watershed (interconnectivity of the uplands, lowlands and coastal ecosystems) and is more community-driven since all interventions will have to emanate from the Watershed Management Plans developed by the WMCs. Meanwhile, in river basin ecosystems, river basin management authorities, like the Laguna Lake Development Authority (LLDA), is the DENR’s mechanism for CBEM. The LLDA is implementing a WB-funded SIM loan project called the Laguna de Bay Institutional Strengthening and Community Participation Project (LISCOP). It seeks to assist the LLDA, LGUs and other stakeholders to improve the environmental quality of the Laguna De Bay watershed, through, among others, the establishment of micro-watershed management River Councils as well as the use of market-based instruments and incentives. In coastal and near-shore ecosystems, there appears to be jurisdictional and operational overlaps between the DENR and the DA-BFAR. The latter was given the mandate and authority by the Fisheries Code. Nevertheless, the DENR is implementing an ADB-funded Integrated Coastal Resource Management Project (ICRMP) which seeks to institutionalize and operationalize ICRM at all governance levels and to provide alternative and supplementary livelihoods for coastal communities. Meanwhile, the DOF piloted a completed CBEM project in order to help establish the rural finance window of its Municipal Development Fund Office (MDFO). A short description of the CBRM project below provides additional details on the basic features of this strategy. 3. Community-Based Resource Management Project (CBRMP) This is a completed (1998-2007) WB-funded Specific Investment Loan (SIL) project of the Department of Finance (DOF) which sought to reduce rural poverty and environmental degradation by supporting locally generated and implemented natural resource management sub-projects. More specifically, it aimed at: (a) enhancing the capacity of low-income rural LGUs and communities to plan, implement and sustain priority natural resource management projects; (b) strengthening central government systems to transfer finance (as financial intermediaries) and environmental technology, and improve the implementation of environmental policies; and (c) providing resources to LGUs to finance natural resource management projects. The target beneficiaries were poor LGUs and communities in Regions 5, 7, 8, and 13 with a high proportion of small farmers, fishermen and people generating income from forest products. It has the following major components: i) Natural Resource Management—This is the largest component which financed investments in NRM via grants and loans to LGUs through the rural window of the Municipal Development Fund Office (MDFO).These investments covered: (a) upland agriculture and forestry; (b) coastal resource and near-shore fisheries; and (c) small rural infrastructure and livelihood activities related to NRM.
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