Handbook For Arkansas Municipal Officials In The Philippines

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Handbook For Arkansas Municipal Officials In The Philippines

Abstract There is little quantitative data on the cost effectiveness of environmental communication and education efforts. This study evaluates a public awareness campaign for the conservation of the Philippine crocodile in the northern Sierra Madre in terms of outputs, outreach, cognitive and affective outcomes, and impact through a counterfactual comparison. The campaign succeeded in raising awareness on and transforming attitudes toward in situ Philippine crocodile conservation: most people living in close proximity to crocodiles now know that the species is legally protected and support in situ conservation. As a result, crocodiles are no longer purposively killed.

Substantial gains can be made in environmental conservation by investing more in communication, education, and public awareness campaigns, particularly in developing countries. Awareness on legislation and pride in the conservation of a rare and iconic species are strong incentives for poor, rural communities to support in situ wildlife conservation.

• • Introduction Communication, education, and public awareness (CEPA) campaigns play an increasingly important role in biodiversity conservation (; ). The negative social impacts of state and market mechanisms to conserve biodiversity has stimulated a search for community-based approaches that advocate the participation of local resource users in decision-making processes and the integration of conservation and development objectives (; ). It is now widely recognized that disseminating information to and enhancing the knowledge of rural communities is essential for the sustainable management of natural resources (; ). Conservation projects use a variety of social marketing techniques such as posters, comic books, billboards, flipcharts, newsletters, and radio plugs to raise public awareness, change attitudes, and influence behavior (). But only scant data exist on the cost effectiveness of these efforts (; ).

It is estimated that 40–50% of all CEPA campaigns fail, but as most of these education and communication efforts are not assessed, the organizers never find out (). CEPA campaigns can be significantly improved if experiences would be more thoroughly documented, compared, and substantiated with scientific evidence (; ). This is particularly relevant in developing countries, such as the Philippines, where financial resources for conservation are scarce, governments typically lack the capacity to enforce environmental legislation, and poor, rural communities often regard restrictions on resource use as arbitrary and illegitimate ().

This article assesses the effectiveness of a CEPA campaign for the conservation of the Philippine crocodile Crocodylus mindorensis in the wild in the northern Sierra Madre on Luzon, the Philippines. Commercial hunting has led to the disappearance of this endemic species throughout most of its historic range (). At present, the species only survives in the northern Sierra Madre on Luzon and the Liguasan Marsh on Mindanao. With less than 100 mature crocodiles in the wild, the species is classified on the IUCN red list as critically endangered ().

Since 2004, the Philippine crocodile is legally protected (by virtue of the Wildlife Act, Republic Act 9147). However, most people in the Philippines, including many government officials, are unaware of the protected status of the species or consider the enforcement of environmental legislation of low importance (). Philippine crocodiles continue to be killed for food or out of fear, most often without a response from the authorities.

People think crocodiles pose a threat to children and livestock. Moreover in Philippine society, crocodiles are associated with egoism and greed: corrupt government officials and selfish athletes are called buwaya, crocodile in Filipino.

These negative public attitudes inhibit in situ crocodile conservation (). In 1999, a conservation project was set up to save the species in the wild: the crocodile rehabilitation, observance, and conservation (CROC) project (). Conservation efforts focus on 15 remote barangays (villages) in the municipality of San Mariano.

In cooperation with the department of development communication of Isabela State University (ISU), a CEPA campaign was designed to mobilize broad public support for the conservation of the species in the wild. This goal is reflected in the slogan of the campaign: “the Philippine crocodile; something to be proud of!” The underlying logic of the campaign is that by disseminating information on legislation protecting crocodiles, the killing of the species would stop. Between 2002 and 2008, the CROC project spent U.S.$80,000 on environmental communication and education; approximately 25% of the total project budget. In this article, we aim to determine whether the CEPA campaign succeeded in raising awareness on the protected status of the Philippine crocodile, change attitudes toward the in situ conservation of the species, and influence behavior of people living in Philippine crocodile habitat. Changes in awareness, attitudes, and behavior are affected by a diverse set of context-related factors that can often not be attributed to a specific intervention (; ). Therefore, following, we assess the CEPA campaign for the Philippine crocodile in San Mariano in terms of the material products of the project (outputs), the number of people exposed to the outputs (outreach), the changes brought about by the outputs in people's awareness and attitude (cognitive and affective outcomes), and the longer term cumulative effect of the CEPA campaign on people's behavior (impact) (). • • Logical model to assess the effectiveness of CEPA campaigns (adapted from;; ).

