potential threat.

Residents should have a solid understanding of all hazard risks presentResilient in their communities.

}

community

IV. Draft Neighborhood Toolkit Engaged community

31

IV. Draft Neighborhood Toolkit Though not an exhaustive list, the following ecosystems and hazards were identified in research and were frequently discussed during meetings with experts, officials, municipal staff, and residents over the course of this project. The bulleted list names the ecosystems and suggests an emphasis for reference sheets. These ecosystems provide critical functions and should be preserved/remain intact. The hazards have the potential to cause widespread destruction and should be a fundamental component of the residents’ body of knowledge. The hazards reference sheets should all communicate, with simple graphics and in general terms, where the most/least ideal places are to locate development based on the location of the hazards. It should be noted that not every community in Leyte will be home to each of these environments or susceptible to all hazards. Drafts of some of the reference sheets are listed below; two are shown here and can be found (in full page form) in Appendix B. Ecosystems Reference Sheets, with key points: •

Moist forested uplands: emphasize the need for sustainable forestry practices and potential for agroforesty in these areas.

•

Mangrove complex (mangroves and nipa palms): emphasize the complex’s role as a “bioshield” in protecting coastlines and human settlement from tropical storm activity, as well as the sustainable harvesting of resources for human needs (see sheet at right).

•

•

Reefs and coastal waters: emphasize the need for sustainable fishing practices along the coast and how deforestation and other activity on land impairs the health of these ecosystems.

Rivers and riparian corridors: emphasize the importance of creating/maintaining vegetated buffers along rivers to prevent erosion, maintain/ improve water quality, and protect aquatic and estuarine life.

Hazard Risks Reference Sheets, with key points: •

•

32

Flooding: some areas are more prone to flooding from streams and rivers overflowing during heavy rains, and others are prone to coastal flooding.

Lahar: areas near active volcanoes, as in Albay, are susceptible to debris flow from volcanoes, most often triggered during/after heavy rains.

•

Landslides: areas with steep slopes and sparse vegetation (or denuded landscapes) are especially susceptible to rain-induced landslides.

•

Liquefaction: sinkholes can form quickly during ground tremors (from earthquakes or volcanic activity) in areas with saturated soils, where vibration of the soil causes it to act like a liquid.

•

Storm surge: coastal flooding caused by low atmospheric pressure and high winds during tropical storms (see page 33).

•

Tsunami: damaging waves caused by earthquakes on the ocean floor. Tsunami and storm surge hazards are the greatest in coastal areas.

The reference sheets focus on sustainable development practices and land use decision-making that prevents and mitigates disaster, as is the thrust of this project.

Preparedness for disasters is not covered in detail in these materials and the topic has been covered by other organizations’ work, like that of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)

Reference Sheet No. 2

Mangroves Definition: Mangroves describe a group of small trees, shrubs and palms that thrive in coastal tropical areas. They require regular tidal saltwater influx and provide an important habitat for a host of aquatic, terrestrial, and arboreal wildlife (including crabs, fish, snakes, and birds.)

Mangroves, sometimes called “bioshields,” are known for their complex root system that: • Slow surface wave and reduce wave intensity, therefore buffering development from tsunamis and storm surge.

• Hold the soil together which prevents stream bank erosion.

Guidance for Planning Efforts: • Every effort should be made to preserve mangroves; establish conservation areas where appropriate.

• Consult experts on where and how to replant, as some coastal areas may not be appropriate.

Other Consideration: • If mangroves lose their leaves during a storm, don’t assume they are dead! They are resilient plants and will likely will grow back.

Mangroves in Obo-ob, Bantayan Photo: John Martin Perry via Wikimedia Commons

ü

Ocean

More Mangroves = More Protection

Ocean

A SUSTAINABLE REVIVAL: LEYTE AFTER YOLANDA — AN EXPLORATORY REPORT

Fewer Mangroves = Less Protection

and Environmental Management Bureau of the Philippines Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).

This information could certainly be incorporated though.

have been refined, these sheets could be also distributed as fliers for household use or for posters to display during aid distribution events.

Research went into the drafting of these sheets and then simple definitions and graphics were used to illustrate the most critical information, including guidance for planning efforts. Conceptual section drawings are included to demonstrate best practices for siting construction on the landscape given the presence of particular risks; placement of buildings are marked as “unfavorable,” “OK,” or “favorable,” with corresponding symbols (⊗, OK, and ).

The U.N. Shelter Cluster Philippines distributed a similar flier during post-Yolanda relief and recovery that illustrated very simply some best practices for rebuilding homes.

Critique: The conceptual sections on the hazard sheets suggest ideal situations of development relative to risks, and this may convey too rigid an idea of what is acceptable land for development—especially in Leyte where current hazard maps (see page 35) depict a region where hazard risk is omnipresent. As Vice-Mayor Roland Flores of Palo suggested, the reality is that most development exists somewhere between unfavorable and most favorable conditions, that middle area in the section that the Conway team describes in the section as “OK.” He gave the example of the location selected for resettlement of coastal communities post-Yolanda (by the municipal government), explaining how it was chosen for low flood susceptibility, but that there may be some minor landslide risk (according to the available maps). This site, he said, would probably fall under “OK,” as would so many other sites, highlighting the possibility that there may be few to no sites that meet the “favorable” () status. A slight revision was made to the sheets (shown on the storm surge sheets below), to change the “rigid” recommendations to more of a gradation.

Kusog Tacloban or other organizations could use these reference sheets to conduct educational seminars for barangay residents, perhaps pairing environmental educational workshops or information dissemination with aid and relief distribution, as Kusog Tacloban has done with information on other topics, such as reproductive health and violence against women. Down the road, once the drafts

Reference Sheet No. 5

Reference Sheet No. 5

Storm surge

Storm surge Definition

Definition

Storm surge is a coastal flooding event that occurs as a result of the high winds and low atmospheric pressure during a tropical storm. High tides can exacerbate the magnitude of the storm surge.

Storm surge is lethal and can cause extreme damage during tropical storms.

During Typhoon Yolanda, storm surge waves topped 5 m.

Storm surge is a coastal flooding event that occurs as a result of the high winds and low atmospheric pressure during a tropical storm. High tides can exacerbate the magnitude of the storm surge.

Storm surge is lethal and can cause extreme damage during tropical storms.

During Typhoon Yolanda, storm surge waves topped 5 m.

Guidance For Planning Efforts

Guidance For Planning Efforts •

Place structures behind natural barriers wherever possible. These include mangrove swamps and wetlands.

•

Place structures out of the way of storm surge risk areas, as modeled

by PAGASA and others.

•

Ensure that evacuation centers and command posts for emergencies are placed well out of potential storm surge inundation zones.

•

Coral reefs can reduce wave energy from storms; protecting coral reef can aid in reducing storm surge.

Ocean

•

Place structures behind natural barriers wherever possible. These include mangrove swamps and wetlands.

•

Place structures out of the way of storm surge risk areas, as modeled

by PAGASA and others.

•

Ensure that evacuation centers and command posts for emergencies are placed well out of potential storm surge inundation zones.

•

Coral reefs can reduce wave energy from storms; protecting coral reef can aid in reducing storm surge.

In storm surge events, seawater can quickly sweep ashore, damaging property and claiming lives.

Other Considerations •

Storm surge is not the same as a tsunami. There should be ample time to evacuate from storm surge zones, given tropical storm warnings. Residents should secure property then leave areas where a storm surge warning is issued.

Mangrove swamp

OK



In storm surge events, seawater can quickly sweep ashore, damaging property and claiming lives.

Other Considerations •

Storm surge is not the same as a tsunami. There should be ample time to evacuate from storm surge zones, given tropical storm warnings. Residents should secure property then leave areas where a storm surge warning is issued.

Mangrove swamp Ocean

OK



increasingly safe

Some slight changes were made in the storm surge section, from distinct zones to a gradated display of preferred location for building.

IV. Draft Neighborhood Toolkit

33

IV. Draft Neighborhood Toolkit Other questions/concerns have arisen in the literature and from the work of organizations like the UN and GIZ. How might the assessments of risk be affected by and need to be revisited to acknowledge the varying levels of resilience of different construction types? How should communities’ adaptation techniques, including traditional construction of impermanent homes (that can be cheaply and easily replaced after a storm or other event) be acknowledged and incorporated as appropriate?

Maps Philippine government agencies have produced several hazard susceptibility maps that are crucial for identifying broad patterns of risk. These maps can be downloaded from the web: •

Mines & Geosciences Bureau (MGB) produced the flood and rain-induced landslide susceptibility maps (1:50,000 scale), available at MGB’s website

•

PAGASA’s storm surge map at the 1:150,000 scale, available from NAMRIA, the National Mapping and Resource Information Authority.

