Documento(s) 16 de 24

Abstract

Over time, and despite official state policy on the national patrimony, the people of the Cordillera controlled their territory through indigenous land tenure systems and customary resource management rules. They managed their internal affairs with minimal state intervention. Finally, in 1996, the Philippine state recognized native titles by enabling the formal issuing of a domain or Certificate of Ancestral Domain Claim (CADC). These certificates required the preparation of an Ancestral Domain Management Plan (ADMP) by municipal governments, despite the geographical and administrative contradictions between such levels of government and customary land and resource management entities. This contradiction served as a focus for participatory research into how to harmonize customary management structures with the requirements of the new CADC process. The research led to CBNRM approaches being used in planning. The research team devised a two-step strategy. The first step was to get formal recognition of the domains within the municipality so that they could be recognized as key planning units. The second step was to help three selected ilis, or traditional communities, to identify the issues and activities to include in their management plans.

Introduction

In 1996, the government of the Philippines gave formal legal recognition to the ancestral domain claim of the municipality of Sagada in Mountain province, located in the Cordillera Administrative Region. This gave Sagada the right to exercise customary resource tenure and management practices. This represented a watershed in the long struggle that Philippine indigenous cultural communities had fought to compel the Philippine state to recognize native title.¹ The case represented a dramatic reversal in the state's attitude toward indigenous people's land rights. The Cordillera Studies Centre (CSC) of the University of the Philippines Baguio had worked for some time on these issues of customary land tenure and ancestral domain.² The policy change provided an opportunity for our team and partners to look more closely at the implementation of NRM devolution to customary, community-based institutions.

We launched a three-year participatory research project in March 1997, entitled 'Ancestral domain and natural resource management in Sagada, Mountain province, northern Philippines'. It is usually referred to as NRMP 2. We focused our attention on the following issues of policy implementation, which guided the design of the project's activities and priorities:

1. ensuring local peoples' participation in the identification and delineation of their ancestral domains and lands;
   
   
2. formulating ecologically and economically sound management plans (see Box 12.1);
   
   
3. enabling the recognition of the ili (see Box 12.2) as a planning entity in the preparation of the ADMP; and
   
   
4. strengthening coordination efforts among government agencies towards achieving development goals in an area covered by the award of an ancestral domain claim.

Historically, the Cordillera was not effectively colonized until the 19th century. Residents of these areas had already evolved enforceable rights to types of property regimes before the colonial state declared all lands as part of the public domain under the Regalian doctrine. The American colonial government maintained the primacy of state law over customary land tenure for half a century, and it was adopted by the independent republic in 1946.

On 15 January 1993, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) issued Administrative Order (DAO) No. 2, which specified the rules and regulations for the identification and recognition of ancestral domain and ancestral land claims. This government policy intended to preserve and maintain the integrity of ancestral domains and ensure recognition of indigenous cultural communities' customs and traditions. In addition, it sought to identify and delineate ancestral domain and land claims, certify them and formulate strategies for their effective management. Specific documents were required to support any community's application to the CADC, including ethnographic accounts of the community's local history and sociocultural profile.

The municipality of Sagada was granted its certificate in 1996. In November 1996, the DENR issued Administrative Order No. 96–34 entitled 'Guidelines on the management of certified ancestral domain claims'. It contained the basic steps in the preparation of the ADMP. The plan is meant to ensure that the management of diverse resources and land uses within the domain is in accordance with traditional processes and customary laws.

The ancestral domain of traditional communities

Through our research, we wanted to demonstrate the feasibility of using the traditional village or ili as the appropriate entity to exercise rights over an ancestral domain. The ili is a pre-existing community where people are accountable to one another through long-term associations of mutual dependence and trust. As an autonomous social and political unit, it is also closely tied to the specific landscape and natural resource features of the area inhabited and used by local residents. Ili members follow the rules and practices of their indigenous property systems and manage the natural resources in their ancestral domains and lands (Prill-Brett, 1994, 1995). Such accountability may be expected in long-established communities or ilis that continue to apply the rules of the indigenous property system over their ancestral domain (see Box 12.2).

Variances are expected because not all indigenous communities maintain customary practices for management of common property.³ Some traditional communities have a long settlement history that spans several centuries, which allowed for the establishment of a strong attachment to a territory or domain. Newer communities have been established by people's migration within the Cordillera region. These do not have a tradition of common property regimes.

