Perceptions of local communities on mangrove forests, their services and management: implications for Eco-DRR and blue carbon management for Eastern Samar, Philippines

Figures & data

Table 1. Population and sample size of the study sites

Municipality	Coastal population*	Sample size**
Balangiga	5,539	95
Salcedo	1,511	91
Lawaan	3,058	94
Balangkayan	1,924	92
Total		372

*2015 population census from Philippine Statistics Authority.

**Calculated at 95% confidence level with 10% sampling error.

Figure 1. Location map of Eastern Samar province and the municipalities that were surveyed (Maps A, B and C). Sections with black shades show the mangrove areas while the gray circles indicate the coastal villages that were surveyed

Table 2. Percentage distribution of the socio-demographic profile of the respondents

	Percentage
Indicators	Balangiga	Salcedo	Lawaan	Balangkayan
Age group
71–80	15.79	5.49	7.45	1.09
61–70	15.79	15.38	11.70	11.96
51–60	28.42	19.78	30.85	30.43
41–50	24.21	28.57	19.15	27.17
31–40	9.47	24.18	18.09	8.70
20–30	6.32	6.59	12.77	20.65
Total	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00
Gender
Male	48.42	42.86	53.19	61.96
Female	51.58	57.14	46.81	38.04
Total	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00
Educational attainment
College graduate	14.74	8.79	3.19	9.78
College level	12.63	7.69	11.70	10.87
Highschool graduate	22.11	25.27	20.21	21.74
Highschool level	15.79	9.89	22.34	17.39
Elementary graduate	16.84	20.88	25.53	18.48
Elementary level	16.84	27.47	14.89	21.74
Vocational	1.05	0.00	2.13	0.00
Total	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00
Occupation
Fisherman	31.58	60.44	43.62	28.26
Farmer	18.95	7.69	17.02	22.83
Government employee	14.74	4.40	4.26	13.04
Housewife	7.37	8.79	15.96	4.35
Others (i.e. skilled worker)	27.37	18.68	19.15	31.52
Total	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00

Table 3. Percentage distribution of the respondents in each level of awareness

Ecosystem services		Level of awareness
		not aware	slightly aware	moderately aware	very aware	extremely aware
Balangiga	1. Source of fish and other sea foods	4	9	26	27	33
	2. Coastal protection	0	5	14	37	44
	3. Air purification	3	24	35	18	20
	4. Water purification	13	20	34	13	21
	5. Carbon sequestration	13	25	27	16	19
	6. Site for recreation	3	25	29	33	9
Salcedo	1. Source of fish and other sea foods	1	3	34	38	23
	2. Coastal protection	1	0	2	15	81
	3. Air purification	25	5	25	10	34
	4. Water purification	30	1	24	15	30
	5. Carbon sequestration	42	13	31	14	0
	6. Site for recreation	18	31	21	20	11
Lawaan	1. Source of fish and other sea foods	0	2	30	13	55
	2. Coastal protection	2	0	0	5	93
	3. Air purification	13	10	27	21	30
	4. Water purification	22	0	35	15	28
	5. Carbon sequestration	34	15	31	12	9
	6. Site for recreation	31	20	9	26	15
Balangkayan	1. Source of fish and other sea foods	4	7	17	9	63
	2. Coastal protection	10	5	9	12	64
	3. Air purification	33	1	3	11	52
	4. Water purification	36	1	3	8	52
	5. Carbon sequestration	65	25	5	1	3
	6. Site for recreation	34	5	10	9	42

Figure 2. Frequency of fishing in mangrove areas for (a) own consumption, (b) selling and (c) harvesting mangrove branches for firewood

Figure 3. Frequency of (a) bird or bat watching and (b) walking along the boardwalk in mangrove forests

Table 4. Correlation analysis between the socio-demographic profile and frequency of resource utilization