•

PHIVOLCS has produced maps for lahar, liquefaction, and tsunami risk.

Unfortunately, most of the currently available maps only have conditions mapped at a broad regional or provinciallevel scale and so are not detailed enough for a nuanced barangay-level identification of hazards. For example, in the case of Barangay Candahug, with which the Conway team met, the entire neighborhood lies within the areas identified for flood and liquefaction susceptibility in the maps produced by the national government. Residents and officials, however, explained that there are just two areas of occasional flooding or what they described as areas with poor drainage, and that liquefaction only occurred in one agricultural section of town, an area with few structures.

Up-to-date and large scale (localized) maps of land use and land cover were not found during the course of this project.

Some data was available to make a regional scale map, but this is only useful for broad analysis (see map in Section II, page 11). The reality is that Yolanda has likely shaped the landscape, including vegetative cover (the storm felled over 30 million coconut trees, for instance), in a significant enough way that land cover has been altered and land use may shift in certain regions towards different agricultural practices or crops.

34

These maps may in some cases not be clear to non-experts, and there may be residents and officials who are not skilled at reading maps at all. Dissemination of maps may require additional materials or training to instruct on reading and interpreting maps.

Maps are also static in nature; that is, they become outdated over time, and as conditions change, people need to realize these changes and reconcile what they read on a map and what they observe in the landscape. This map limitation makes environmental and hazard risk education all the more important; if residents can devleop an ability to read the landscape, they may not need to rely on maps alone.

Also, it points to the important role that community mapping can serve, as described on page 18, where residentgenerated maps fill in holes in the official data or can provide information for updated official maps.

The Conway team produced five simplified hazard maps illustrating the areas that are prone to flooding, liquefaction, landslides, tsunami and lahar. See page 35 for an example—the flood susceptibility/flood prone areas map—and Appendix C for larger copies of all five maps.

These maps were produced for the draft guide to simplify the government-issued copies, and to overlay the hazard layers over street maps. Storm surge was not included as it was almost impossible to make out the hazard layer on the 1:150,000 scale map, and create a regional map for Leyte.

It also only includes up to four-meter high surges, limiting its usefulnesses for planning for incidents like Yolanda.

To create the maps, the layers from the government maps were traced and overlaid onto base maps. For the Leytewide maps, a base map with relief available from ESRI in the ArcMAP software was used; for the municipal maps, OpenStreetMaps were used, which appear to be the most accurate web-based maps for some communities in Leyte. (This open source mapping platform was intensively populated with information and used by agencies during the Yolanda relief effort.) The maps were created for most of Leyte Province, excluding the northwestern corner, which was outside of the target area for this report.

In addition to the scale issue, there are some other problems inherent in the maps. The Conway team produced the maps in Illustrator, without any georeferencing plug-in, as the team had no access to the geospatial data used by the government agencies to create these maps (though requests were made to all relevant agencies during the project). Thus, the current maps have limited compatibility with map analysis computer software.

A SUSTAINABLE REVIVAL: LEYTE AFTER YOLANDA — AN EXPLORATORY REPORT

The maps show the distribution of hazards in the landscape and exhibit, at a minimum, the extent of the national government’s knowledge of this distribution. Zoomed-in municipal versions of the maps were produced and shared with community members and municipal officials. While useful for engaging in a conversation about the existing hazards, they did not provide enough detail to be of use at the neighborhood level.

Critique: As has been discussed, the scale of these maps is the major drawback for their use in education and participatory planning. Officials in Palo and Tanauan pointed out the generalized nature of the data, and discrepancies that they observed between the maps and on-the-ground conditions. Vice-mayor Flores of Tanauan echoed the thoughts of many when he underlined the need for more localized scientific data to be incorporated in planning efforts. The Conway team, after meeting with GIZ and inquiring about anticipated updates to maps, reported to Tanauan and Palo Councils that the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) is currently engaged in a campaign to produce 1:10,000 scale maps for flooding and rain-induced landslide susceptibility by the end of 2014 for most Philippines municipalities, which will be useful. The production of those maps for Leyte on the whole is unknown as of June 2014.

Municipal planning staff that the Conway team met were familiar with the source material for these maps (original government versions), but appreciated the simplicity/and approachability of these maps. Council members in Palo, though they identified issues in the maps, were pleased to be introduced to them and to receive copies of the maps.

A landscape architect who reviewed the Conway maps offered a critique that illustrating hazard risk as either present or not present (that is, showing a sharp divide between the layer of risk and no risk on a map) presents a false notion of areas as either safe or not safe, suitable or not suitable. A suggestion was made to explore graduating the color of risk to demonstrate the escalating and deescalating risk across a landscape, rather than a fictional, monotone depiction of equal risk across such large swaths. Such changes would need to be based on scientific data collection and map production beyond the scope of this current project, but the notion mirrors the local critique about depicting relative risks across such sharp divides in the cross-sections on the reference sheets.

The top map shows flood hazard for the whole of Leyte Province, rendered by the Conway team and based on the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) 1:50,000 maps. The bottom map is zoomed in to show the flood layer in the Palo area. Barangay Candahug is the small area demarcated by the small red box, and is shown as completely within the “flood prone areas” layer. The Conway team did not have access to the data for these maps, so the layers were traced in Illustrator and laid over base maps.

IV. Draft Neighborhood Toolkit

35

IV. Draft Neighborhood Toolkit Media: Radio, Television, and Video Understanding the audience and their preferred medium through which to receive information is critical to the success of information dissemination. Simple, concise language, pictures and graphics are needed to communicate information in print like the maps and reference sheets described previously. Posters, fliers and brochures should strike a balance between providing enough critical information for the reader to absorb, but not so much that the reader is left feeling overwhelmed.

A question that the Conway team considered before its visit to Leyte, which it posed to municipal leaders and community members during the visit, was “what other media (aside from printed material) might effectively convey information?”

A Kusog Tacloban volunteer, Dennis Delgado, suggested that perhaps a more effective way to connect residents with information would be through a video presentation. Many residents received their news, including disaster preparation warnings, through television or radio. Might visual or audio media provide a more entertaining and engaging experience and still convey the most important information?

There is precedent for this in the Philippines. Miriam College in Manila has operated its Miriam-PEACE program (Public Education and Awareness Campaign for the Environment) since 1987. One of the program’s most successful outcomes has been the longstanding Radyo Kalikasan, “a one-hour radio program on the environment....[whose] main thrust is to instill the value of environmental protection among its listeners” (“Environmental Studies Institute”). On air since 1991, the Sunday lunchtime program has been “aimed at parents and families so the programme is not heavily technical. The major item is a serious discussion of an environmental issue with an environmentalist, which is supported by environmental songs, trivia contests, news, and a radio patrol where volunteers call in observations of the environment” (Galang 42-43). Miriam-PEACE has also produced one-minute radio spots featuring various Philippine endangered species.

the name was instantly recognizable. Dennis suggested that Kusog Tacloban’s programs could include a similar media paired with aid distribution.

A product, like an educational video, is beyond the scope of the Conway team’s project. However, Dennis Delgado is excited about exploring this concept, and given the positive feedback he received, Kusog Tacloban may want to investigate the potential for this type of educational material.

These formats of educational material could include the same material as the reference sheets, and/or the video/ film could serve as an educational piece introducing/ complementing the print material or a comprehensive environmental site assessment guide for planning. There is the potential to add a dramatic presentation or compelling narrative to the product as well, as is a part of Radyo Kalikasan. What a tool such as this might not provide is a way for residents to physically handle and study the educational material. Unlike a video, printed materials can be reprinted, posted, and engage people in an active way.

Mangroves! The “bioshields” of the coastline!

9

Ocean

More Mangroves = More Protection

Tanim Kalikasan, a public interest environmental organization based in Quezon City, produces a television program called Tanim T.V. on various environmental topics, set in both the field and in the studio with a panel of experts.

An example that Dennis Delgado suggested during the Conway team’s visit to Leyte was the Marcos-era Nutri-bus, an educational film program that was paired with distribution of nutritional supplements to children. Wherever Dennis mentioned this program during the Conway team’s meetings,

36

Informative and engaging programming could be created and delivered in the form of some audiovisual medium—perhaps a weekly program on television, or several films shown at a series of community screenings.

A SUSTAINABLE REVIVAL: LEYTE AFTER YOLANDA — AN EXPLORATORY REPORT

This concept appeared popular in every meeting the Conway team attended, including those with municipal officials and staff, and with residents. Ina Larrazabal-Gimenez, the president of the Tanauan chapter of the Barangay Captains Association of the Philippines (Liga Ng Mga Barangay sa Pilipinas), liked the idea of a ”visual educational tool” for residents. She said it would work most effectively if reintroduced to communities through several rounds of exposure.

the Youth Captains who sit on Barangay Councils and Barangay Development Councils (BDPs). This lesson can be extended to the work of environmental knowledge for planning and disaster risk management.