The legislative reforms (DAO No. 2) define possession and occupation as the primary requisites for formal recognition of an ancestral title through the issuing of a CADC. By themselves, these two basic requirements do not distinguish indigenous communities in terms of concepts of territory and territorial control. Instead, they are indicators that relate to the sustainability of common property resource management (as distinct from private cultivated lands, see Ostrom, 1994; Agrawal and Ostrom, 2001). The maintenance of the domain despite outside threats, such as the rule of exclusion, proves the territorial and cultural integrity of the responsible group.

Because the DENR was keen to fast-track and implement the awarding of CADCs, it granted certificates to municipalities rather than the traditional community or ili. This procedure simplifies the application process because the politico-administrative system of the country legally recognizes the barangay⁴ and the municipality⁵ but not the ili. However, neither the barangay nor the municipality is necessarily equivalent to the sociocultural definition of ili. Because of this, it can be difficult to identify the unique cultural community that is entitled by custom to exercise rights over an ancestral domain. Therefore, a key element of the research was to assess how the barangay might address sociocultural identification in its ancestral domain administration. Conversely, our research also assessed how the traditional ili could manage the legalistic and administrative requirements of ancestral domain definition and planning.

Figure 12.1 shows Sagada, a municipality that included several traditional communities or ili. Despite this, it was awarded only one certificate. The project identified nine ilis, which are delineated on the municipal map. The smaller units within an ili are the barangays.

The ili, not the municipality or the barangay, is the customary unit for resource management. However, traditional communities have no formal place in the planning processes that accompany the formulation of the ADMP. DENR drafted a circular⁶ that intended to formally recognize pine forest stands in Mountain province that were managed by families, clans and communities under customary laws and practices. This circular encouraged the research team to pursue the proposal to use the ili as a management and planning unit for the Sagada management plan.

The development of an ADMP for the ili encourages us to reconsider the indigenous resource management practices of traditional Cordillera communities. Indigenous property regimes could be reasserted within the state's governance framework. In Sagada, the development of the management plan would benefit and empower communities by reinforcing their customary laws on resource management.

Figure 12.1 Map delineating the municipality of Sagada including its ilis

Formulating the ADMP

The awarding of a CADC to the municipality of Sagada required that an ADMP be formulated as quickly as possible. The management plan included specific activities and land-use guidelines that fell within the customary management rights of the community. The DENR's acceptance of the plan would subsequently precipitate the legal recognition of community rights over resources in the ancestral domain. Government projects would then have to conform to the plan within ancestral domains. The formulation of the plan was considered imperative because of the growing resource competition in the area, which primarily emanated from tourism.

Aided by CBNRM tools and techniques of participatory action research, activities encouraging the formulation of ADMPs were undertaken for three of the nine ilis. This strategy tested the ili's methods and processes, which meant that incorporating changes into the remaining ilis would be much easier later on. During these exercises, the research team acted as the facilitating entity. The ilis were Fidelisan, Demang, and Ankileng, as shown in Figure 12.1. Respectively, they represent the northern, central and southern agro-ecological zones of Sagada.

Social arrangements governing natural resource use

Research commenced with the description and analysis of social arrangements that govern natural resource use. Although Sagada's nine ilis may be considered long-established indigenous communities with defined property regimes, we recognized that they are not at all homogenous. Figure 12.2 displays transects for the three villages showing land use, agricultural systems, resources and products, and issues in NRM. We address similarities and differences in resource management practices between Fidelisan, Demang and Ankileng ilis, below.

The management plan attempted to respond to common and ili-specific concerns in Fidelisan, Demang and Ankileng. The heterogeneity of these communities' agro-ecological and social contexts gave rise to a variety of livelihoods, resulting from the differences in resource endowments and incentives to utilize them. As a consequence, various stakeholders had divergent interests in the management of natural resources.

Figure 12.2 Transects for Fidelisan, Demang and Ankileng ilis

Of the three villages we studied, the northernmost ili of Fidelisan is perhaps the most traditional. This is manifested in the strength and extent of traditional customs that people continue to practise as well as the social structures that remain in place. Community life still revolves around traditional activities like subsistence rice farming, swidden agriculture and gathering wild products from the forest, in addition to their auxiliary activities. Norms are still defined in customary ways as seen in the observance of the traditional rest day, called the obaya, which is declared by village elders. As well, traditionally ascribed statuses are still conferred on certain individuals. Therefore, the council of elders is still a force to reckon with in Fidelisan, responsible for much more than the performance of traditional religious rituals (San Luis, 2001).