Methods Study area The municipality of San Mariano is located in the foothills of the northern Sierra Madre mountain range in the province of Isabela (). Approximately 45,000 people live in this remote rural area. Over the past century, Ilocano, Ibanag, and Ifugao immigrants have settled in the area. The Kalinga and Agta, the indigenous people of the northern Sierra Madre, now form small minorities (. CEPA campaign for Philippine crocodile conservation in San Mariano Output Circulation (number of copies) Audience 1 Production cost (U.S.$ copy) 2 Costeffectiveness Exposure time 3 (percentage of (U.S.$ per person per day) 4 Outreach population) 5 Community preference (ranking) 6 Cognitive outcome (odds ratio) 7 Affective outcome (odds ratio) 8 Core area Peripheral area Urban area • Notes: • 1The number of people exposed to a copy of an output (the audience) was estimated by staff of the Mabuwaya Foundation.

Community consultations, for example, are on average attended by 40 people. The audience of the radio plugs was estimated by the regional radio station DWPE, and is limited to the listeners in the municipality of San Mariano. • 2Production costs exclude distribution costs and salaries. The design of CEPA outputs was integrated in the development communication curriculum of ISU. • 3Exposure time was defined as the period the outputs can be seen by the audience, and calculated on a per day basis (60 seconds count as 1 day). • 4Cost effectiveness is calculated by dividing the production costs of an output by the audience (the total number of people who see the output) and dividing this by the exposure time (in days). For example, the cost effectiveness of the posters is computed as follows: 1.2 U.S.$ per copy / 5 people in a household / 300 days (posters are posted in a room of the house for around 10 months) = U.S.$ 0.00080.

• 5Outreach (how many people in a village actually see or hear the outputs) was determined by asking the respondents which CEPA outputs they had seen or heard. • 6To determine the community preference we asked the respondents to rank the photographs of all outputs (Which was the most valuable output for you?). • 7Odds ratios of having seen a specific output associated with awareness of legislation protecting crocodiles (Is the Philippine crocodile protected by law?). Model: Hosmer & Lemenshow R 2= 6.053, df = 8, P >0. Descargar Los Raros De Ruben Dario Pdf File. 1. Cells without odds ratio are not significant, otherwise *= P 0.1. • • Cognitive and affective outcomes. Notes: 1 n= 549, χ 2= 93.9, df = 6, P 0.0125 Impact The CEPA campaign has contributed to the reduction of anthropogenic threats to crocodiles.

Philippine crocodiles are no longer purposively killed in San Mariano (). But, the species is still accidentally caught in fishnets or snare traps. Instead of eating the eggs, people report crocodile nests to the village officials. The use of destructive fishing methods has been banned through barangay ordinances, and there have been several cases, in which violators have been warned or penalized by local authorities. In 2007, for example, three men were fined by the barangay captain of San Jose for fishing with pesticides in a creek near the crocodile sanctuary; an unprecedented case of environmental law enforcement in the northern Sierra Madre. Barangay officials and fishers say that the use of destructive fishing methods has significantly decreased. The clearing of riparian forest for corn production and the conversion of freshwater wetlands to rice paddies, however, continues, even when farmers are aware of environmental legislation and have a supportive attitude toward conservation.

• • Mortality of Philippine crocodiles caused by humans in the municipality of San Mariano (1998–2010). 1 Note: 1Based on information provided by barangay officials in San Mariano, and verified on site. Ultimately, the success of the CEPA campaign will be determined by the number of Philippine crocodiles surviving in the wild.

The Philippine crocodile population in San Mariano has increased from 13 nonhatchling crocodiles in 2002 to 64 in 2009. High hatchling mortality in the wild due to natural predation and the reclamation of suitable nursery pools prevent a rapid recovery of the population (). Environmental communication and education should, therefore, be part of an integrated strategy that includes habitat restoration, reenforcement of the population, and strengthening environmental law enforcement. Discussion An assessment of the CEPA campaign for the Philippine crocodile in San Mariano can improve the cost-effective design and implementation of environmental communication and education programs and further our understanding of people's awareness of and attitudes toward wildlife conservation. Cost-effective outputs Posters, murals, and billboards are cheap and effective outputs to disseminate information to rural communities (; ). In San Mariano, it proved challenging to assure that posters reached the target audience: fishers and farmers living in close proximity to crocodile habitat.

Too often, posters ended up in government offices and schools in urban areas. Adding a calendar made the posters a valuable daily use-item for rural households. Murals and billboards attract a lot of attention and reinforce communal ideals of environmental stewardship, provided that they are in the right spot. Radio plugs and newsletters should be used with reserve. Radio is a popular medium in the uplands of San Mariano, but the radio plugs had no measurable effect on people's awareness of or attitudes toward the conservation of the Philippine crocodile. A possible explanation could be that the radio plugs were aired on a government-owned station (DWPE), whereas people prefer to listen to soap operas on the commercial radio stations. Our experiences in the northern Sierra Madre confirm findings that very few people actually read newsletters ().

