Philippines: The People’s Plan for Manila Bay
Manila Bay is crucial site for biodiversity and home to over 23 million people, but their wellbeing is at risk due to reclamation projects, which are part of a large-scale top-down masterplan for the bay. It is estimated that more than 11 million people are threatened with displacement due to land reclamations and related disaster risks. As an alternative, Kalikasan is developing a People's Plan.
"If we truly want democracy in environmental governance, we have to empower communities to be able to participate in a fair, level playing field with business and government." – Leon Dulce, Kalikasan
Kalikasan recently completed a study of five communities along Manila Bay assessing the reclamation projects in terms of human rights compliance and their impact on women. They found that projects show no regard for human rights, much less consider local communities' needs, concerns and existing initiatives. Besides that, prioritizing reclamation as a major development initiative also marks a departure from the existing local economies of fisher folks and urban poor communities.
In this context for restricted space for communities to take part in consultations and decision-making, Kalikasan initiated the People's Plan for Manila Bay, to claim the space for meaningful participation. It demonstrates an inspiring alternative to top-down decision-making processes.
The People's Plan for Manila Bay
Both ENDS supports Kalikasan's visionary People's Plan, a participatory environmental governance initiative that aims to empower communities along the bay to play a meaningful role in the management of their ecosystem.
"We work with Both ENDS because a Negotiated Approach enables communities to effectively influence stakeholders who are working in the local areas." – Leon Dulce, Kalikasan
Through citizen science, communities, civil society, and scientists engage in a community-based planning process. They aim to showcase viable land and water uses in coastal areas that support local communities' livelihoods and ensure a healthy ecosystem. Essentially, Kalikasan strengthens communities' ability to negotiate and assert their rights to water and other resources that directly support their livelihoods.
The People's Plan is currently in its development stage and will soon be initiated.
Dutch engineers involved
The Manila Bay master plan (known as the Manila Bay Sustainable Development Master Plan, MBSDMP) is being developed with help from Dutch engineers. Both ENDS is engaged in ongoing dialogues with governmental and private stakeholders in the Netherlands to address grievances by Kalikasan and its constituency. In addition to our advocacy for a safe space for communities to meaningfully participate in the master planning processes, Both ENDS supports Kalikasan's visionary response to develop a plan that is for the people and by the people, which is supported by the framework of a Negotiated Approach.
Read more about this subject
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Transformative Practice
A Negotiated Approach for Inclusive Water Governance
A Negotiated Approach envisages the meaningful and long-term participation of communities in all aspects of managing the water and other natural resources on which their lives depend. It seeks to achieve healthy ecosystems and equitable sharing of benefits among all stakeholders within a river basin. This inclusive way of working is an essential precondition for the Transformative Practices that are promoted by Both ENDS and partners.
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Event / 23 March 2023, 09:00 - 11:00
Towards just water governance in Colombia; a dialogue on the Transformative Water Pact
Online side event at the UN Water conference in New York
This event will present The Transformative Water Pact (TWP), an innovative framework for water governance that has been developed by environmental justice experts from around the world. The TWP will serve as a starting point for dialogue between representatives of the government of Colombia, academia, regional and international NGOs in relation to Colombia's current ambitions in multi-scalar water governance.
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Press release / 20 March 2023
A Transformative Water Pact : A radical response to the global water governance crisis
Academics and civil society representatives from around the world came together to articulate an alternative vision and framework for water governance, in the run-up to the UN Water Conference 2023 in New York. The Transformative Water Pact was developed in response to the continued exploitation of nature, neglect of human rights and the extreme power-imbalances that characterize contemporary water governance throughout the world. It details an alternative vision of water governance based on the tenets of environmental justice, equality and care.
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Dossier
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Publication / 4 October 2019
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News / 26 July 2021
CSOs call upon Dutch government not to support destructive land reclamation in Manila Bay
Both ENDS, together with nine other parties has expressed their concern on the development of a new airport off the coast in Manila Bay, Philippines, where the Dutch company Royal Boskalis Westminster has been contracted for the land development. In a joint letter of concern, different organisations and stakeholders describe the alarming situation around this contested airport that will be built on newly reclaimed land.
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Blog / 1 February 2019
If you walk the footsteps of a stranger...
Guest blog
Saturday morning, call time at the office is five o'clock. The group of ten people arriving is still half asleep. Like almost every weekend Kalikasan PNE, the organisation where I'm conducting my internship, organizes a field trip. Today, we will we visit one of the fisher communities in Bulakan, where the new airport of Manila is planned.
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News / 22 March 2021
The importance of a gender perspective in Dutch water policies
An increasing number of stakeholders in the Dutch water sector are acknowledging the importance of an inclusive approach to climate adaptation. However, where our knowledge institutes and companies are involved in delta plans and master plans, as in Bangladesh and the Philippines, this approach is proving difficult to apply in practice. Taking local realities, vulnerabilities and inequalities – such as those between men and women – as a starting point is essential for good plans that give everyone the opportunity to adapt to climate change.
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Publication / 19 April 2016
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News / 26 September 2018
Temporary ban on new hydro dams in the Brazilian Pantanal
Good news from Brazil! The National Water Agency (ANA) has stopped issuing new permits for the construction of hydroelectric dams in the Brazilian Paraguay river basin, which is part of the Pantanal wetlands in South-America. The suspension will last at least until May 2020, after the publication of a comprehensive socio-economic and environmental impact assessment that the ANA started in 2016.
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External link / 3 December 2014
Indonesia Water Community of Practice
The Indonesia Water Community of Practice (IndoWater CoP) was declared on December 3, 2014 by a group of Indonesian NGOs whose members felt very concerned about the poor management of Indonesia's water resources due to a lack of integrated planning on river basin management, community participation and law enforcement.
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Dossier
Participatory Land Use Planning (PLUP)
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Dossier
Wetlands without Borders
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Publication / 25 November 2011
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Publication / 16 March 2011
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News / 22 March 2012
What did Both ENDS do at the World Water Forum?
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News / 16 August 2016
Art as a powerful messenger: music from the Pantanal
10 songs: that is the result of a 4 day long, 450 km boat trip through the Pantanal with 36 people. The project Pantanal Poética sought and found a new way to look at the Pantanal, a valuable but threatened nature reserve on the border of Brazil, Bolivia and Paraguay.
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News / 13 April 2015
The Pantanal, the world’s largest waterland, is under serious threat
For several decades, Both ENDS has been closely following the developments in this large water area in the centre of South America. We work closely with organisations which aim to ensure that the local population knows about these developments and, if necessary, protect it from these changes. But why is this area both so special and important for the whole of South America? And what exactly is threatening this area? C. Cornell Evers, independent photographer and writer, spoke with Tamara Mohr of Both ENDS and Sander van Andel of IUCN to find answers. The result of this meeting is an interesting interview.
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Video / 8 November 2019
Athi River Community Network
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News / 3 July 2019
Kenya: Community Network for a healthy Athi river
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