Caraga State University linked a USAID-funded Research Project with RTI International

Research Triangle Institute (RTI) International and Caraga State University through the Department of Environmental Science officially sealed a research partnership to collaborate on the valuation of ecosystem services (ES) and on the establishment of natural capital accounts in the Siargao Island Protected Landscape and Seascape (SIPLAS) sites. This is a project under the SIBOL (Sustainable Interventions on Biodiversity, Oceans, and Landscapes) program which is a five-year DENR-BFAR-USAID initiative that seeks to meet the three goals of enhancing natural resource governance, sustainably managing natural resources, and decreasing environmental crimes by encouraging virtuous environmental behavior.

In particular, SIBOL seeks to calculate the values of the following ecosystem services in the second year of its implementation: global climate management, water regulation, and purification, soil erosion control, coastline protection, and recreational, spiritual, and provisioning services (NTFP, fish, etc.). Additionally, SIBOL aspires to create the national fisheries and coral reef asset accounts as well as update the national forestry accounts.

RTI is implementing the Sustainable Interventions on Biodiversity, Oceans and Landscapes (SIBOL) Activity under a cooperative agreement with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and consortium partners: Center for Conservation Innovations (CCI), Forest Foundation Philippines (FFP), Resources, Environment, and Economics Center for Studies, Inc. (REECS), and Zoological Society of London (ZSL), while CSU, as one of the major stakeholders, will serve as academic partner of the government in tracking the flow and value of ecosystem services to provide the information needed for decision-making on relevant trade-offs in land and water use. ovprie/PICO