This is perhaps not surprisingly in areas where many people are illiterate. Nevertheless, newsletters are useful to disseminate information on crocodiles to specific actors, such as teachers, forest rangers, local government officials, and donors. School presentations and school field visits are effective outputs to raise awareness among schoolchildren (; ).

During the school visits in San Mariano, children often see the Philippine crocodile for the first time and react surprised that it is much smaller than on television. Entertainment education, such as theater performances and puppet shows, directly links to the daily life of people (). The cultural show during the annual fiesta is highly valued by rural communities in San Mariano and positively affects people's attitudes toward crocodile conservation. These active outputs are expensive but can effectively enhance people's support for conservation. Community consultations can build constituencies and contextualize concerns of directly affected people and are as such indispensable outputs for environmental communication and education (). During consultations, people ask questions, narrate their own experiences, and forward solutions. These dialogues appear to be particularly effective to address irrational fears of crocodiles.

Often people narrate personal experiences with crocodiles and claim the species does not pose a threat. Not surprisingly, these views are often more trusted than the opinion of outside conservationists. Village leaders chair the consultations, thereby, confirming and sanctioning the conservation message and integrating crocodile conservation in local governance. But sometimes, these community dialogues also cause confusion (); for example, on conflicting institutional mandates between LGU and DENR, informal land rights of farmers, or the role of government officials in illegal logging operations. Specific problems can be confrontational and cause discomfort among the participants.

Training community leaders in environmental legislation is an effective method to enhance capacities, strengthen law enforcement, create a sense of ownership, and build trust between conservationists and rural communities (). In San Mariano, barangay officials who participated in the training workshops subsequently played a leading role in prohibiting destructive fishing methods and monitoring compliance.

But as new local officials are elected every 3 years, it is essential to continue this training program over a longer period. This highlights the need for a long-term CEPA campaign that links wildlife conservation to the worldview and concerns of rural communities (). Cultural values It is often argued that support for the conservation of potentially dangerous wildlife is strongest among urban, educated, and affluent people ().

People in remote rural areas, in contrast, often regard predators as pests and a threat to livestock and children (). Also in the Philippines, conservationists and policymakers assume that poor, rural communities are antagonistic toward crocodiles and argue that people living in crocodile habitat will only support conservation if they can derive cash benefits, for example, through community-based ecotourism or sustainable ranching programs (). Our findings contradict these utilitarian views. First, the emphasis on negative attitudes toward wildlife ignores the inherent positive views that people often also hold ().

Most respondents in our study, for example, acknowledged the intrinsic value (the right to live) of crocodiles, also in the control group. An effective CEPA campaign can enhance these inherent positive values and transform them into support for environmental conservation (). Second, negative attitudes toward wildlife and legislation are not immutable. The CEPA campaign in San Mariano succeeded in changing people's knowledge of and feelings toward crocodiles and their conservation. Disseminating information on environmental legislation is an essential first step in transforming people's attitudes and behavior (; ). Third, economic benefits are not a precondition for people's support for environmental conservation. Cultural values, such as pride, interest, and fun, can, in fact, form an important incentive to support in situ conservation, also for poor rural communities in the developing world (; ).

In San Mariano, people have become interested in the ecology of the species and take pride in the conservation of a rare and iconic animal in their village. Environmental communication and education can foster these positive values and provide a sound foundation for community-based conservation.

Conclusion Substantial gains can be made in environmental conservation by investing more in communication and education, particularly in the developing world. Most conservation projects have a CEPA component, but these activities are usually based on intuition, anecdotal information and personal preferences, and dependent on the intermittent availability of funding. This is reflected in the relative paucity of quantitative impact assessments of CEPA campaigns in the scientific literature. As a result, the impact of environment communication and education is often underestimated.

It is, therefore, essential that the experiences and lessons of CEPA campaigns across the world are more systematically evaluated and compared. Acknowledgments D. Rodriguez, S. Van der Aa, E.

Alejandro, S. Subia, and A. Macadangdang assisted in collecting data in San Mariano. The CROC project is implemented by the Mabuwaya Foundation (). The Conservation Leadership Program and the Netherlands Committee for IUCN provided financial support for the CEPA campaign for the Philippine crocodile in San Mariano. Research was conducted in the framework of the academic partnership between Leiden University in the Netherlands and Isabela State University in the Philippines.

Fortuin, and three anonymous reviewers provided valuable comments on the manuscript. Ancillary Article Information.