Putting energy into school curricula or programming can supplant or strengthen other general educational campaigns, especially when time is deemed a limiting factor in capturing the public’s interest. Palo Councilor Imelda Parado, a former employee at the regional level Department of Education office, said that the curricula are available. (See box below for some available resources in the Philippines.) Time is always a challenge, though, Ms. Parado reports; that is, getting people to carve out the time to engage with information on the environment. If so, how can an organization best interest people, given all the competing interests in their daily lives, and respect busy schedules? She suggested that it is crucial

School Curricula & Educating the Whole Family Education through the schools became a recurring item in conversation with municipal officials and staff. In Javier, Town Administrator Joanis Alfafara and Municipal Planning and Development Officer (MPDO) Fernando Sarile Jr. indicated that education is needed at all ages in science and technology, particularly thematic modules such as an emphasis on watersheds. Mr. Alfafara seemed to indicate that the current treatment of environmental science in school curricula is A Note on National Policy & Resources for superficial or topical, and not connected to an Environmental Education Curricula understanding of larger systems. A self-identified tree-lover, he mentioned that residents in some of The Philippines created a National Environmental Education the upland barangays need to better understand Action Plan in 1992, and updated it between 2003 and 2006 the effects of deforestation on the downslope as the National Environmental Education Action Plan for communities and ecosystems. Children may Sustainable Development for 2005-2014, “in support the understand that trees prevent soil erosion, but United Nations Decade for Sustainable Development” (FEED). lack a comprehensive understanding of the other This plan institutionalized environmental education. The benefits that trees provide. At a municipal level, government continues to endeavor to strengthen these efforts. officials are trying to think about how ecosystems Under Republic Act 9512, the ”Environmental Awareness and their processes are connected from the and Education Act of 2008,” environmental education will be upland forests to the coastal waters, which raises introduced at all levels of education, and in all schools, public the question of how education at the barangay and private, through theoretical and practicum modules. It is level can raise such awareness and support also added to the National Service Training Program, which is municipal environmental planning objectives while required of all students who finish post-secondary education remaining tied to specific neighborhood contexts (Senate of the Philippines). or the needs and concerns of specific barangays.

The Department of Education maintains the Learning Resources Mr. Alfafara shared a story that illuminates Management and Development System (http://lrmds.deped. the possibilities. A group of local children that gov.ph/), a database of educational materials, including some he knew were not too long ago shooting at units on environmental science topics and natural hazards. The birds with their slingshots and air rifles; once website should be checked for ongoing updates. they were taught the importance of the birds and empowered with some responsibility to Many of the national agencies, such as the Department of steward wildlife, the children became engaged Environment and Natural Resources’ (DENR) Environmental in educating others about the birds. They now Management Bureau (EMG) , have or are in the process of serve as guides on bird-watching tours. This story developing curricula and informational, educational, and shows the transformative effect that education communication (IEC) materials for the general public, per the can have in developing young leaders in National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Plan. environmental conservation, potentially including

IV. Draft Neighborhood Toolkit

37

IV. Draft Neighborhood Toolkit to begin with educating children at school, and then working to involve parents in their children’s education, by having kids talk to their parents about what they are learning and having parents ask questions. In this way, information is transferred via family and intergenerational conversation.

Shared Local Knowledge Just as sharing scientific knowledge through familial and social networks can be effective, sharing local knowledge of conditions between community members helps to create an informed community. Recording residents’ knowledge of land use, local environmental conditions, and hazard risks, at present and historically, through maps, narratives, and timelines are important instruments for educating one another within the neighborhood. These materials can also inform officials at the municipal planning department of conditions. As was described earlier in the explanation of the SIMPLE program—and as is shown in the next section on participatory planning—these local knowledge documents can be incorporated into the Barangay Development Plans (BDPs), to both feed into Municipal Comprehensive Land Use Plans (CLUPs) or to be used internally as a reference for community-based development projects.

Just as important as the production of these items may be the conversation and community dialogue that is sparked in their creation. Encouraging conversation can improve the community’s awareness of its collective impact on the environment, its ability to mitigate and cope with disaster, and its ability to work as a cohesive unit to proactively address needs and priorities. In these conversations, it’s important for communities to identify their perceptions of what constitutes risk, or what are acceptable types and levels of risk, may vary by community. This information is important in the development and application of environmental standards and development of educational materials and planning strategies. Historian Greg Bankoff argues that the environment has shaped culture just as much as culture has shaped the environment, and in the Philippines “coping mechanisms....have evolved in order to permit communities to come to terms with the constancy of hazards and to mitigate the worst effects of disaster” (Bankoff 163). These mechanisms include adaptive and responsive practices, including vernacular architectural forms (e.g., the nipa hut), local agricultural systems (including crop rotations around flood cycles), and an ongoing history of migration and resettlement that carries into the present day. There are also behavioral and psychological coping mechanisms that are

38

Barangay Council leaders wanted to involve youth during the community mapping exercise that the Conway team held.

A group of youth completed their own “spot map” for the neighborhood.

generally shared across the archipelago, including a sense of fatalism, strong community group cohesion, and a sense of humor even in disaster (Bankoff 166-169).

This report focuses on planning that emphasizes preventative and mitigative measures in disaster risk management, which are ecologically based and tied to an understanding of scientific knowledge. Failing, however, to “[accord] recognition to the expertise that those for whom hazard is a frequent life experience may possess... [renders locals] powerless victims of nature and outsiders are transformed into the purveyors of a knowledge that confers a certain mastery over events” (Bankoff 181).

Coping mechanisms, whether beneficial or not, need to be inventoried and acknowledged in planning and development projects. The generation of and sharing of local knowledge fills out the educational needs for successful participatory planning.

Instruments of Shared Knowledge and Community Planning: Community-generated Thematic Maps and Community Narratives and Timelines As discussed earlier in reference to the SIMPLE plan, thematic maps overlain on a base map are tools for collecting community information and using it for planning and development purposes. Other tools include crafting community narratives; in fact, barangay development plans (BDPs) typically include a community history section.

More specific narratives and histories of the environment, hazards, and disasters could be included in BDPs and other planning projects. This information could also be recorded in timelines, and an analysis could be completed on changes that have occurred after major events in the community’s

A SUSTAINABLE REVIVAL: LEYTE AFTER YOLANDA — AN EXPLORATORY REPORT

receiving parties, plus the presentation of gifts to the ranking chief in the area. This establishes a relationship of good faith upon which the program activities can follow. Traditional gifts often include food items such as pigs. However, we used this opportunity to introduce the nature of our proposed activities, by providing tools (an axe and bush knives). The main spokesperson for the facilitation team (Douglas Charley) explained how the community disaster plans we were helping them develop were also tools, because with these plans the community would be better able to help itself during times of disaster. In follow-up visits to the communities, six months later, the gifts provided were metal files A team scientists hazard riskwe managers and new axepast. handles, to of convey the and message that intended to help the community maintaining andinimproving effectiveness workingin with communities the island the nation of of their disaster management Vanuatu, in effortstools. to incorporate scientific with

Volcanic history and hazardscape A summary village history emerged from the presentations of three groups (Fig. 3). This history included four references to volcanism, along with earthquakes, landslides and tsunami-like events. Interestingly, while the European records (see above) describe lahars in 1914 as

traditional knowledge in volcanic hazard management, employed a suite of such instruments in what they Approaches and exercises

termed a Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA), including

Of the huge “recording range of PRA approaches and methods available, features along a path taken through the we based our approaches on community vulnerability analysis village,” a seasonal calendar timeline, and a table tools outlined by Vrolijks (1998), and on personal experiences of those recording the village’s situation between now and that worked best in similar community or government workshops in years ago (Cronin et al. 656).

Fiji (Cronin twenty and Kaloumaira 2000), Samoa (Cronin et al. 2000a) and Solomon Islands (Cronin et al. 2000b). These techniques included: As described in the following section, the Conway team did engage in conversations with Barangay Candahug

– Community timelines – of events in the history of a community. about their past experiences and current knowledge – Changing village situation – a table comparing the present andwith attitudes environment. of this date community that about of 20 the years ago (the Some approximate information wasanrecorded in therepublic). form of the community when Vanuatu became independent – Storytelling – past volcanism, past disasters. maps.

A more comprehensive and systematic – Seasonal approach calendar timeline. in future visits should include other tools.