In comparison, Demang is perhaps the least traditional. It is more open to the influences of modernization brought by tourism and agricultural commercialization. This is due primarily to its geographic location at the centre of Sagada. Nonetheless, Demang exhibits community solidarity amid economic and social change. Despite the fact that many traditional values are gradually being eroded, it remains a close-knit community. Traditional practices such as the rest day, exchange of labour and begnas (a community feast where the spirits are called home to bring protection and fertility) continue to be observed. As well, traditional sources of authority are respected.

Ankileng, our third site, lies between Demang and Fidelisan in terms of the extent to which tradition exerts influence over village life. In particular, rice production is guided by a traditional cropping calendar marked by community rituals that signal the different stages in the agricultural cycle. All farmers participate in community activities to repair and clean irrigation canals and people who refuse to participate are fined. Cooperative or exchange labour continues to be practised, specifically for house construction and during peak periods in farming. However, exchange labour is now limited to a more confined group, usually consisting of relatives, neighbours or ward members, and is not as commonly practised as in the past (Cabalfin, 2001).

The households in our three sites have access to individual, corporate and communal property. Rules regarding land access, use and control appear to be similar across all three. Typically, cultivation areas such as rice fields and vegetable gardens, as well as residential lands, are privately owned by individuals or households and passed on through inheritance. Among the indigenous people of Sagada, general primogeniture is practised, that is, parents' ancestral lands are given to the eldest son or daughter, with no gender discrimination. Land acquired during a couple's married life may also be given to lower-ranked siblings. Individual owners dictate how a particular piece of property will be used, by whom and at what price, if any. Rights and claims to these types of lands are clearly known, respected and sanctioned by community members.

Clashes between indigenous tenure systems and state law are most visible when rights to the forests are in question. By national law, Sagada's forests are publicly owned and fall directly under the management and control of the DENR. But day-to-day practice reveals that community members follow customary law in the utilization of the forest and its products. Communal forests can still be found in both Fidelisan and Ankileng villages, but not in Demang. In the former, the barangay council enforces the community rules on cutting limits, fines and penalties.

The saguday or clan forests are sometimes referred to as corporate forests to clarify that tenure is held collectively by a sub-ili group. Saguday are found in all three villages. Clan members designate the administrator, who is usually the oldest member. This admistrator supervises and manages the use of resources found in forests. The close-knit character of the community discourages abusive behaviour on the part of the administrator as well as among clan members. In many cases, they rely on customary practices in order to settle disputes. Cooperative behaviour is generally the norm and clan members follow communal rules with minimal monitoring and enforcement costs. Saguday owners generally observe cutting limits and prohibit logging for commercial purposes, and assist in fire control and prevention.

The formulation and implementation of the ADMP was an excellent opportunity for local residents to get involved in participatory development planning. The Local Government Code of 1991 (LGC or Republic Act No. 7160) proved crucial: it enabled the community-based planning process to take off. This law mandated the decentralization and devolution of government administrative functions in the Philippines. Local autonomy was encouraged through mechanisms that allowed local government officials and members of the municipality's different communities to join in order to implement their development plans and programmes. These include environment and natural resources in addition to other sectors. The local government is charged with enacting legislation, as well as implementing community development programmes and local resource management schemes (Colongon, 2001). The local government code provides an enabling framework for local government units and their constituent communities to exercise local autonomy. The extent to which any specific local government implements the provisions of this code indicates local groups' ability to exercise collective action.

In Sagada, environmental matters are addressed mostly at the barangay level. The barangays were established from new settlements growing out of the ili as the population grew. At the same time, the original settlement became established also as a distinct barangay. Hence, the ili could be a single barangay or a group of barangays. There are standing Barangay environmental committees. The ordinances at the barangay level indicate the institutionalization of the role of the barangay in addressing problems of the environment. In all three sites, there are reports of violations of community rules on forest use, that is, 'unauthorized logging'. In Barangay Demang, violations of forest rules are brought to the barangay officials for resolution. Barangay ordinances exacting fines from violators are enforced. In Barangay Ankileng, the Barangay assembly and the Lupon (adjudicators in the Barangay justice system) are involved in settling disputes. Several of the barangay officials are in fact the traditional elders of the ili. In both the barangays of Ankileng and Demang, the barangay captain is a traditional elder. These examples show how the state administrative unit (barangay) has been integrated in the traditional political processes of the ili.

Following are several of the activities the team undertook together with the community members in order to formulate their ADMP.

