entrance fees to the makiling botanic gardens (mbg) were increased

Entrance fees to the Makiling Botanic Gardens (MBG) were increased

Entrance fees to the Reserve were imposed

Prices of non-timber forest products were upgraded

Economic Instruments for the Mt Makiling Forest Reserve, Philippines

OUR GAINS

• Economic instruments implemented

Mt. Makiling is famous among backpackers & mountaineers because of this “90 degrees” part of

the climb.

MAKILING CENTER FOR MAKILING CENTER FOR MOUNTAIN ECOSYSTEMSMOUNTAIN ECOSYSTEMS

YEAR MBG MFRNo. of

VisitorsIncome

(PhP/year)No. of

VisitorsIncome

(PhP/year)

1997a 100,002 572,616 No data 0

1998a 102,381 579,229 No data 0

1999b 105,185 781,495 19,726 118,002

2000b 112,804 1,670,105 27,561 144,373

2001b 100,757 1,084,924 23,762 109,253a For MBG, Entrance: PhP3 (UP), PhP5 (non-UP); Swimming PhP15 (UP), PhP50 (non-UP)

For MFR: PhP0 entrance feeb For MBG, Entrance: PhP6 (UP), PhP10 (non-UP); Swimming PhP30 (UP), PhP (non-UP) For MFR: PhP2 (UP), PhP5 (non-UP)


Impacts of Implementing EI for Forest Recreation


• Linkages with stakeholders

The Calamba Water District approved the proposal to rehabilitate a portion of the Tigbi Watershed


OUR GAINS

The Tourism Association of Laguna has pledged to provide contributions in kind

Landscape view of the Tigbi watershed showing the extensively forested headwaters


• Involvement of communities

Potential partners in managing the Reserve

About 1,000 families that reside and/or have farms in the Reserve


OUR GAINS

The farmers are willing to “pay” their share of the watershed conservation and protection fee in kind

To ensure maximum participation, the project is explained to them in community assemblies


Steps taken:o In 2002, MCME organized the

“National Forum on the Legal Basis of Collecting Water User Fees for Philippine Watersheds”

• Lack of a clear mandate to collect water user fees


OUR WEAKNESSES

o Linkage with the Presidential Task Force on Water Resources Development and Management for the creation of the National Steering Committee on Economic Pricing of Raw Water


• Costly and time consuming process

• Revenues not fully plowed back to the source/resource


o Arriving at a consensus was difficult because the stakeholders had their own interests that did not coincide with the University

OUR WEAKNESSES



• General resistance to any new fee

• Changes in leadership

• Leakages in accessing the resource

THREATS



• Conduct a follow-up study regarding the appropriateness of the entrance fees to the forest recreation and ecotourism areas

• Aggressively market indigenous tree planting materials

• Establish the University’s legal basis to collect water user fees

STEPS FORWARD



• Evaluate options of how the water usage of different user groups can be monitored

• Study the price structure that will be adopted

• Pursue the creation of the National Steering Committee on the Economic Pricing of Raw water

STEPS FORWARD



REPLICATION

The project chose:

Palawan Flora, Fauna, & Watershed Reserve

Puerto Princesa City

8,000 ha60-1,098 m

Area:Elevation:

•Palawan Island

• Palawan Flora, Fauna and Watershed Reserve in Puerto Princesa City, Palawan



REPLICATION

And:

•

Mt Isarog National Park

10,112 ha1,196 m

Area:Elevation:

450 km southeast of Manila

• Mt. Isarog Natural Park in Camarines Norte



REPLICATION • Conducted orientation-

seminars for the stakeholders about the importance of economic instruments in managing and conserving the watersheds

• Favorable response from both the agencies managing the watersheds and the other stakeholders

Orientation-Seminar on ECONOMIC INSTRUMENTS FORTHE PALAWAN FLORA, FAUNA,

AND WATERHED RESERVE20 October 2000

PTFPP Training Hall, Puerto Princesa City



CONCLUSION

Economic instrument for forest recreation and ecotourism implemented with a fair degree of success because:

• we control the entry points of the visitors

• our efforts to counteract the negative effect of higher entrance fees on visitation rates with more aggressive marketing



CONCLUSION

We were not as successful in implementing the economic instrument for water mainly because:• the University does not have a clear mandate to

charge water user fees.

• The University is not yet capable of monitoring water usage

• We need to build up our technical and administrative capability to implement EI for water


entrance fees to the makiling botanic gardens (mbg) were increased

Documents

mt makiling forest reserve

forest recreationyearmbgmfrno

upgradedeconomic instruments

reserveeconomic instruments

water user fees steps

makiling botanic gardens

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