– Daily activity timeline.

– Transect exercise – recording features along a path taken through the village.

Participatory – Community mapping exercisePlanning 1 – recording geography, village resources, areas of highest exposure to natural hazard (from any hazard type), interpretation safe and dangerous The major theme forofparticipatory planningareas in thisnearby. Fig. 3 Summary history of major events (focusing on natural – Community mapping exercise 2 – placing a chosen “safe” area A timeline recorded from a community exercise in Lolovange, Vanuatu. Major project, emerging from the Conway team’s combined in the centre, drawing a map showing the closest food, water disasters) that have affected the community of Lolovange, as constructed group exercise resultsother transformative events in conversations with municipal officials, GIZ employees, disaster eventsfrom are recorded here alongside and Kusog Tacloban representatives, is that it local history (Cronin et. al 656). A timeline for Barangay Candahug in Palo must link neighborhood-level planning to existing could include past storm events, the founding of the farmers’ cooperative, the governmental processes and work for the community relocation of the community in the 1970s, and Typhoon Yolanda, among many independently of the government (see figure below). other events.

Engaged communities are those that participate in the governmental process to make their voice heard Needs Environmental Site Assessment and make useCommunity of available services, while for also Barangay-level tending to its needs in ways and in situations where the higher levels of government cannot assist. With the goal of helping residents Input from Input from be more engaged in the local planning decisions of their outside the within the community communities, the Conway team developed acommunity process for using a site assessment tool that links into the educational materials, (reference sheets and maps) to evaluate areas EDUCATION on of least risk. The Conway team piloted these materials with Accessible local Informed environmental Community Needs for scientific Barangay-level Shared Environmental Site Assessment Barangay Candahug in Palo municipality. knowledge community conditions and knowledge hazard risks Input from Input from outside the within the Resilient Community community community community needs

EDUCATION on PARTICIPATORY environmental PLANNING conditions and processes hazard risks

Accessible Municipal scientific planning knowledge system

} }

Community needs

PARTICIPATORY PLANNING processes

Municipal planning system

CommunityShared local based knowledge development

Informed Engaged community

} }

Resilient community

CommunityIV. Draft Neighborhood Toolkit Engaged based community development

39

IV. Draft Neighborhood Toolkit Questionnaires/Scorecards with Suitability Index

development; rather, it is meant to give residents a tool to evaluate the relative vulnerability between different sites.

Draft Documents A draft environmental site assessment scorecard (see figures below) was developed to lead individuals or groups through a series of questions about hazards, conservation, and ecosystem services. Each question was assigned a score, based on the severity of potential hazards. Some conditions warrant stopping any further consideration of a site for development; these were labeled with the word STOP. The notes column offers a place for the reader to record questions or concerns about a site that the questionnaire is being used to evaluate.

After receiving feedback from landscape architects, municipal officials, GIZ employees and the residents of Candahug about the efficacy of using the scorecard approach, the Conway team revised this scorecard into a questionnaire, which leaves room to answer only yes or no, and does not assign any score. No cards or questionnaires have yet been developed for non-built environment land use types, such as agricultural use, recreational uses, or conservation zones. Kusog Tacloban and its partners might consider developing these additional questionnaires, as they would offer communities additional tools to assess their land uses.

Using a site suitability index, the final score would indicate a given project’s relative vulnerability to hazard risk on the particular site where the assessment is taking place. The index works as such: the lower the score, the more suitable the site, and the higher the score, the more vulnerable the site is. The initial scorecard was designed for a scenario in which a location for a new evacuation center is being chosen, though the basic form and most of the questions could be applied to a variety of development and land use considerations. This index is not necessarily intended to be used to prohibit development or to give the green card to any Questionnaire/Scorecard

Proposed structure/land use: Evacuation center

Hazards 1. Is the site identified as susceptible to flooding?

2. Is the site identified as susceptible to lahars?

3. Is the site identified as susceptible to landslides? a. High b. Moderate c. Low 4. Is the site identified as susceptible to liquefaction? a. High b. Moderate c. Low 5. Is the site identified as susceptible to storm surge (1-­‐4 m)?

6. Is the site identified as susceptible to tsunamis (<5m)?

Conservation + Ecosystem Services 1. Does the site include cultural significant features?

2. Is the current land use conservation?

3. Does the site include critical habitat or imperiled species? a. Does the site include mangroves? b. Does the site include significant forest? c. Does the site include wetlands? d. Other? __________________________ 4. Is the site located in a wildlife corridor?

5. Does the site include prime agricultural soils?

Infrastructure 1.

2.

3.

4.

Is the site located on or near a major road or highway?

Is the site located <1 km walk from a health center?

Is the site located <5 km drive form a health center?

Does the site have access to potable water on a sustainable basis?

IF YES +1 STOP

+3 +2 +1

+3 +2 +1 STOP STOP

+1 +1

+1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1

0 0 0 0

IF NO 0 0

0 0 0

0 0 0

SCORE

0 0

0 0 0 0 0 0

+1 +1 +1 +1

Precedents for how to structure these documents were the U.N. Shelter Cluster’s “Environmental Self-assessment and Action Checklist for Shelter Interventions” (see page 41) and standards and criteria for scoring communityscale projects in the U.S. Building Council’s LEED for Neighborhood Development Program’s rating system. There is the potential to incorporate non-experts’ assessments of site-specific conditions (e.g., hazard risks) in order to complete questionnaires. Engineer Daniel Peckley led the production of a layman’s guide for determining rain-induced landslide susceptibility for communities on Luzon (Peckley and Bagtang). Residents could use such guides to make assessments that augment the available maps and data.

Environmental Site Assessment Questionnaire Proposed land use(s): _________________________________________________________________________ Hazards 1. Is the site identified as susceptible to flooding? See map and info sheet 2. Is the site identified as susceptible to lahars? See map and info sheet 3. Is the site identified as susceptible to rain-inducted landslides?

See map and info sheet a. High b. Moderate c. Low 4. Is the site identified as susceptible to liquefaction? See map and info sheet a. High b. Moderate c. Low 5. Is the site identified as susceptible to storm surge (1-4 m)?

See map and info sheet 6. Is the site identified as susceptible to tsunamis (<5m)?

See map and info sheet

YES

NO

 

 

  

  

   

   





Conservation + Ecosystem Services 1. Does the site include cultural significant features?

2. Is the current land use conservation?

3. Does the site include critical habitat or imperiled species? a. Does the site include mangroves? See info sheet b. Does the site include significant forest? c. Does the site include wetlands? See info sheet d. Other critical habitat? _______________________ e. Is the site located in a wildlife corridor? See info sheet 4. Does the site include prime agricultural soils?

        

       

Infrastructure and Built Environment 1. Is the site located on or near a major road or highway?

2. Is the site located <1 km walk from a health center/school/transit/etc.?

3. Is the site located <5 minute drive from a health center/school/etc.?

4. Does the site have access to potable water on a sustainable basis?

5. Is the site located on a brownfield or former toxic site?

6. Would development on the site constitute infill? See info sheet 7. Would development on the site constitute adaptive use of existing buildings?

      

      

Notes

40

Site Suitability Index

The environmental site assessment scorecard (left) and questionnaire (above). After feedback on the usefulness of a scorecard, an questionnaires was deemed more useful. The site vulnerability index is located at the bottom of the scorecard.

A SUSTAINABLE REVIVAL: LEYTE AFTER YOLANDA — AN EXPLORATORY REPORT

Critique Before meeting with residents and officials in Candahug and elsewhere, the Conway team had developed a list of questions about the use of the scorecard tool. These included: •

How should different hazards and conditions be weighted?

•

How can probabilities and intensities of hazards be incorporated (e.g., models of storm surge)?

•

What is the usefulness of quantifying suitability, or providing an index?

•

How can the limitations of the tool be addressed? For example, what if the score and the index shows that most sites in the community are not suitable for the intended use?

•

Knowing that local attitudes towards hazards vary, how can those perceptions be incorporated into a scorecard?

