San Rafael in the Philippines is losing its coastline, and its community leaders are trying to figure out why.
Confronted with increasing sea levels and worsening coastal erosion, the barangay council has teamed up with Western Philippines University (WPU) in a year-long climate study to find sustainable solutions.
The study is part of a British Academy-funded initiative that seeks to investigate Nature-based Solutions (NbS) in contrast to conventional infrastructure, while local authorities endeavor to mitigate the environmental degradation caused by Super Typhoon Odette and alleged commercial beach redevelopment.
The resolution to participate in the study with WPU was signed during the session of the barangay council on February 6. It’s a partnership that will entail to identify solutions to the impacts of climate change on their coastal community.
WPU has been working with the residents of San Rafael to record how they adjust to the effects caused by climate change, especially when the super typhoon altered the natural landscape in the northern portion of Puerto Princesa. Odette is considered to be one of the most destructive typhoons in recent memory.
The climate solutions study is part of the Participatory Approaches for Nature-based Solutions for Climate Adaptation and Mitigation, and Empowering Southeast Asian Coastal Communities (PANACEA) project.
It aims to pursue NbS as seen in coastal communities and introduce those adaptations as sustainable climate policies, scalable to the Southeast Asia region.
San Rafael was chosen as the focal site for WPU’s own project due to its economic profile. Despite large economic gains from Astoria Palawan, fishing and farming remain one of the biggest sources of livelihoods for families, both of which were affected after Odette.