The virtual webinar was organized in collaboration with the Philippine Climate Change Commission (CCC) inviting LGUs, NGAs, NGOs/CSOs, Academe, students and many others with a total of 1294 registered participants and 639 attendees based on the post-webinar assessment. Secretary Emmanuel de Guzman, the Vice Chairperson and Executive Director of the Climate Change Commission (CCC) and Director Reynaldo Ebora of Philippine Council for Agriculture, Aquatic, and Natural Resources Research and Development (PCAARRD) were requested to give the opening remarks for the event while Chancellor Jose Camacho of the University of the Philippines Los Baños gave the closing remarks.
Three speakers were invited to discuss various topics relating to watershed-based land use planning. The first speaker, Dr. Eduardo Mangaoang, the Director of Regional Climate Change Research and Development Center of the Visayas State University discussed about watershed systems and climate change and presented his findings from the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
The second topic on Watershed Management and Watershed Ecosystem Approach to updating of CLUP, FLUP and other Sectoral Development Plans was discussed by the WILUP watershed expert, Dr. Rex Victor Cruz, together with the concept and key component activities of the project. The final topic was presented by Mr. Sealtiel C. Patiño, Development Management Officer III of the Strategic Partnership Division of the CCC, where he talked about the current guidelines on watershed and R2R integration in the CLUP and zoning.
During the open forum, one of the issues raised was finding a systematic way to identify the watershed of a locality which can be done through GIS to help in the delineation of boundaries. The issue of overlapping areas and claims over IP lands and conflicting zoning with CADT were also discussed where presenting the legal basis of their lands and showing that they are part of a bigger landscape (i.e. watershed) on which they rely for their livelihood can be communicated and understood. Local and IP knowledge is also very important in harnessing a good science-based approach. Capacity building for LGUs such as training on quantitative hydrology and watershed management can be held in coordination with NGAs which can be attended by interested LGUs.