The Shelter Cluster’s Environmental Site Assessment for Shelter The Conway team received feedback from some Interventions uses a checklist, and includes a specific section for planning of the residents and barangay council members relocation projects. in Candahug as to how this tool would be useful. Barangay captain Nimfa Pulga questioned the geared towards housing and other needs would help to scoring method and its usefulness, and suggested that the create a well-rounded tool. questions just be answered “yes” or “no” without a numerical value. It seemed that the scoring, or at least the way in which A Local Planning Process with Dual Benefit different items had been weighted, was unclear. Indeed, choices over weighting had been made by the Conway team As has been explained, the participatory planning process and did not reflect the ways in which different conditions or involves using the existing framework of the municipal hazards could either affect different communities in varying planning system, whereby the Barangay Development Plan ways or affect different types of construction. The evacuation (BDP) is approved by the municipality and incorporated into center example (scorecard on page 40) shows that one the Comprehensive Land Use Plan (CLUP) (see Section II, point would be recorded for both flooding susceptibility and “Background & Key Findings”). Thematic maps, created low liquefaction hazard, though the frequency and intensity at the barangay level, can be stitched together to create of these hazards may not be equal in value. Responding to municipal maps (see figure page 42). By isolating elements these critiques, the Conway team revised the scorecard into of the landscape (e.g., land use) and creating one barangay a yes-no questionnaire for the rest of the meetings in Leyte. map for each theme, the municipality can create a more detailed and comprehensive municipal-wide map, using all Additional criticism was that the questionnaire did not include of the thematic maps from every barangay. explicit connections to livelihoods and basic needs, perhaps because the scorecard was initially designed and intended There is also the potential for community organizations to for evacuation centers and other such major facilities. Future use the outputs of these thematic mapping activities as exploration of how environmental site assessments can be leverage in lobbying the government for resources and

IV. Draft Neighborhood Toolkit

41

IV. Draft Neighborhood Toolkit Municipal Planning Process Using Thematic Mapping for Barangay Development Plan (BDP)

1. Barangay community members or an engineer can create a base map of the neighborhoods with streets, buildings, and geographic features (e.g., water, terrain).

2. Individual components or elements are isolated on thematic maps where their patterns and relationship to the landscape can be examined.

3. The barangay thematic maps can be stitched together to create municipal thematic maps for the creation of the CLUP.

Base Map

Eskweula Brgy. Hall



Social/Cultural Map

Infrastructure Map

Hazard Susceptibility Map



Municipal Thematic Maps

support. Dodman et. al. have documented how affiliates of Slum Dwellers International (SDI), including the Homeless People’s Federation of the Philippines, “use community managed enumerations and maps to create the information base needed for mobilisation, action, and negotiation with the state....These surveys and maps shift SDI’s negotiating advantage...[and] this is information that the local authority needs but generally does not have” (16).

By the same process of creating thematic maps, communities can also conduct their own community-based development. The barangay government (i.e., Barangay Council, BDC) or other community entities (e.g., collectives, cooperatives) can create overlays of different maps to conduct analysis and composite/summary maps (which display the key interpretations made from the thematic maps) to then assess alternative sites and/or designs for various projects. This could for the most part take place outside of the municipal planning framework, except for local regulations and permitting that would need to be considered.

A community may want to consult outside organizations on projects, but the standards and toolkit would hopefully enable the barangay to become more self-sufficient.

Ideas for projects may also crop up during review of the

42

Land Use Map

thematic maps, overlays, and summary map (see figure on page 43). Given the tradition of community-based development in the Philippines, including community-based responses to disasters and disaster risk-reduction, local NGOs and barangays could make use of a future toolkit and the strategies described here for their own initiatives.

Testing the Process in Candahug The Conway team’s visit to Leyte provided an opportunity to work through the thematic mapping process over the course of four visits with the residents of Candahug. Various residents, members of the barangay council, and the barangay chairman participated in discussions and mapping exercises. In the initial discussions, they identified several needs and concerns: •

Their current road infrastructure requires residents to evacuate towards the ocean before connecting to a major road. The residents expressed a need for an evacuation route that leads them directly away from the ocean in the event of a tsunami.

A SUSTAINABLE REVIVAL: LEYTE AFTER YOLANDA — AN EXPLORATORY REPORT

Community-based Development Using Thematic Mapping for Barangay Development Plan (BDP) 1. Barangay community members or an engineer can create a base map of the neighborhoods with streets, buildings, and geographic features (e.g., water, terrain).

2. Individual components or elements are isolated on thematic maps where their patterns and relationship to the landscape can be examined.

Base Map

Eskweula Brgy. Hall

ď &#x2013;

Social/Cultural Map

3. Overlays of the individual thematic maps can be used for analysis of relationships of different elements.

A summary map can be created by selecting the key conclusions from these analyses.

4. The summary map and individual analyses can be used to settle on a design direction, and then generate multiple potential solutions to the planning or design question. These are alternative plans.

5. Further examination of the analyses and comparison of the pros and cons of each alternative lead to the formation of the final or preferred solution.

Infrastructure Map

Land Use Map

Hazard Susceptibility Map

Summary Map

Alternative Design I

Alternative Design II

Alternative Design III

Alternative Design IV

Final Design Solution for Community Project

IV. Draft Neighborhood Toolkit

43

IV. Draft Neighborhood Toolkit •

The residents identified several areas of poor drainage which create pools of frequent standing water.

•

The barangay chairman/captain identified a cluster of houses surrounded by areas of poor drainage, which she hopes can be relocated to an area with better drainage.

•

Members of the Barangay Council reported that the cooperative is interested in developing a community fish pond.

At a meeting with a few members of the barangay council, the Conway team introduced the concept of thematic mapping, and explained that through the process of teasing out all of the information into separate maps, and then creating overlays and summary analysis maps, the mapping process could be used to: •

Identify areas with environmental conditions more or less appropriate for development (e.g., structures, community spaces, or other projects identified by the community).

•

Identify new priorities or needs stemming from observations made through the analyses.

The Council invited the Conway team to return the next day to test out the process. See page 46 for a review of the exercise. The participants (not the same exact group of council members who, the day prior, had agreed to conduct this exercise) did not readily adopt the thematic mapping concept. It was difficult to gauge how well the process would have worked if the underlying premise had been more clearly communicated, understood or agreed on by those actually participating.

To reconvey the point of how the thematic mapping might be useful, the Conway team tried to link this idea of community mapping to the needs and interests named during previous meetings, and specifically the question of how the Candahug Free Farmers Multipurpose Cooperative would determine the best location for a community fish pond. The answers given were varied, but each indicated that the community would need to reach out to other groups, be they landowners amenable to selling or leasing land, the fisheries agency, or a local technical school to assist in the siting, installation and training. That is to say that additional input would be needed and that, for this example at least, the community would not feel equipped through maps alone to make such decisions.

44

Questions Raised Moving forward, there needs to be clear communication demonstrating how these maps can be a useful tool for the community to generate their own solutions, instead of looking to outside resources to provide those solutions. This communication needs to more clearly link the exercises to the legally mandated Barangay Development Plan (BDP) and the role the BDP plays in representing the needs of the barangay to municipal-level planning decisions. In this way, it might be more clear that employing the thematic mapping exercises would give residents and barangay council members a channel through which they can communicate the needs of their community to the municipality. That being said, the chairman, the council members, and the residents expressed gratitude for this exercise and are open to future activities.

The experience of working with Candahug also raises many questions about how to rework the tools and process to address questions that involve activity that spans barangays or requires a barangay to look beyond its bounds for facilities and resources. In what ways was the summary map that the residents of Candahug created useful? How should activities and exercises be communicated to ensure the participants understand and agree with the methods? Who should be involved in the mapping process (i.e. representative group, the Barangay Council and/or Barangay Development Council, youth, elders)? Is the thematic mapping necessary in and of itself, or is it more important to encourage residents to engage in a conversation grounded in mapping their neighborhood? These questions may only be answered by testing the this process further with other barangays.

The Conway team works with the Candahug community early in its visit to began examining street maps and adding information. Photo by Angie Lopez

A SUSTAINABLE REVIVAL: LEYTE AFTER YOLANDA — AN EXPLORATORY REPORT

Testing the Process in Candahug

1

The materials prepared for the thematic mapping exercises included the four legends shown in the picture at right: land use, infrastructure, social/cultural, and hazards. The intention was that, with the help of some of the neighborhood youth, residents would create four maps illustrating different features in their respective thematic maps across Candahug.

2

The residents and Barangay Council members present worked together on a large copy of a street map that they had drawn. The youth split off to work on their own smaller version. After the exercise began, the barangay captain (who was not present during the planning meeting on the previous day) disagreed with the idea of creating four separate thematic maps. She told us that it was not possible to map out the land use without first mapping out the entire barangayâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;and everything in it. She insisted that they needed each component to reference the other (e.g., the rice field is behind the school).

3

After some discussion, the assembled group decided to create one map showing all of the components of the community using the legends provided and adding their own symbols to the legends (e.g., a new reading center). The result was this summary map of Candahug below, dubbed by the community as the â&#x20AC;&#x153;spot map.â&#x20AC;?

