The Ridge, River to Reef Rural-Urban Land Use Evaluation System for Climate Change Adaptation and Disaster Risk Management (R3 RULES for CCA-DRM)

Located in the tropics within the Pacific  Rim  of  Fire  and  being  archipelagic,  the  Philippines  is  hazard-prone  and  most  vulnerable  to  impacts  of  climate  change.  Local government units are required  to prepare Comprehensive  Land  Use Plans  or  CLUPs  to  plan the development and growth of their areas.  CLUPs  are  important  because  the  way  we allocate  land  to  specific  functions  or  uses influences  our  exposure  and  susceptibility to disasters.

The significant impacts of disasters and the  projected  impacts  of  climate  change created the need  to develop, to impart and set-up  a  ridge,  river  to  reef  rural-urban  land  use evaluat ion  system  for  climate  change  adaptation and disaster  risk management or R3  RULES for CCA-DRM.

This  RULES  for  CCA-DRM  project  is supported  through  the  extended  JAXA  ALOS (Advanced  Land  Observat ion  Satellite)  Research Agreement.    In addition,  RULES  for CCA-DRM was accepted to benefit from in-kind grants  by  Planet  Action,  an  open  initiative spearheaded  by  SPOT  Image,  CNES  (the  French  Space  Agency),  together  with  Digital Globe  (QuickBird),  ESRI,  (ArcGIS:  ArcView,  ArcEditor, Arc-Info),  ITTVIS  (ENVI)  and  Trimble Geospatial Munich  (e-Cognition).   This  project then  features  utilization  of  the ALOS  products, namely  AVNIR-2,  PRISM  and  PALSAR,  and SPOT  imageries.    SRTM  and  LANDSAT  are  likewise  used,  especially  for  context  analyses  and SPOT for the priority study areas.

Other  partners  of  the project are Ateneo de  Manila  University  (ADMU),  Ateneo  de  Naga  University  (ADNU),  Xavier  University  (XU),  Ateneo  de  Davao  University  (ADDU)  and  Ateneo de Zamboanga University (ADZU).

The Study Areas

The study  areas  of R3  RULES  correspond  to  critical  and  strategic  Regions  in  Bicol  (Southeastern Luzon)  and Mindanao  (South of
the Philippines).  These study areas are:
• Metro-Manila, National Capital Region
• Naga City, Camarines Sur, Region V: Bicol
• Cagayan  de  Oro  City,  Misamis  Oriental, Region X: Northern Mindanao
• Davao  City,  Davao  del  Sur,  Region  XI:  Southern Mindanao
• Zamboanga  City,  Zamboanga  del  Sur,  Region IX: Western Mindanao

The areas  represent ridge, river  to reef  rural- urban  ecosystems  that  experience  unique  climate  and  associated  geophysical  and
ecological risk.   R3 RULES  for CCA-DRM would  help  in  better  understanding  the  socio-environmental  context  of  the  said  study  areas  and  how  best  to  address  planning  and  development issues to formulate more adaptive and risk-sensitive CLUPs.

The  main  beneficiaries  are  relevant stakeholders  and  communities  as  affected  by  the CLUPs prepared by the LGUs. It is intended
that  optional  CLUPs  and  strategies  would  be  rendered  more  climate-adaptive  and  disaster  risk-sensitive.

Local Actions and Impact

The  R3  RULES  for  CCA-DRM  project  contributes  to  local  action  by  providing  a  practical tool  in the form of a project case work  or  PCW  that  LGUs  can  adopt,  develop  and  learn  from.  A participatory  process  with  validation  from  LGUs,  other  stakeholders  and  communities  is  advocated.  Space  and
evidence-based  decision-support  can  better  capture, visualize and analyze the complexity of  ground conditions.

The analysis through the tools of RS-GIS and  more  realistic and  realizable development and  CCA-DRM  options  may  help  LGUs  in  the  creation  of  CLUPs  which  contribute  to  the  resilience  of  communities  to  disasters  and  climate change.