Participatory mapping to delineate the traditional ili settlement

Maps that can define the boundaries of ancestral domains are crucial to the process of their legal and political recognition that now extends beyond customary law. However, administrative maps usually do not show the spatial clustering of a community's social groups and customary settlements. Instead, they typically identify politico-administrative units such as provinces and municipalities. Maps produced by government agencies are woefully inadequate for reflecting both social and environmental parameters. Therefore, a participatory approach to mapping is a necessary and crucial component of ancestral domain delineation.

We undertook participatory mapping of the ancestral domain of Fidelisan, Demang and Ankileng in November 1998. The process continued through a series of community workshops in 1999 and 2000. Mapping activities were undertaken by ili members using extant base maps and technical support from a partner agency (Environmental Science for Social Change). In several community meetings, elders, saguday administrators and barangay officials along with other villagers confirmed and corrected these maps to identify the ilis They also enriched these maps by identifying cultural landmarks; locating resources such as forests, rivers and water sources; providing place names; and delineating traditional boundaries.

There was another very important outcome of the mapping. This was the identification of common areas located within the ancestral domain of ilis that were shared with other ili communities located in neighbouring municipalities and/or provinces.⁷ In other words, these were common pasture grounds, hunting grounds and forests. Delineation would have meant drawing boundary lines between ancestral domains. On several occasions, the mapping exercises led to the recollection of old intervillage territorial conflicts that threatened the cooperative spirit that was slowly forming thanks to the project.

This situation prompted an early recommendation from the team. They thought that attention should be paid to enabling managers of neighbouring ancestral domains to discuss how to utilize the resources located in these common and shared areas. More specifically, the individual ADMPs of each of the neighbouring ilis were asked to identify and plan the use of the resources in such areas that are shared between ilis. In this way, the mapping exercise could be used as a tool not only for exclusion, but also for generating cooperation and reducing conflicts over resource use. The suggestion was passed on to the regional office of the newly formed National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP). With the passage of the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act (IPRA) in 1997, NCIP took over from the DENR the mandate to oversee the implementation of government programmes to recognize ancestral domains and ancestral lands.

The ili maps were also important inputs in the preparation of the ADMP because they identified the traditional village settlement. In addition, they helped delineate areas of resource degradation and stakeholders' interests in resources.

Community-based land-use study

What resources do Sagada residents exploit? How and by whom are these resources utilized? To answer these questions, a community-based land-use study was conducted in the three project sites, led by a soil scientist and an economist. The goal was to assess the biophysical and sociocultural conditions affecting resource management practices in selected ecosystems in Sagada. Community-based land-use maps were generated through this exercise (see Figure 12.3).

The team used participatory procedures for biophysical and socio-economic assessments. An assessment of resources in the village was completed through a series of on-site visits, mapping exercises using geographic information system, soil and vegetative sampling, key informant interviews, community workshops and focus-group discussions. Since gender equality is largely upheld in these communities in matters of consultation and decision-making, participatory mapping and its related activities successfully incorporated women's views.

The activities of the research team served two functions. First, they legitimized customary rules and practices and enhanced the value of existing indigenous ecological knowledge by incorporating these into the community's plans, which were acknowledged by state agencies. Second, they informed community members about government programmes and policies which could affect them. The communities started to appreciate that new technologies could prove beneficial for use on agricultural land and forests, and for irrigation.

This participatory land-use study demonstrated concretely what a CBNRM approach could be. A close collaboration existed between the team's social and natural scientists during the study's design and implementation phases. Expert knowledge, in dialogue with indigenous and local knowledge, brought a better understanding of farming issues, problems and solutions for the community members.

Participatory mapping, resource assessment and land-use identification provided the inputs into the ADMP being prepared for the ili (Figure 12.4). These activities afforded a rare opportunity for dialogue. Discussions involved issues of customary and state law, scientific and local indigenous knowledge, as well as participatory and top-down approaches in the management of common resources. These may have contributed to the opening up of a line of communication between the people of Sagada and the DENR. Since the DENR had been the enforcer of the state's hardline stance against forest occupants and their use of forest resources, people approached DENR initiatives with suspicion and scepticism. This hindered dialogue and cooperation between the DENR and members of the local community.

Figure 12.3 Community-based land-use maps

Community-based biodiversity assessment and identification of natural resources

Conducting a biodiversity assessment was among the first major activities completed in partnership with the communities. Its objective was to generate baseline data to identify the resources people used and how they managed them. Later on, results would allow us to consider options that could build on traditional practices. Community members were trained in scientific biodiversity assessment methods.

