The Role of “Hybrid” NGOs in the Conservation and Development of Palawan Island, The Philippines

Abstract

The rapid rise of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in the Philippines has reflected a regional trend toward the “democratization” of conservation and development on behalf of the rural poor when the state falls short. This article examines how this trend has manifested itself among the indigenous peoples of Palawan Island and how, despite best intentions, project delivery by “hybrid” NGOs—changing organizational forms with multiple objectives and functions—has often yielded unsustainable and culturally damaging outcomes. We draw on ethnographic research among the Tagbanua and Batak peoples to examine recent claims of broad NGO success in achieving community empowerment and forest conservation on Palawan. We support our argument by examining case studies in which NGOs and state failures to properly engage traditional livelihoods have reinforced outsider control over indigenous needs and aspirations.

Keywords:

• conservation
• development
• indigenous peoples
• NGOs
• Palawan Island
• The Philippines

Acknowledgments

Dr. Wolfram Dressler's research is supported by the Wenner-Gren International Collaborative Research Grant and the ARC Discovery Grant, Proposal ID: DP1096157. Dr. Dario Novellino's research is supported by the Wenner-Gren Foundation (grant 7136), the Urgent Anthropology grant 2007/08 of the Royal Anthropological Institute (RAI), and the Christensen Fund grant (2007-03068). We are indebted to the indigenous peoples of Palawan Island for their warm hospitality, the NGO community of Palawan for its enduring efforts, and three reviewers who offered invaluable comments on initial drafts of this article.

Notes

We define empowerment as “the process of enhancing an individual's or group's capacity to make purposive choices and to transform those choices into desired actions and outcomes” (Alsop and Heinsohn 2005, 5).

Interview, project director, Haribon Foundation, April 2, 2004.

NATRIPAL, Nagkakaisang mga Tribu ng Palawan, is a People's Organization but functions as an NGO. NATRIPAL represents a province-wide federation of 57 or more local associations in 13 out of the 24 municipalities of Palawan (Pinto 1999).

Running under the USAID-funded Biodiversity Conservation Network, the hypothesis behind the CCEP strategy was that “if local people directly benefit from a business that depends on the biodiversity at a given site, they should have the incentive to act to protect it against…threats to its destruction” (Biodiversity Support Program 1999, 2).

Apparently, however, one NGO sent a letter directly to the mayor requesting that the ban on burning be lifted.

Interview, former DENR Official, now PCSD, 11 May 2004. Puerto Princesa City.

Interview, ELAC, 11 May 2004, Puerto Princesa City.

Interview, 15 July 2005, Palawan Island.

The PCSD is a unique government body formed by Republic Act No. 7611 with a mandate for the protection of the environment within the province.

The order of authorship is arbitrary and does not reflect level of contribution.