USAID recognizes Bago City’s leadership in conservation financing

Dani Newcomb (2nd from right), USAID Deputy Chief of the Environment Office, hands over a certificate of recognition to Bago City Mayor Nicholas Yulo during the stakeholder meeting on the Environmental Protection Fee.

During a stakeholder’s meeting on Bago City’s Environmental Protection Fee (EPF), USAID’s Deputy Chief of the Environment Office, Dani Newcomb, thanked the local government unit for leading forest protection in their area and being an active partner in developing an innovative conservation financing model. “The Bago model is a unique achievement that tackles the problem of sustainability in conservation financing and at the same time engages the community in forest protection,” Newcomb said.

In February 2016, the city passed an ordinance to collect a fee from water users to fund forest protection efforts in the uplands to ensure a sustained flow of water in the agriculture-dependent lowlands. “With this initiative we have not only assured sustainable environmental governance financing, but also highlighted the value and importance of ecosystems services of our forests and the role of the different stakeholders to ensure its sustainable management,” said Mayor Yulo who received the recognition. After several months of establishing collecting agreements with various stakeholders, the city has collected PhP 70,000 since December. With more collecting agents in place, annual revenue is projected at PhP 3-4 million. Proceeds from the EPF are plowed back into two broad interventions: patrolling and environmental law enforcement in the protected area (PA) to avoid forest loss, and providing alternative livelihoods outside the PA to counter the drivers of deforestation. An ongoing initiative to address illegal wood gathering within the PA is a 90-hectare woodlot, established on small-scale farmers’ private land adjacent to the PA, to grow and harvest fuelwood more sustainably. Under Bago City’s leadership more interventions such as green charcoal production, are underway. The Bago River Watershed is one of the priority sites of USAID’s Biodiversity and Watershed Improved for Stronger Economy and Ecosystem Resilience (B+WISER) program, jointly implemented with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) since 2013.