Figure 12.4 Project activities in formulating the ADMP

Guided by the study's leaders, research sites were selected and the selected community researchers helped us to understand their traditional use and management systems. Assessments included forests, uma (swidden plots) and rice fields, and involved barangay councils, elders, women, hunters and youth. It was not surprising that women were the most knowledgeable about the uma because swidden management is largely their responsibility. They also showed the most interest in new technologies that could benefit uma crops such as sweet potato. For example, women farmers proposed and collaborated actively with the study on rejuvenating traditional sweet potato varieties (described in more detail below).

Organizing the Inter-agency Committee for Natural Resource Management (1997–2000)

Besides the DENR, several government and non-government groups with activities or projects had designed projects for the sustainable management of natural resources by the local community. In the course of these agencies' work, duplication or overlapping activities and projects occurred. This situation is very frustrating to communities that are often visited by outsiders making various requests. Lack of coordination between such groups can sow confusion in the community because projects and researchers have different messages. These projects often place unwelcome demands on the same communities, to the detriment of well-intentioned agencies and their staff.

In July 1997, the research team hosted a consultation and dialogue for government and nongovernment agencies with projects in Sagada to address exactly this issue. As a result, an Inter-agency Committee for Natural Resource Management for the municipality of Sagada was created to share information and coordinate the actions of government and nongovernment agencies, as well as research institutions. The mayor of Sagada strongly supported this committee.

The committee agreed on:

• giving assistance to the institutional development of the municipality of Sagada to strengthen its ability to respond to issues and opportunities;
  
  
• approving joint implementation of training and other project activities; and
  
  
• making an inventory of resources and exchanging information and materials among agencies.

Of utmost importance was the agreement by all committee members to assist the municipality in creating its ADMP. The committee members included representatives of the DENR, Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR), National Irrigation Administration (NIA), Cordillera Highland Agricultural Resources Management Programme (CHARMP), as well as CONCORED (Consortium of Cordillera Organizations for Resource Equitability and Development), the NGO responsible for the CHARMP researchers, this project team and the municipality of Sagada.

After this initial agreement and dialogue, regular interagency committee meetings were held in Baguio City and in Sagada. The Baguio meetings were an occasion for agency representatives to share information on their current activities as well as report on the status of ongoing programmes in Sagada. In Sagada, consultations were held with the local legislative council and municipal representatives of different national agencies like the Department of Agriculture, DENR and DAR, both formally and informally. The most important outcome was a joint approach to the work.

The establishment of the inter-agency committee has contributed to the coordinated implementation of various projects by different agencies in the municipality. Duplication and overlap were significantly reduced and the waste of resources avoided. Moreover, the effort taken to complement and coordinate has improved working relations among the different government agencies as well as with the communities.

Other elements of the management plan

The role of the DENR and the municipality in the co-management of the ancestral domain within the ili structures still has to be clarified. Through dialogue, compromise, and negotiation among the stakeholders, a co-management strategy still needs to be produced. It ought to enable local resource users to obtain alternative livelihood activities that are consistent with sustainable resource use. In the case of the three ili where we worked, we think that good progress was made.

In addition, the project identified some outstanding issues. For example, the legal personality of the holders of the CADC remained to be clarified at the time of the research. The certificate was issued to the village elders or heads on behalf of a traditional community or ili. However, what authority do they have to enter into contracts regarding the use of resources in their ancestral domain? Can the certificate-holder accept or deny a proposal by a logging company to cut lumber from Sagada forests? Alternatively, is the DENR still the final arbiter and authority on this matter?

Fortunately, that issue has since been clarified by the procedures specified by the IPRA. This law made the NCIP the agency responsible for overseeing the titling procedures of ancestral domains and lands that were previously assigned to the DENR. Most importantly, a process for 'free and prior informed consent' is now required before any project can be implemented in an area covered by a CADC. The consent process requires that community members, through their village elders, come to an agreement to allow any proposal to utilize a resource found in their domain.

Land-use transitions

The village economy consists of livelihood systems that use household resources in three categories: on farm, off-farm and non-farm. To the household, the outputs of production provide direct subsistence and cash revenue from sales. Other engagements of resources yield benefits either in cash or kind. Typically, the extensions of the farming households are the members of the family who are absent from the household and the village. They include students enrolled in schools, workers employed outside Sagada and those who have moved permanently out of the municipality. Being extensions, they maintain their rightful claims over the village resources. Specifically, their claims come in the form of returns of the farmland, communally owned forests, grazing and mineral land, and water rights. In return, the farming household expects remittances to supplement its cash and assets.

