Community-Based Mangrove Forest Management Sustainability Analysis in Tagpait, Aborlan and Bacungan, Puerto Princesa City, Palawan, Philippines

Abstract

Community-based mangrove forest management is the national strategy of the Philippines for mangrove protection. However, aquaculture, resource extraction, and tourism activities of the community may cause degradation and no assurance of sustainability. A number of generalizations may be drawn as to the purposes of this study. This study is useful in developing the contextualized evaluation tool and evaluating the mangrove management system of the communities. This study evaluated the sustainability of mangrove forest management systems by the local community in Tagpait, Aborlan, and Bacungan, Puerto Princesa City, using applicable criteria and indicators (C & I) of sustainable mangrove forest management that were identified through FGDs. This study also identified seven applicable criteria and 35 indicators. The formulation of the verifiers through the rating scale for each applicable indicator was conducted through FGDs and KIIs. The formulated verifiers were used to evaluate the sustainability of mangrove management systems in both communities using HHI, FGDs, KIIs, and secondary data analysis. The results show that Tagpait has a grand mean of 2.31, while Bacungan has a grand mean of 2.47, in which Bacungan has a higher rating of sustainability of mangrove forest management system. Both communities fall under the fair status of sustainability. Also, the Overall Sustainability Index value of Bacungan is 0.35 (moderately sustainable) while Tagpait has 0.33 (moderately sustainable). Hence, Bacungan has better management, but by looking at the Sustainability Index for Individual Criteria, each community has its strengths and weaknesses in sustainable management. Lastly, this study may be utilized by concerned agencies to evaluate the sustainability of the mangrove management system of each community.