IV. Draft Neighborhood Toolkit

45

V. NEXT STEPS & RECOMMENDATIONS This report presents draft environmental standards and a neighborhood toolkit, and strategies for environmental site assessment. Kusog Tacloban asked the Conway team to research and develop concepts and materials; the Conway team’s initial involvement, captured in this report, lasted from April to June 2014. The project continues through the work of Kusog Tacloban and its partners, and this section lays out the next steps that the Conway team recommends for moving the project forward—both general direction and concrete steps.

•

Continue research on models for post-disaster environmental standards and assessment for rehabilitation and long-term recovery to find best practices for impact assessments, with particular attention to the Philippines, Southeast Asia, the tropics, and developing countries.

•

Work with experts (including ecologists, ecological designers, environmental scientists, environmental planners, sustainability specialists, etc.), local officials, and community members to define each question as a standard with specific requirements and criteria that can be used to determine that the standard has been fulfilled and to what degree.

•

Continue to solicit feedback from barangay officials and community members through small working groups to ensure that the information is presented in an accessible form, both in writing and graphically. The environmental standards will work more effectively for communities if they relate to basic needs, livelihoods, and cultural practices.

Next Steps: Recommendations for Kusog Tacloban & Its Partners Development of the Environmental Standards for Revival and Rebuilding The Draft Environmental Standards section of this document provides draft standards, in the form of overarching questions to guide the determination of how projects do or do not meet minimum levels of sustainability. They are limited, however, in that they do not yet constitute auditable standards, as Kusog Tacloban is pursuing. To further develop the standards, the following steps should be taken:

The project’s future development will benefit from the input of experts in different field, who may be able to offer guidance on the most important criteria to include in the standards. These criteria may specifically delineate best practices and strategies for determining suitability of sites based on a location’s specific environmental conditions, such as slope stability, natural communities, and seasonal rainfall patterns.

46

Some communities could become involved in the planting of mangrove forests, but this sort of ecological restoration project will require an informed plan that includes an understanding of community needs and commitment to the project. The environmental standards that Kusog Tacloban develops need to be integrated into the much larger framework of standards that address economic and social sustainability.

A SUSTAINABLE REVIVAL: LEYTE AFTER YOLANDA — AN EXPLORATORY REPORT

•

Integrate the draft environmental standards into the Kusog Standards document, working towards a comprehensive standards document that views sustainability holistically, comprising environmentally, economically, and socially just standards.

Development of the Neighborhood Toolkit & Strategies Establishing clear, effective, and efficient processes for disseminating information lies at the core of this project.

The Neighborhood Toolkit and Strategies includes draft materials and processes intended to equip residents with information and guidance they can use to participate in making sustainable land use decisions. Minor revisions have been made to some materials after critique received during meetings in the Conway team’s trip to Leyte. The first round of testing these materials with residents and officials of Barangay Candahug (Palo) and municipal officials illustrates that further work is needed in developing and explaining the toolkit. Research, revision and refinement that is needed includes the following: •

Research on the most effective means for reaching residents (e.g., which media formats are most prevalent and can best communicate the information).

•

Establishment of a systematic method and program for meeting with residents, disseminating materials, and receiving feedback from barangays (officials and residents), and municipalities (officials and planning departments).

•

Refining the reference sheets on ecosystems and hazards and hazard maps, with feedback from experts, local officials, and community members.

•

Requesting available data from agencies like PHIVOLCS, PAGASA, and MGB to create maps in GIS that are easy to update and manipulate, especially as new and more detailed data becomes available.

•

Exploring concepts for short, informative educational videos or radio shows, and identifying government agencies, local organizations, and universities to partner with in creating these media.

•

Determining who will provide education, training, and facilitation for communities. These individuals or entities could be involved in the further development of standards and the toolkit.

Kusog can help by linking communities that it services with those organizations that can provide education or facilitation.

•

Determining which municipalities have a need and desire for participatory planning to have thematic mapping done at a barangay level.

•

Determining the capacity of those municipalities to provide educational outreach and facilitation of participatory planning. (E.g., do municipal officials need training? Does the municipality have knowledge of and access to GIS software for analyzing data and making maps?)

Final Thoughts Municipal officials and agencies such as GIZ expressed a strong need for NGOs, like Kusog Tacloban, to play a role in building the resilience and coping capacity of communities.

Kusog Tacloban and its partner organizations should develop a clear vision of how they hope to engage in the planning efforts of the region. Communities like Barugo are interested in partnering with NGOs to provide educational outreach and community facilitation, to augment their limited staff resources for disseminating information as it becomes available (such as the disaster contingency plan that Barugo is working towards). As Kusog Tacloban continues to serve as a resource in the relief and recovery of communities, perhaps one if its next tasks should be to define how the organization’s goals and priorities align with the needs identified through this project. Kusog Tacloban has made meaningful connections with many communities in Leyte since Yolanda. The work on rebuilding and revival has just begun, and the Conway team’s report can contribute to Kusog Tacloban’s effort to build back better.

V. Next Steps & Recommendations

47

WORKS CITED ABC-CBNnews.com “Children, elderly drown as flood waters swallow Tacloban evac center.” 11 November 2013. Web. 26 June 2014. < http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/focus/11/09/13/

children-elderly-drown-waters-swallow-tacloban-evac-center >.

Alejandro, Bernardo Rafaelito R., IV. “National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Plan (NDRRMP) 2011-2018.” Local

Government Academy (Department of the Interior and Local Government, Republic of the Philippines). N.d. PDF. <

http://www.lga.gov.ph/sites/default/files/knowledgeExchange-pdf/bicol/BRB-M1-National%20DRRM%20Plan.pdf >.

Bankoff, Greg. Cultures of Disaster: Society and Natural Hazards in the Philippines. London: RoutledgeCurzon, 2003. Print.

Barangay Sagip-Saka. “Conservation Farming Village – A Model for Climate Change Adaptation and Sustainable Upland

Development.” N.d. Web. June 2014. < http://barangaysagipsaka.org >.

Cronin, Shane, et al. “Participatory methods of incorporating scientific with traditional knowledge for volcanic hazard

management on Ambae Island, Vanuatu.” Bulletin of Volcanology 66 (2004): 652-668. Web. 26 June 2014.

< http://www.geo.mtu.edu/~raman/papers2/CroninBV.pdf >.

Department of Environmental and Natural Resources (DENR-EMB). Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA). Web. June

2014. < http://www.emb.gov.ph/portal/r07/Divisions/EnvironmentalImpactAssessment.aspx >.

Dodman, David, et al. “Victims to victors, disasters to opportunities: Community-driven responses to climate change in the Philippines.” International Development Planning Review 32.1 (2010): 1-26. Print.

“Environmental Studies Institute.” Miriam College. N.d. Web. June 2014. < https://www.mc.edu.ph/AdvocacyCenters/

EnvironmentalStudiesInstitute.aspx >.

Espinas, Agnes. “Geography and Public Planning: Albay and Disaster Risk Management.” HDN Discussion Paper Series.

PHDR Issue 2012/2013, No. 4. PDF. May 2014. < http://hdn.org.ph/wp-content/uploads/DP_04_Espinas.pdf >.

FEED Inc. “Philippine (Environmental) Education.” N.d. Web. 26 June 2014.

< http://feed.org.ph/directory-of-environmental-education-institutions-in-the-philippines/

philippine-environmental-education/ >.

Galang, Angelina. “Environmental education programmes at Miriam College.” IUCN Commission on Education and

Communication CFC. Education and Sustainability Responding to the Global Challenge. Editors: Daniella Tilbury,

Robet B. Stevenson, John Fien, Danie Schreuder. 2002. Print.

Lange, Andreas, Cecilia Astilla, and Dolores Nuevas. SIMPLE: Sustainable Integrated Management Planning for Local

Government Ecosystems. Manila: Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, April 2013.

Print.

Luces, Kim. “Use P1-B mangrove rehab fund to relocate coastal dwellers first – scientists.” GMA News. 13 April 2014. Web. 5 May 2014. < http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/356669/scitech/science/

use-p1-b-mangrove-rehab-fund-to-relocate-coastal-dwellers-first-scientists >.

Mucke, Peter. “Disaster risk, environmental degradation and global sustainability policy.” World Risk Report 2012. Ed. Nina

Brodbeck. Berlin: Bündnis Entwicklung Hilft (Alliance Development Works), 2012. PDF. < http://www.ehs.unu.edu/

file/get/10487.pdf >.

48

A SUSTAINABLE REVIVAL: LEYTE AFTER YOLANDA — AN EXPLORATORY REPORT

National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC). “Update re: the effects of Typhoon “Yolanda”

(Haiyan).” 17 April 2014. Web. May 2014. < http://www.ndrrmc.gov.ph/attachments/article/1177/Update%20

Effects%20TY%20YOLANDA%2017%20April%202014.pdf >.