The CBNRM framework is particularly applicable for research on indigenous people's land rights because of the emphasis it gives to the community as the locus of action, participation and decision-making. Defining community is always an issue. Collective action is defined as 'action taken by a group (either directly or on its behalf through an organization) in pursuit of members' perceived shared interests' (Meinzen-Dick et al., 2002).

However, what ensures that a group will share interests? What enables or constrains them to act collectively? After all, local communities are far from being homogenous. Groups or factions within a community face different stresses in their livelihoods, land-use systems and sociopolitical relations. They have competing interests over resources. Therefore, it is not enough that the community addresses its problems with external groups such as the state. It needs to resolve disputes internally over specific resources. However, what happens when traditional mechanisms of conflict resolution are slowly being eroded by a multitude of changes? Let us briefly recount some of these changes.

During the 1980s, US military bases in the Philippines created a high demand for locally produced salad tomatoes. In response, agricultural production shifted on Sagada farms. Farmers who originally planted only subsistence rice and practised swidden agriculture became engaged in commodity production for an external market. Market crops are now an important part of the local production system.

Tourism is a new and growing enterprise, and information technology is only the latest way in which the outside world has entered Sagada. On a popular website for international tourist travel, 13 entries gush about the charms of Sagada. In some seasons, all available local accommodation is fully booked.

But tourism is not the only application of the internet that has changed life in Sagada. A website designed for emigrants from the Cordillera allows expatriate Sagada residents throughout the world to log on and get news or send messages home. They can use the technology to maintain an active personal claim to common property and to its output. They do not lose their traditional rights just because they have moved away.

One of the most troublesome issues is lumber harvested from clan-owned forests and transported out of Sagada. The lumber that was traditionally a free but non-market good, used only for local consumption, has become an economic commodity with a market value. Such developments put a pressure on land and traditional rights and management agreements.

Communally-held forests are now subject to privatization and, thus, to a different set of tenure rules as a response to the rise of lumber prices. Ili forests have all but disappeared in the villages of Ankileng and Demang largely in response to population growth, which has led to their transformation into clan and family agricultural lands. Ankileng and Demang are closer than Fidelisan to roads that lead to urban centres.

Clan forests are also suffering from privatization pressures. Payments for tax declaration are made and filed in the name of the administrator of the clan forest. National law can interpret the resulting document as proof of the administrator's private ownership. However, from the point of view of customary procedure, the whole clan as a collective entity exercises ownership rights over the forests.

The potential loss of agricultural land is a widespread concern in Sagada. This anxiety appears to arise from two factors. First, the possibility of converting agricultural land to another use, such as residential construction or tourist accommodation, worries people. Second, concern is expressed over the choice between the subsistence rice crop with its perceived reliability to meet basic food requirements, and cash crops that are subject to the vagaries of the market but which offer much higher returns.

We noted above that emigration from Sagada did not sever an individual's claim to local resources: in fact, it actually augmented household resources because of remittance income. Therefore, the concept of household stretches geographically ever farther from the traditional home and village. As the land-use transitions in Sagada proceed in response to urban demand and market forces, the system of tenure shifts increasingly from open access and collective and common property tenure towards private tenure. These land-use transitions lead to new conflicts among land users, and it is possible that remote rights holders who have different interests from local residents could contribute to these. However, the sale of land and other property is still rare, particularly when it involves non-relatives and outsiders (Tapang, 2001). In order to prevent such land sales in future, customary law will have to be more strictly enforced.

The ADMP is a mechanism through which community members can control how new developments in agriculture and the economy will transform customary practices. As new crops and livelihood are adopted, rules governing their place in customary management practices can be negotiated in the consultative and consensual atmosphere of customary management.

Municipal and barangay officials may be thought of as formally representing state-created political structures. However, because of their ethnic affiliation with the communities in Sagada, local officials have always been advocates of the customary resource rights of their people in ancestral domain areas against the state's claim.

Adapting farming systems

One of the research objectives was to address some of these emerging issues in natural resources by developing and adapting farming systems and production methods that increase the sustainability of natural resource management. The following community-based interventions were undertaken (Follosco and Tacloy, 2001):

• improving the production and utilization of sweet potato, one of the most important crops in the region;
  
  
• establishing apiculture as a new activity;
  
  
• promoting fruit tree production as part of the home garden system; and
  
  
• testing new soil conservation measures.

