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WHAT IS the Wetlands Caravan?
The Wetlands Caravan is the evolving national CEPA Programme
of the Philippines for wetlands conservation.
The Programme aims to work with the communities in
achieving the Ramsar Convention�s goal of �wise use of
wetlands� through localized action plans the will help
catalyze change in the people�s behavior towards wetlands.
The approach of this program is to steer away from the
traditional, informational approach wherein the main concern
is to transfer knowledge to the local stakeholders. Instead,
it will employ a more participative and community-driven
approach, owing to the fact that different communities and
stakeholders have their own sets of needs and uses for their
wetlands.
The Program will be working within the framework that was
crafted a year ago as the initial step in the CEPA formulation
process. The framework identified the issues confronting
wetlands in the country as well as the various key audiences
and corresponding key messages. All these have been guided by
the global vision as set forth in the Ramsar CEPA Programme which
is �People acting for the wise use of wetlands�. The role of the
community, through the Wetlands Caravan, is to set its own vision
and priorities that they would want to achieve in their own locality.
The community can articulate its vision by coming up
with action plans directed towards the achievement of that
vision.
The Wetlands Caravan is envisioned to be the strategy to translate
this framework into actions or activities that will help
promote the wise use of wetlands. It will be a venue to exchange information, build
capacities and share best practices among different
communities. It is through this dynamic interaction that the
National Wetlands CEPA Action Plan will evolve - meeting the
specific needs of the stakeholders, and will best address the
wetland conservation issues of the country.
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Approach
The Framework initially sets the vision and guiding principles that
should help communities chart their specific CEPA Action Plan.
It also identifies key audiences, key messages and
communication medium or channels.
The idea is to bring the Wetlands Caravan to at least 20 major priority
wetlands for the next five years. This means that these 20 wetlands will have prepared
and/or implemented their local CEPA Action Plan by the year
2010. The Wetlands Caravan will ride on the annual theme set by Ramsar
Secretariat for World Wetlands Day in setting forth activities
that will trigger the preparation of the local CEPA Action
Plan.
For this year, the theme is �Livelihoods at Risk: In the face of
poverty� wetlands are lifelines.� To kick off the Wetlands
Caravan, four (4) wetland sites that will pilot-test the
preparation of local CEPA action plans using the approach
introduced by the Wetlands Caravan were identified.
These are -
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- Laguna de Bay |
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- Taal Lake |
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- Tawi-tawi coastal area |
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- Candaba Swamps |
The series of activities will run throughout the year, with
emphasis on the importance of wetlands to livelihood as a
means for poverty alleviation.
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WHAT�S INSIDE the Wetlands Caravan?
The Draft CEPA Framework
Vision:
People acting for the wise use of wetlands.
Goal:
To promote the wise use of Philippine wetlands.
Objectives:
1. To increase the awareness and appreciation for wetlands and their
many values and uses.
2. To catalyze change in the behavior of intended audiences towards
wetlands.
Guiding Principles:
Wetlands provide important goods and services which help
sustain human life, conserve biological diversity, and combat
the impacts of climate change and desertification.
Communication, education and public awareness (CEPA) are the
tools for placing people�s social, political, economic and
cultural realities within the context of the goods and
services provide by wetland ecosystems.
In formulating such an action plan, the aim should be to:
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Ensure that the CEPA programs are fully tailored to all local
contexts (environmental, social and economic) |
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Ensure that the CEPA programs respond effectively to local needs |
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Adopt participatory approaches, including the fully informed
involvement of local and indigenous people and their knowledge
in decision-making and implementation |
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Recognize the benefits of involving skilled
personnel from education fields of practice |
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Make full use of the existing wealth of relevant CEPA
expertise located worldwide in different sectors and
at different levels of social networks |
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Identify new opportunities for the application of CEPA |
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Develop improved CEPA approaches and techniques applicable to
wetland wise use goals |
It contains templates on the processes or steps to be
followed when preparing a participatory local CEPA Action
Plan, a very flexible template that can easily be modified
according to the type of community one is working with.
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Tools
Wetlands Caravan provides a selection of practical tools
that can be used to aid in reviewing and planning the CEPA
Activity. These tools can be adapted in different
situations.
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Practical Tool 1 |
Consequence Wheel |
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Practical Tool 2 |
Awareness-to-Action Chain |
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Practical Tool 3 |
Dartboard |
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Practical Tool 4 |
Matrix |
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Practical Tool 5 |
SWOT Analysis |
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Practical Tool 6 |
Visioning |
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Practical Tool 7 |
Stakeholder Decision Analysis |
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Practical Tool 8 |
Example Review and Action Plan Procedure and
Timescale |
Core Messages
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