The 82nd RIHN seminar

Abstract:: The “Yaman ng Lawa,” Community Based-Ecology Learning Centre (“Yaman ng Lawa”) shall be village-level facility for the continuation of researcher and community partnerships and dialogues from the Community Forum 2012 to pilot villages in selected municipalities in Laguna de Bay region. The “Yaman ng Lawa” shall be the virtual repository of processed information on traditional knowledge, learning tools, Food and Health Hot Spots showcasing fishkills and other layman's version of ecological risk for future use by local peoples and researchers. The “Yaman ng Lawa” shall establish the model for Community-Self Governance where stakeholders are providing grass-root solutions/actions for localized problems to minimize the social cost of community development and facilitate implementation of hierarchy of decision making in the local government. The “Yaman ng Lawa” obtained its inspiration from the Principle of Subsidiarity by David A. Bosnich, who prescribed that “nothing should be done by a larger and more complex organization which can be done as well by a smaller simple organization.” The community-led “Yaman ng Lawa” will be pilot tested in five representative barangays in selected four municipalities, with potential up-scaling to province-wide replication. The key for sustainability is the establishment of trained “Barefoot Eco-Researchers” for the systematic and periodic collection of lake water and watershed Bio-signals, the footprints of men and nature interactions or the visual illustration of the responses of nature to rapid land use changes in terms of social and economic risks to livelihood, food production and public health in Lake/Aquatic, Agricultural and Agro-forestry ecosystems. Every Bio-signal has equivalent words and phrases used by the local communities in communicating changes in lake conditions and corresponding threats to health, food and livelihood. The collected Lake Bio-signals shall be jointly evaluated, processed and validated by the researchers and participants in the “Yaman ng Lawa” for their serendipitous values as “Science - Reinforced Bio-signals” All community - generated data and information are geo-referenced for their incorporation into the GIS - assisted, Community - Based Lake Risk Maps to creating wider awareness and better understanding of various contemporary ecological risks such as fishkills and life-threatening floods and associated vector/flood-borne diseases. The most unique character of the “Yaman ng Lawa” as an Eco-Learning Centre and Social Platform to empowering households and communities for self-governance, is the establishment of innovative competitive learning of ecology and risks through inter-barangay competitions for show casing science-reinforced Bio-signals for preemptive community actions to reducing watershed management, food and livelihood, and public health risks and the implementation, as well, with appropriate Incentives and Rewards Systems, of Best Practices for Community - based Early Warning and Risk Communication.
Contact: MASUDA Tadayoshi (Senior Project Researcher, RIHN): Research Institute for Humanity and Nature
457-4 Motoyama, Kamigamo, Kita-ku,
Kyoto, 603-8047, Japan
Phone : +81-75-707-2256
Fax : +81-75-707-2506
E-mail:

Date:	6th September (Thu.) 2012
Time:	0:15 p.m. - 1:15 p.m.
Place:	Seminar Room 1 & 2, RIHN ( Access)
Title:	“Yaman ng Lawa” Community-based Lake Ecology Learning Centre
Speaker:	Dr. Rogelio N. Concepcion (University of the Philippines Los Baños)