Neussner, Olaf. Assessment of Early Warning Efforts in Leyte for Typhoon Haiyan/Yolanda. Manila: Deutsche Gesellschaft für

Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, March 2014. Print.

Normile, Dennis. “Clues to Super typhoon’s Ferocity Found in the Western Pacific.” Science 342 (2013): 1027. PDF. Peckley, Daniel C. and Eduardo T. Bagtang. Rain-induced Landslide Susceptibility: A Guidebook for Non-Experts and Communities. Tabuk City, Kalinga: Department of Science and Technology (Philippines)/Kalinga Apayao

State College, 2010. PDF. < http://drh.edm.bosai.go.jp/files/4f010574fadd691b2b04e620fe3912553ef74a1e/

LandslidesGuidebook.pdf >.

PHIVOLCS (Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology). “Active Volcanoes” Web. June 2014.

< www.phivolcs.dost.gov.ph >.

Primavera, Jurgenne, et. al. “Mangroves of E. Visayas need protection.” Philippine Daily Inquirer. 15 June 2014. Web.

< http://opinion.inquirer.net/75597/mangroves-of-e-visayas-need-protection >.

ProjectNOAH. “project_noah_inundation-storm_surge.KML.” 6 March 2014. Web. 17 May 2014. < http://

downloads.noah.dost.gov.ph/downloads/special/stormsurge/ >.

Senate of the Philippines. “Republic Act 9512: An Act to Promote Environmental Awareness through Environmental Education

and for Other Purposes” N.d. PDF. < http://www.senate.gov.ph/republic_acts/ra%209512.pdf >.

United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. “UNHCR FRAME Toolkit Model III, Rapid Environmental Assessment.” 2001-

2014. Web. June 2014. <http://www.unhcr.org> United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR). Albay Province, Philippines. Local Government Profile. UNISDR

2012. Web. June 2014. < http://www.unisdr.org/campaign/resilientcities/cities/view/2251 > United States Agency for International Development (USAID). “Philippines – Typhoon Haiyan/Yolanda Fact Sheet #21, Fiscal

Year (FY) 2014.” February 18, 2014. Web. May 2014. < http://www.usaid.gov/haiyan/fy14/fs21 >.

Yilmaz, Serdar and Varsha Venugopal. “Local government discretion and accountibility in Philippines.” Journal of International Development 25 (2010): 227-250. 22 April 2014. PDF. < http://www,wileyonlinelibrary.com >.

Works Cited

49

APPENDICES APPENDIX A: KUSOG STANDARDS & CRITERIA FOR POST-YOLANDA REBUILDING & REVIVAL IS IT THE RIGHT PROJECT? DOES IT “BUILD BACK BETTER”?

DOES IT SERVE THE PEOPLE/ COMMUNITIES IT SHOULD BENEFIT?

Does the project address people’s felt needs, determined through consultation with stakeholders, and anticipate future needs and risks?

Do criteria and methodology for beneficiary selection ensure transparency, fairness and consistency? Are they communicated to target communities before project implementation? Do they ensure non-discrimination in beneficiary selection on the grounds of political affiliation, religion, gender, sexual orientation, disability, etc.?

Does it consider, at a minimum, criteria to ensure environmental sustainability, social inclusion, economic equity and fair business relationships, equitable access, and public safety and health, in project identification, design, implementation, and management?

Requirements: Documents:

Requirements: •

Established criteria and methodology for project site selection, and beneficiary identification.

For projects that have specific beneficiaries/ target communities: the criteria clearly identify communities and individuals that can avail of/ receive assistance

•

Criteria and methodology can effectively screen out any form of discrimination, political intervention, or selection decisions based on conflicts of interest, collusion, or other issues that might exclude individuals or communities that should otherwise meet criteria.

•

There are written procedures for records keeping and reporting, and documentation to show that criteria were applied fairly and consistently

1. Established procedures for consultation with affected stakeholders, including affected communities, in determining project design and implementation procedures.

2. Design standards include, at minimum: •

Environmental sustainability (Applicable to Infra [I], Livelihood/Economic [L/E], Social Services [SS])

•

Structural integrity and climate appropriateness (Infra)

•

Economic equity (Livelihood/Economic, Social Services)

•

Cultural appropriateness and integration (Infra, Livelihood/Economic, Social Services)

•

Equitable access (Infra, Livelihood, Social Services)

•

Safety and health (of both the public and the beneficiaries) (I, L/E SS)

•

Efficiency and cost-effectiveness

Interviews with implementors: •

Interviewees confirm that criteria for beneficiary and site selection were explained to beneficiaries at preimplementation

•

Interviewees can explain criteria and methodology for site selection and beneficiary identification and how they were applied

•

Interviewees confirm that criteria were applied consistently at all times

(Requirements to be developed with sectoral experts and other stakeholders)

50

A SUSTAINABLE REVIVAL: LEYTE AFTER YOLANDA — AN EXPLORATORY REPORT

•

If criteria or methodology were not followed at all times, interviewees can explain that the exception was reasonable and confirm that it did not compromise the purpose of the project

Interviews with beneficiaries: •

Interviewees confirm that criteria for beneficiary and site selection were explained to them at the beginning of the project.

•

Beneficiaries interviewed meet criteria

•

Interviewees confirm that there were no issues of discrimination in the selection of beneficiaries

•

Interviews confirm that issues of political intervention or decisions based on conflicts of interest and collusion did not occur.

Observation: •

Ocular inspection confirms that site selection and other physically demonstrable criteria were met

DOES IT PURPOSEFULLY ENGAGE AN INFORMED COMMUNITY? Does it have an effective mechanism for continuing engagement, communication and consultation with beneficiaries from pre-implementation to project completion and turn-over?

Is the community informed, at minimum and before project implementation, of project objectives, cost/budget, expected outputs/outcomes, timelines, beneficiary roles and responsibilities (including counterpart funding and amount of loan payments if the project is funded using a loan, or as a Public-Private Partnership or BOP project)? Is the project’s Program of Work easily accessible?

Is there an effective complaints/feedback/reporting mechanism that is easily accessible and has been communicated to stakeholders? Is the mechanism responsive and functional? Is it used for corrective action and performance improvement?

Auditable Requirements: Documents Review: •

A clear community engagement and communication policy and plan.

•

Minutes of community assemblies and other meetings with community leaders and members

•

Documented communications with community leaders regarding updates and/or changes in implementation plans

•

Contact information for community leaders

•

Established policy for hiring local labor where skills are available

•

Records of complaints and feedback received from the public and actions taken

Interviews with Implementors: •

Interviewees can explain the community engagement process

•

Interviewees can provide information on updates and information they made available to target

Appendices

51

APPENDIX A: KUSOG TACLOBAN STANDARDS & CRITERIA communities and beneficiaries regarding midimplementation changes •

Interviewees can explain how they anticipate and address issues and problems before they compromise project objectives and programming.

Interviews with beneficiaries: •

•

Interviewees confirm that they were informed of the project’s objectives, costs, budget, expected outcomes/outputs, timelines and roles and responsibilities well before project implementation Interviewees demonstrate reasonable knowledge of the project’s objectives, costs/budget, expected outcomes/outputs, timelines, their roles and responsibilities

•

Interviewees can confirm that community assemblies and fora were conducted by implementors to discuss the project and updates/ changes

•

Interviewees can confirm that available local labor was hired and that their employment followed labor laws and regulations

•

Interviewees have used, or know of people who have used the complaints/feedback mechanism and are satisfied that it is functional and responsive

•

Interviewees judge that the information they received about the project was sufficient

DOES IT MAXIMIZE MONEY AND MATERIALS? (DOES IT ENSURE THAT MONEY AND MATERIALS ARE NOT WASTED OR DIVERTED TO OTHER PURPOSES?) Does the project follow responsible procurement practices and accountable/ transparent financial management standards?

Does it meet timelines and stay within budget? Does it meet specifications for quality and quantity of materials?

Is there an ethics hotline to receive information regarding risks of malpractice that is confidential, operated by a third party, and provides feedback on actions taken?

(Minimum requirements to be developed in consultation with experts and stakeholders)

Ocular Inspection: •

52

Key project information on project, contractor, budget, schedule and expected outputs, and a hotline number for feedback are posted prominently, whether physically and/or on a website, where community members and other stakeholders can see them.

A SUSTAINABLE REVIVAL: LEYTE AFTER YOLANDA — AN EXPLORATORY REPORT

AT PROJECT COMPLETION AND BEYOND: DOES THE PROJECT ACHIEVE ITS INTENDED RESULT? IS IT SET UP TO SUCCEED? Does the project meet objectives and create positive impact on human security and other basic human rights, economic empowerment and sustainability, environmental protection and sustainability, cultural integration, health and safety, etc?