These interventions were identified largely as a response to problems expressed by farmers. The sweet potato work involved the selection and introduction of new varieties and the rejuvenation of traditional varieties to address decreasing volume and diminishing quality of harvests. The project team arranged for a university-based sweet potato expert who is a widely respected fieldworker to undertake collaborative research with the women farmers (Follosco and Tacloy, 2001). The farmers were satisfied with the results of the experiment. However, researchers were frustrated with the limited data collected because of over-reliance on farmer participants for formal research protocols and monitoring (Ganga, 2001).

Another activity was the introduction of apiculture, an innovation suggested by the research team upon observation of the flora and fauna in the area. Thirty participants, mostly women, attended a short orientation course on beekeeping. Eventually, six of the participants established and managed bee colonies while undergoing a yearlong training programme. They also formed a producers' cooperative that was registered in 2002. One of the beekeepers has since set up demonstration colonies on the request of the Mountain province agricultural extension office. While this livelihood option was viable, it required specific skills and a strong interest to learn them, so it was adopted by only a few farmers.

There were two other less-successful interventions. One was a fruit-tree project. It failed because it required more motivation, skills and specialized inputs than people wanted to invest to manage the nursery and nurture seedlings in the field. Without the proper assignment of rights and responsibilities, the collective effort needed for maintenance of the tree nursery and newly-propagated seedlings dispersed into individual action.

The project also attempted to establish contour hedgerows for soil management. Seeds of various shrubs and trees were planted but some did not germinate, which resulted in gaps. Moreover, farmers did not prune the roots and shoots of the hedgerows, nor clear the site of weeds as part of the tasks of managing the plot. We learned that the labour requirements for hedgerows may be unacceptable to farmers even when they could prevent or reduce soil erosion, especially when compared with less labour-intensive traditional techniques. A tenure conflict in the community over the hedgerow test plot also demonstrated that it is crucial to resolve overlapping resource claims before investing in improved productivity.

In summary, the participatory technology development activities seemed to be successful if they addressed the community's immediate, high-priority concerns. Although requests came from the community, and meetings were held to discuss benefits and costs (for instance, inputs from the cooperators), it was impossible to ensure a continued collective engagement among participants. However, activities that met individual household needs were easily adopted and managed locally.

Despite such seemingly individual interests, a high level of community solidarity was also evident in the lending of land as test plots and in the cooperation of participants to address common issues. However, community solidarity is not sufficient for collective action to succeed. Organizational structures must be in place and responsibilities clearly defined so that benefits can be matched to specific activities. The greatest success occurred with technologies that offered additional income within the labour constraints of the household, using indigenous knowledge and expertise as much as possible, and where external experts responded directly to local feedback and initiative.

Impact and consequences: when communities take over

The recognition of native title received a boost with the passage of the IPRA, Republic Act No. 8371, which took effect on 22 November 1997, although its implementation was delayed by legal challenges.

The research results in Sagada became an important resource for implementing the IPRA in the Cordillera. The lessons and experiences documented in the research reports, Tangguyob (the project's newsletter) and the expertise of members of the research team from the centre were applied by the regional office of the NCIP. Not only did the office obtain copies of all research outputs, they selected the management plans for the villages of Fidelisan, Demang and Ankileng as prototypes for all communities intending to accomplish their own ADMP. Through a letter of agreement in September 2002, the CSC agreed to assist NCIP with their regional research and capability-building activities.

The formal management plan is called the Ancestral Domain Sustainable Development and Protection Plan (ADSDPP) under the IPRA of 1997. The processes that lead to the grant of the ancestral domain title under IPRA are similar to those previously specified by the DENR for the grant of the CADC. Hence, with the passage of the IPRA, all communities previously awarded with certificates can work towards converting their certificates into titles.

When Sagada was tasked to transform its plan into an ADSDPP under the provisions of the new legislation, community members formed a technical working group for this purpose with the help of the provincial officials of the Commission on Indigenous Peoples. The research team was subsequently invited to serve as advisers, ensuring that the participatory approaches of CBNRM could become institutionalized. The Sagada ilis are responsible for designing the new resource management plans. Although the formal ADSDPP will be approved for the entire municipality of Sagada, the plan will consist of sub-plans defined by each of the 11 ilis. At the time of writing (late 2004) the Sagada ADSDPP had not yet been approved.

