Modelling Ecosystem Services and Dynamics of Indigenous Livelihood and Biodiversity conservation in the Cordillera Region, Northern Philippines

In the Philippines a population of 14–17 million indigenous people which are divided into 110 ethno-linguistic groups, mainly concentrated in Northern Luzon (33%), Mindanao (61%), and 6% in the Visayas area (UNDP, 2010). Most ethnographic descriptions of indigenous people have traditional belief that people differed from one another. The sense of indigeneity in the Philippine context has anchored to the definition of ethnicity which refers to a group or a community that is assumed to share common cultural practices and history (Zapata, 2013). Indigenous groups in the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR), Northern Luzon, Philippines have developed communities which are politically and economically autonomous. They are recognized as the traditional domain of the Igorot (or people of the mountains) and are generally known not to be colonized for more than three centuries (Tolentino, Jr., 2015; Zapata, 2013). The indigenous groups enjoyed their relative sovereignty in managing local community resources and livelihood practices through their socio-economic, and political institutions under the American colonial rule and into the Philippine Republic. As a consequence, they were not assimilated into the mainstream Philippine society and are considered as non-Christian, “pagan’’, cultural minorities or as indigenous cultural communities (Prill-Brett, 2007; Tolentino, Jr., 2015). Indigenous cultural communities (ICCs) refer to a group of people or homogenous societies identified by self-ascription and ascription by others, who have continuously lived as organized community on communally bounded and defined territory, that shared common bonds of language, custom, traditions and other distinctive cultural traits (IPRA, 2005). The Cordillera is an agricultural region. The most important crops are rice, corn, cabbage, potato, and strawberry. The demand for food increases as the region’s annual population growth rate is 1.2 % (PSA, 2015) and expected to even increase due to migration from lowland to upland areas which leads to the gradual conversion of land into agricultural areas (Verburg et al., 2006). Forest cover in the Philippines has gone down to 23% (about 6.8 million hectares) mainly due to increasing agricultural and housing needs, commercial and illegal logging, kaingin system or shifting cultivation and forest fires (SEPO, 2015). Verburg and Veldkamp (2004) noted that agricultural expansion is the main cause of forest degradation specially in the upland agriculture to about six folds between 1990 to 1987 which coincide with the reduction of forest cover. Main reasons for these enormous expansion in upland agriculture are population growth, inadequate labour absorption and agricultural price policies. Deforestation and forest degradation are the most important land use change processes and threat to a highly rated biodiverse country (Verburg et al., 2006). Deforestation is considered as the major driver of ecosystem degradation, biodiversity loss and ecosystem services reduction (Seppelt et al., 2013; Pereira et al. 2012; Oudenhoven & de Groot, 2013; Foley et al., 2005). Ecosystem degradation and loss of biodiversity undermine ecosystem functioning and resilience and threaten the ability of ecosystems to supply ecosystem services (de Groot et al., 2013). A landscape represent services and benefits at different scale which human populations derived either directly or indirectly (Pfeifer et.al, 2012; Gulickx et al., 2013). Pets (2014) and Seppelt et al (2013) revealed that land use management strategies should avoid ecosystem degradation while maintaining ecosystem services. The integration of socio-economic analysis, quantification and valuation of ecosystem services will strengthen decision-making processes (Nelson et al., 2009; Bernue´s et al., 2014; Carreno et al., 2011; Balbi et al., 2015) and ensure the sustainability on the provisions of ecosystem services. The ecosystem services approach was developed in a vibrant research field, influenced policy discourse, and advanced the sustainability agenda. Similarly, one of the current key element of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) concept is nature’s contributions to people (NCP). The NCP’s context had emphasis on the prevalent role of culture in describing the significant relationship between people and nature. It’s useful approach elaborates the role of indigenous and local knowledge in understanding people’s quality of life (Diaz et al, 2018). The general objective of this research is to analyze the ecosystem services from agroecosystems in the Cordillera Region. The research will assess how these services are used by indigenous people in the context of a changing landscape.