Does the project demonstrate elements of sustainability beyond project completion and turn-over (e.g., management systems, organizational, financial and technical capability and capacity of people to manage resources created by the project, maintenance and repair systems, fair and equitable user costs/fees and efficient and transparent systems for how they will be collected and used, etc) (Minimum Requirements to be developed in consultation with experts and stakeholders)

Appendices

53

APPENDIX B: REFERENCE SHEETS

54

A SUSTAINABLE REVIVAL: LEYTE AFTER YOLANDA — AN EXPLORATORY REPORT

Reference Sheet No. 5

Storm surge Definition Storm surge is a coastal flooding event that occurs as a result of the high winds and low atmospheric pressure during a tropical storm. High tides can exacerbate the magnitude of the storm surge.

Storm surge is lethal and can cause extreme damage during tropical storms.

During Typhoon Yolanda, storm surge waves topped 5 m.

Guidance For Planning Efforts •

Place structures behind natural barriers wherever possible. These include mangrove swamps and wetlands.

•

Place structures out of the way of storm surge risk areas, as modeled

by PAGASA and others.

•

Ensure that evacuation centers and command posts for emergencies are placed well out of potential storm surge inundation zones.

•

Coral reefs can reduce wave energy from storms; protecting coral reef can aid in reducing storm surge.

In storm surge events, seawater can quickly sweep ashore, damaging property and claiming lives.

Other Considerations •

Storm surge is not the same as a tsunami. There should be ample time to evacuate from storm surge zones, given tropical storm warnings. Residents should secure property then leave areas where a storm surge warning is issued.

Mangrove swamp Ocean

OK



increasingly safe

Appendices

55

APPENDIX B: REFERENCE SHEETS

Reference Sheet No. 2

Mangroves Definition: Mangroves describe a group of small trees, shrubs and palms that thrive in coastal tropical areas. They require regular tidal saltwater influx and provide an important habitat for a host of aquatic, terrestrial, and arboreal wildlife (including crabs, fish, snakes, and birds.)

Mangroves, sometimes called “bioshields,” are known for their complex root system that: • Slow surface wave and reduce wave intensity, therefore buffering development from tsunamis and storm surge.

• Hold the soil together which prevents stream bank erosion.

Guidance for Planning Efforts: • Every effort should be made to preserve mangroves; establish conservation areas where appropriate.

• Consult experts on where and how to replant, as some coastal areas may not be appropriate.

Other Consideration: • If mangroves lose their leaves during a storm, don’t assume they are dead! They are resilient plants and will likely will grow back.

Mangroves in Obo-ob, Bantayan Photo: John Martin Perry via Wikimedia Commons

ü

Ocean

56

More Mangroves = More Protection

Ocean

Fewer Mangroves = Less Protection

A SUSTAINABLE REVIVAL: LEYTE AFTER YOLANDA — AN EXPLORATORY REPORT

APPENDIX C: HAZARD MAPS – FLOODING (REGIONAL)

Appendices

57

APPENDIX C: HAZARD MAPS – LAHAR (REGIONAL)

58

A SUSTAINABLE REVIVAL: LEYTE AFTER YOLANDA — AN EXPLORATORY REPORT

LANDSLIDE, RAINFALL-INDUCED (REGIONAL)

Appendices

59

APPENDIX C: HAZARD MAPS – LIQUEFACTION (REGIONAL)

60

A SUSTAINABLE REVIVAL: LEYTE AFTER YOLANDA — AN EXPLORATORY REPORT

TSUNAMI (REGIONAL)

Appendices

61

APPENDIX C: HAZARD MAPS – FLOOD (PALO)

62

A SUSTAINABLE REVIVAL: LEYTE AFTER YOLANDA — AN EXPLORATORY REPORT

LANDSLIDE (PALO)

Appendices

63

APPENDIX C: LIQUEFACTION (PALO)

64

A SUSTAINABLE REVIVAL: LEYTE AFTER YOLANDA — AN EXPLORATORY REPORT

TSUNAMI (PALO)

Appendices

65

APPENDIX D: SCORECARD & QUESTIONNAIRE

Questionnaire/Scorecard

Proposed structure/land use: Evacuation center

Hazards 1. Is the site identified as susceptible to flooding?

2. Is the site identified as susceptible to lahars?

3. Is the site identified as susceptible to landslides? a. High b. Moderate c. Low 4. Is the site identified as susceptible to liquefaction? a. High b. Moderate c. Low 5. Is the site identified as susceptible to storm surge (1-­‐4 m)?

6. Is the site identified as susceptible to tsunamis (<5m)?

Conservation + Ecosystem Services 1. Does the site include cultural significant features?

2. Is the current land use conservation?

3. Does the site include critical habitat or imperiled species? a. Does the site include mangroves? b. Does the site include significant forest? c. Does the site include wetlands? d. Other? __________________________ 4. Is the site located in a wildlife corridor?

5. Does the site include prime agricultural soils?

Infrastructure 1.

2.

3.

4.

Is the site located on or near a major road or highway?

Is the site located <1 km walk from a health center?

Is the site located <5 km drive form a health center?

Does the site have access to potable water on a sustainable basis?

IF YES +1 STOP

+3 +2 +1

+3 +2 +1 STOP STOP

+1 +1

+1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1

0 0 0 0

IF NO 0 0

0 0 0

0 0 0

SCORE

0 0

0 0 0 0 0 0

+1 +1 +1 +1

66

A SUSTAINABLE REVIVAL: LEYTE AFTER YOLANDA — AN EXPLORATORY REPORT

Appendices

67

      





Infrastructure and Built Environment 1. Is the site located on or near a major road or highway?

2. Is the site located <1 km walk from a health center/school/transit/etc.?

3. Is the site located <5 minute drive from a health center/school/etc.?

4. Does the site have access to potable water on a sustainable basis?

5. Is the site located on a brownfield or former toxic site?

6. Would development on the site constitute infill? See info sheet 7. Would development on the site constitute adaptive use of existing buildings?

   

   

      

 

     

  

  

        

 

NO

 

YES

Conservation + Ecosystem Services 1. Does the site include cultural significant features?

2. Is the current land use conservation?

3. Does the site include critical habitat or imperiled species? a. Does the site include mangroves? See info sheet b. Does the site include significant forest? c. Does the site include wetlands? See info sheet d. Other critical habitat? _______________________ e. Is the site located in a wildlife corridor? See info sheet 4. Does the site include prime agricultural soils?

1. Is the site identified as susceptible to flooding? See map and info sheet 2. Is the site identified as susceptible to lahars? See map and info sheet 3. Is the site identified as susceptible to rain-inducted landslides?

See map and info sheet a. High b. Moderate c. Low 4. Is the site identified as susceptible to liquefaction? See map and info sheet a. High b. Moderate c. Low 5. Is the site identified as susceptible to storm surge (1-4 m)?

See map and info sheet 6. Is the site identified as susceptible to tsunamis (<5m)?

See map and info sheet

Hazards Notes

Proposed land use(s): _________________________________________________________________________

Environmental Site Assessment Questionnaire

A Sustainable Revival: Leyte After Yolanda, prepared for the non-profit organization Kusog Tacloban, examines a process and strategy for developing regional environmental standards and a neighborhood toolkit for â&#x20AC;&#x153;building back betterâ&#x20AC;? in Leyte Province, Philippines, after the devastation of Super Typhoon Yolanda in November 2013. Kusog Tacloban hopes to involve residents and non-experts in planning and environmental site assessment at the barangay (neighborhood) level. A conceptual framework for such involvement is put forth in this report. It comprises education on environmental conditions and hazard risks, including both scientific and local knowledge, and participatory planning that both links into the municipal planning system and can be used for community-based development. Within this framework, environmental standards, a toolkit, and participatory planning strategies could engage local residents, barangay officials, and non-experts in making ecologically informed land use decisions.

This exploratory report documents the progress made during spring 2014 in developing draft environmental standards and toolkit materials, and a process for testing and refining these with feedback from communities in Leyte. The report details the findings of the authorsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; research conducted remotely in the United States, and meetings with local officials, municipal planners, and residents during a ten-day trip to Leyte Province in June 2014.

The report concludes with next steps and recommendations for the continued development and refinement of the draft materials with community feedback.

The Conway School is the only institution of its kind in North America. Its focus is sustainable landscape planning and design. Each year, through its accredited, ten-month graduate program students from diverse backgrounds are immersed in a range of real-world design projects, ranging in scale from residences to regions. Graduates go on to play significant roles in various aspects of landscape planning and design.

Conway: Real World. Real Results.