Many of the research teams' and the community members' insights and lessons from this research were utilized by other Cordillera communities in their pursuit of legal recognition for their own ancestral domains. For example, two other municipalities in Mountain province have followed the ili-level planning exercises for their ancestral domain management plans. In addition, the ADSDPP planning exercises in Abra, a neighbouring province, has formally adopted the Sagada's ADMP model as a prototype. The participatory processes of CBNRM have been appreciated because they fit the consultative and consensual character of customary community decision-making. By using the traditional village elder structure, this project strengthened customary resource management practices. The plans now formally recognize customary decision-making mechanisms, which were previously ignored by government agencies.

Finally, the project demonstrated how local governments (the municipality and the barangays) can become facilitators and advocates of the customary rights of their people. When such partnerships are formed within communities, enduring examples are created that demonstrate how decentralization reforms were originally intended to work.

Conclusion

In conclusion, we can say CBNRM will work in practice when it builds the capacity of the community to decide for itself. In our case, the processes of participatory research empowered communities and built respect for local traditions and social structures, all of which encouraged and sustained participation. The existence of other groups working with and in the community can be helpful, but mutual awareness and coordination must be ensured to avoid project fatigue. The uniqueness (in social, political, economic and cultural aspects) of every community and its people is a third key element of a successful project. A CBNRM project or programme must be customized and modified from its prototypical form in order to suit local conditions.

The following section summarizes insights which the CSC shares with government agencies, other development and research projects and NGOs working on indigenous people's land rights.

Solid partnerships

Our research built upon a good working relationship with the municipality that had been nurtured through earlier CSC research projects. From its inception, our research project sought local support from both municipal and barangay governments, formal and indigenous social and political groups, and from both government and nongovernment organizations. The chief executive and members of the municipal council were informed of the objectives of the programme and were updated about activities undertaken in project sites. Both barangay officials and traditional elders provided us with assistance in various ways, from the identification of participants and key informants, to hosting meetings for planning or training.

Ownership of outputs

Because the project instituted a mechanism for ensuring that each activity was undertaken with community counterparts, community members readily accepted the outcomes of the research as their own, both successes and failures. This included the maps, community-based land-use studies for the three villages and the formal management plans.

Participatory technology development

Lessons come from both positive and negative outcomes. The improved production and utilization of sweet potato and beekeeping were successful projects. We learned that the probability of success appears to be higher if a project addresses immediate and priority concerns within the framework of household labour constraints. A significant factor contributing to the adoption of interventions was their indigenous nature, consciously minimizing external inputs by using local materials. Promising-sounding technologies alone are not sufficient to motivate their adoption.

Solidarity and local collective action

The community themselves generated proposals for activities and community meetings were held to discuss management aspects. However, this did and does not guarantee sustained interest or commitment. Community solidarity does not seem to be a sufficient condition for local collective action to succeed. It takes time for groups to achieve agreement on responsibilities. More importantly, benefits must match these responsibilities. Even customary law and traditional structures need to deal with the incentives and constraints of new conditions. We particularly learned not to make assumptions about customary and community solidarity. Deep rifts and suspicions remain and persist in any community. The challenge which this project met was how to work with these divisions in order to reach collective decisions and how to establish processes that enable communities to develop practical solutions.

Acknowledgements

The authors were members of the project Ancestral Domain and Natural Resource Management in Sagada, Mountain province, northern Philippines. This project was carried out under the auspices of the Cordillera Studies Centre (CSC), University of the Philippines Baguio, and it was funded by the IDRC, Canada. The authors gratefully acknowledge the cooperation of the following communities, organizations and people, in the successful implementation of this project between 1997 and 2002. We thank the communities of Fidelisan, Demang and Ankileng; the municipal government of Sagada, Mountain province, and particularly Mayor Thomas Killip; the Barangay councils of Aguid, Pide, Baangan, Fidelisan, Poblacion, Demang, Dagdag, Ankileng and Suyo; the Division of Natural Sciences (now the College of Science) and Division of Social Sciences (now the College of Social Sciences) of UP College Baguio (now the University of the Philippines Baguio); the College of Forestry and Department of Soil Science of Benguet State University; Northern Philippines Root Crops Research and Training Centre; Central Luzon State University; Environmental Science for Social Change; CONCORED, the NGO partner of the CHARMP for Sagada; and the Bureau of Plant Industry of Baguio City.

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