KALAMANSIG, Sultan Kudarat—Two years after planting, close to 100,000 mangrove seedlings at about four feet high are now teeming with greens covering the erstwhile nude and muddy 20-hectare shoreline.

The community considered it a major makeover after the place was hit by a tidal wave, converted to fishpond and was abandoned.

“This is the result of the concerted efforts of our alliance,” said Romeo Ebanada, president of Alliance Mangrove People’s organization.

The Alliance is a cluster of four peoples’ organization (PO) formed to manage the 42-hectare mangrove rehabilitation comprising the PO from barangays Lapyahan, Buenaflores, Bantogon and Labak.

The other 22 hectares in close canopy only underwent enrichment planting to recover the original density since it has rehabilitated through natural process in the past years.

Most of the species planted in the sandy and muddy loam include bakauan (Rhizophora spp.), bungalon (Avicennia marina) and pagatpat (Sonneratia alba).

Mangrove forests as life support system is a powerhouse resources critical for natural breeding and nursery area for many economically known important marine animals like fish, crab, shrimp and other crustaceans. It also protects the shoreline from big waves, wind and flood.

The project was implemented under the Natural Resources Management (NRM) component of the Department of Agriculture-Mindanao Rural Development Program (DA-MRDP) in partnership with the local government unit (LGU) of Kalamansig.

“As NRM targets upland to coastal conservation, the mangrove rehabilitation is one of the four major interventions implemented in our town as it needs attention,” said municipal NRM focal Dexter Posadas.

“The mangrove rehabilitation site covered a relatively large area. So as to instill ownership of the project from the community, we decided to form them into one organization, the alliance,” he said.

The project was earmarked over P2 million, which is part of the total P7 million NRM project of the town. The LGU put in 10 percent counterpart, another 10 percent from the national government and 80 percent from the loan portfolio from the World Bank.

“On our latest count we have at least 97,559 live seedlings from the 133,340 hills we planted, which is about 73-percent survival rate. The PO are due to plant in the coming days when they gather enough propagules,” said Posadas.

“Before, my family planted mangrove behind our house near the seacoast because we know those trees protect us from strong winds,” said the Pagadian-born Ebanada.

Ebanada said that when he arrived to the place in 1972 as an employee of the Sta. Clara Lumber Corp. there was a thick mangrove forest and the fish population was very abundant.

“Fish was very abundant and the mangrove forest was really thick but when the lumber company closed, many of us were unemployed and resorted to farming, fishing and other livelihood activities,” he said.

He also recalled that in 1976, gigantic waves hit the Moro gulf and devastated many areas, including a sizable area in Kalamansig.

“Some of the residents died during that tragic event, but the biggest damage we saw was when the coastal area was left bare. Mangrove trees were uprooted and washed out,” said Ebanada.

For a long time, no serious rehabilitation activity was done in the area.

“When the area was made into fishponds, some mangrove trees were also cut. Plus, many residents also made use of mangrove as firewood,” he said, adding, “This contributed to the steady decline of the mangrove trees.”

“When the MRDP project came, many were skeptic, saying it would just be ‘another government project that would just die down,’” he said.

“But this was different,” he added.

MRDP designed the project to be implemented by POs in close coordination with the LGU.

The PO members were paid for the seedling or mangrove propagules they produce and were hired as workhand for the planting and other activities.

“We earned extra income from the project. So, we understood that as we are the beneficiaries of the project, the activity also augments our income,” Ebanada said, adding:

“This manner made it easy for us to accept and make the project our own.”

The alliance underwent at least five technical trainings on mangrove-rehabilitation management which Ebanada said made them more capable in handling the project.

“Another thing I appreciate about the project is that there is close mentoring and monitoring. We were capacitated, technical personnel like Mr. Jhonny Pangud of DENR [in the Soccsksargen region] and from other agencies assisted us,” Ebanada said.

Innovations

To secure the area, the four presidents of the alliance were identified to become “wardens.”

The wardens monitor the project on a regular basis and put bamboo markers beside each plant to identify that the spot has been planted. This made the monitoring of mortality relatively easy and the replacement of the propagules quick.

“We also fenced the area with old nets and bamboo to prevent stray animals, especially goats, from eating on the leaves of the seedlings,” Ebanada said.

They also sought the support of barangay council, which, in response, issued an ordinance penalizing owners of stray animals that disturbs the rehabilitation site.

“But the most difficult problem we had was barnacles infestation,” Ebanada said.

The barnacle (marine organism of the class Cirripedia that tend to live in shallow and tidal waters) grows on the stems of the mangrove. It hampers the proper distribution of nutrients on the growing seedling, which eventually causes the plant to wither.

“We scraped the barnacles from each seedling but we have to be extra careful not to scratch the body of the seedling [because it could] die,” he said.

Ebanada said he is glad to be part of the project because this could be a legacy he can leave to his grandchildren.

“I know my grandchildren will be proud of me being the leader of this successful project. And I want to instill in them the love and care for our environment,” said the 60-year-old community leader.