About INREMP

 The Integrated Natural Resources and Environmental Management Project (INREMP) is one of the major projects of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources - Forest Management Bureau (DENR-FMB). It aims to address unsustainable watershed management in four priority Upper River Basins (URBs), namely;

1. 1. Chico Upper River Basin in the Cordillera Administrative Region, Northern Luzon;
2. 2. Wahig-Inabanga River Basin in the island of Bohol, Region VII;
3. 3. Bukidnon Upper River Basin in Northern Mindanao, Region X; and
4. 4. Lake Lanao River Basin in the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao.

      With particular focus on indigenous peoples and resource-poor communities, the project aims to reduce and reverse degradation of watersheds and associated environmental services caused by forest denudation and unsustainable farming practices.

      Mechanisms are being developed to provide incentives to local communities, local government units (LGUs), and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) for improving natural resource management by generating sufficient and tangible economic benefits.

PROJECT MECHANISMS

Mechanisms to achieve project objectives include:

1. 1. Protection, conservation, and management of natural closed and open canopy forests;
2. 2. Rehabilitation of degraded forestlands, environmentally-fragile areas, and mangrove areas;
3. 3. Conservation of biodiversity and carbon offsets;
4. 4. Generation of income from sustainable land and resource uses and value-adding activities from processing of timber and non-timber products; and
5. 5. Providing payments for environmental services (PES and ENR-sourced revenues) including transactions from water regulation and soil conservation.

COMPONENT I - RIVER BASIN AND WATERSHED MANAGEMENT AND INVESTMENT

• • Creation of Indicative Development Plans (IDPs) by regional and provincial offices of the DENR in coordination with national agencies and LGUs in the four URBs based on land capability assessments and participatory land use classification to identify appropriate management zones
• • Adoption of the IDPs by regional development councils and/or provincial legislative councils
• • Preparation of Watershed Management Plans (WMPs) based on the IDPs. The WMPs define and prioritize subprojects and establish work programs for implementation by LGU clusters and municipal development councils
• • Consideration by WMPs of existing tenurial arrangements and treatment of ancestral domains as management subunits
• • Establishment of a geographical information system (GIS) database for performance monitoring

COMPONENT II - SMALLHOLDER AND INSTITUTIONAL INVESTMENTS IN CONSERVATION AND URB PRODUCTIVITY ENHANCEMENT

• • Implementing subproject investments within the selected watersheds based on river basin-wide planning (Component 1)
• • Implementing interventions for watershed restoration and rehabilitation by DENR to include: community-based protection, reforestation and assisted natural regeneration, production forestry including demonstrations on agro-forestry and commercial plantation, and conservation farming
• • Implementing livelihood improvement investments by municipal LGUs to include: rural access roads and foot trails; communal irrigation systems; potable community water facilities; seed fund for replication and expansion of tested and mature farming technologies

COMPONENT III - RIVER BASIN AND WATERSHED MANAGEMENT CAPACITY AND RELATED GOVERNANCE MECHANISMS

• • Assisting the LGUs in establishing operational clusters at watershed and river basin levels
• • Providing training programs for LGUs and local community organizations on land resource assessments, land use planning, and watershed management and monitoring
• • Providing support for technical extension-information, education and communication (TE-IEC)
• • Capacitating LGUs in carbon stock enhancement and land management practices to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and land-based pollution
• • Establishment of community watershed protection brigades

COMPONENT IV - PROJECT MANAGEMENT AND SUPPORT SERVICES

• • Establishment of DENR project coordinating offices (NPCO, RPCO, PPMO, and WMPCO)
• • Establishment and implementation of the project monitoring and evaluation system
• • Mobilizing resources for capacity building of DENR's regional and provincial units and the LGUs
• • Consolidating the annual program and budgets received from provincial and regional levels
• • Conducting gender and safeguard monitoring and reporting

      Funding for INREMP primarily comes from a loan obtained by the Government of the Philippines (GOP) from the Asian Development Bank and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) with minor grant components from the Global Environmental Facility (GEF) and the Climate Change Fund (CCF). The Project entails a total funding of $154.12 Million or PhP 6.3 Billion including the GOP, LGUs and Beneficiaries counterpart. The table below shows the amount in dollars and pesos and percentage share/contribution of each funding agency.

      The Project sites are comprised of 23 watersheds extending to over 11,385.54 km2 with an estimated population of around 1.8 million. Approximately, 223,000 household beneficiaries are targeted covering 9 provinces, 81 cities and municipalities, and some 1,332 barangays. Main beneficiaries are marginal households with small landholdings. Indigenous Peoples (IPs) and other ethnic minorities constitute around 75% of the total beneficiaries that reside in headwaters of the river basins.

      The extent and location of the URBs are shown in the table below:

*The total 81 avoids double counting as some municipalities straddle more than 1 watershed

      Of the aggregate Project area, 63% are classified as forest land while 37% are alienable and disposable (A & D) lands. Of the 719,985 ha of forestland, only 312,585 ha or 43% have forest cover, the remaining 407,400 ha or 57% are either cultivated, grasslands, shrubs, wooded grassland or built-up areas. On the other hand, of the 418,570 ha of A& D lands, 314,193 ha or 76% are cultivated and planted to annual crops and the rest are shrub land or cultivated land planted to perennial crops or grassland or built-up areas.