Understanding the Role of Forests in Supporting Livelihoods and Climate Resilience: Case Studies in the Philippines

This study sheds new light on two important aspects of climate change and forest ecosystems. It looks at how forest ecosystems help enhance people’s resilience to climate impacts, and how forest ecosystems support livelihood development for the poor. The analytical report that follows presents the findings of empirical work undertaken between May 2015 and November 2016.

The report relies on new empirical work. In applying a mix of analytical approaches, including ecosystem accounting models, focus group discussions, and participatory scenario development, the study valuates forest benefits, implements forest use surveys, and performs trade-off analysis at three case study sites in the Philippines. Landscape simulations were developed to test ecosystem service provision under different land cover extent and spatial arrangements within a watershed. Together, the analyses help inform a better understanding of how forests and their ecosystem services contribute to poverty alleviation in the Philippines and at the same time enhance resilience to climate change.

The findings have important implications for forest land use planning and management. Findings of the study are expected to provide technical guidance for the NGP and will complement ongoing efforts by the Philippine government. By providing evidence of the potential benefits of forests for enhancing community resilience and by accounting for the benefits of forests in supporting local livelihoods, the study recommends that ecosystem service modeling and valuation, forest use analysis and scenarios be incorporated into forest land use planning and forest management. An ecosystem accounting approach is well suited as the framework for such work, which also requires hydrological modeling to pinpoint the specific forest areas of high importance to water regulation.