Variable		Age	Education	Occupation
				Fisherman	Farmer	Government Employee	Housewife	Skilled Worker
Balangiga	Fishing for consumption	-0.305**	0.094	0.124	0.315**	-0.187	-0.118	-0.189
	Fishing for sale	-0.238*	0.012	0.366***	-0.024	-0.152	-0.114	-0.173
	As firewood	-0.018	0.072	-0.019	0.022	0.058	-0.097	0.011
	Bird/bat watching	0.056	0.051	0.151	0.048	-0.077	-0.079	-0.092
	Mangrove boardwalk	-0.116	-0.229*	0.264**	-0.209*	-0.179	-0.122	0.122
Salcedo	Fishing for consumption	0.066	0.128	0.134	0.059	0.011	-0.216*	-0.040
	Fishing for sale	-0.125	0.150	0.368***	-0.197	0.042	-0.121	-0.261**
	As firewood	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	Bird/bat watching	0.033	0.155	-0.032	-0.043	0.333***	-0.047	-0.072
	Mangrove boardwalk	-0.036	-0.134	-0.210*	-0.040	0.292**	0.201*	-0.009
Lawaan	Fishing for consumption	0.046	0.038	0.354***	-0.166	0.168	-0.264**	-0.128
	Fishing for sale	-0.002	-0.080	0.689***	-0.324***	-0.006	-0.305**	-0.272**
	As firewood	0.065	0.003	0.072	0.023	-0.050	0.030	-0.115
	Bird/bat watching	-0.019	0.074	-0.039	0.135	0.011	0.010	-0.095
	Mangrove boardwalk	-0.078	0.185	0.104	0.022	0.057	-0.011	-0.171
Balangkayan	Fishing for consumption	-0.071	-0.122	0.428***	-0.074	-0.211*	-0.255**	-0.088
	Fishing for sale	-0.082	-0.109	0.441***	-0.132	-0.242*	-0.166	-0.067
	As firewood	-0.105	0.129	-0.068	-0.055	-0.041	-0.022	0.155
	Bird/bat watching	0.075	0.088	0.029	-0.019	0.052	-0.108	-0.001
	Mangrove boardwalk	-0.197	0.087	0.178	-0.055	0.007	-0.061	-0.103

*, **, *** indicates significant correlation at p-value of <0.05, <0.01 and <0.001, respectively.

Table 5. Correlation analysis between the socio-demographic profile and the level of awareness

Variable		Age	Education	Occupation
				Fisherman	Farmer	Government Employee	Housewife	Skilled Worker
Balangiga	Source of fish	0.085	0.011	-0.051	0.201*	-0.038	-0.105	-0.031
	Coastal protection	0.036	0.157	-0.045	0.260**	-0.039	-0.055	-0.119
	Carbon sequestration	-0.030	0.222*	-0.138	0.266**	0.054	-0.095	-0.078
	Recreational site	0.082	0.118	-0.081	0.153	0.061	-0.099	-0.041
Salcedo	Source of fish	0.012	0.208*	-0.125	0.121	0.127	-0.139	0.109
	Coastal protection	-0.067	0.063	0.008	-0.182	-0.029	0.053	0.091
	Carbon sequestration	-0.091	0.228*	0.308**	-0.077	0.157	-0.190	-0.278**
	Recreational site	-0.044	0.267**	-0.183	0.226*	0.151	-0.138	0.096
Lawaan	Source of fish	-0.019	-0.048	0.147	0.091	-0.142	-0.061	-0.143
	Coastal protection	-0.049	0.107	0.139	-0.037	0.069	-0.160	-0.026
	Carbon sequestration	0.169	0.141	-0.050	0.205*	0.190	-0.174	-0.069
	Recreational site	-0.148	0.088	-0.042	0.034	0.078	-0.048	0.026
Balangkayan	Source of fish	0.045	0.270**	-0.285**	0.288**	0.114	-0.156	0.009
	Coastal protection	0.016	0.363***	-0.215*	0.256**	0.096	-0.129	-0.029
	Carbon sequestration	-0.003	0.278**	-0.074	0.004	0.082	-0.008	0.013
	Recreational site	0.127	0.187	-0.274*	0.313**	0.045	-0.085	-0.004

*, **, *** indicates significant correlation at p-value of <0.05, <0.01 and <0.001, respectively.

Table 6. Correlation analysis between the level of awareness and frequency of resource utilization

Variable		Ecosystem Services
		Source of fish	Coastal protection	Carbon sequestration	Recreational site
Balangiga	Fishing for consumption	0.257	0.336***	0.325***	-0.067
	Fishing for sale	0.355**	0.037	-0.085	-0.193
	As firewood	0.211	-0.133	0.104	0.048
	Bird/bat watching	0.172	-0.104	-0.041	0.165
	Mangrove boardwalk	0.268	-0.387***	-0.222*	-0.067
Salcedo	Fishing for consumption	0.544***	0.109	0.507***	0.039
	Fishing for sale	0.414***	0.163	0.442***	0.003
	As firewood	0	0	0	0
	Bird/bat watching	0.057	0.072	-0.009	0.128
	Mangrove boardwalk	0.351**	0.025	-0.370***	0.074
Lawaan	Fishing for consumption	0.366**	0.231*	0.317**	-0.078
	Fishing for sale	0.258	0.142	0.156	0.065
	As firewood	0.240	-0.236*	-0.036	0.033
	Bird/bat watching	0.334**	-0.001	0.276**	0.481***
	Mangrove boardwalk	0.308*	0.066	0.127	0.514***
Balangkayan	Fishing for consumption	0.143	-0.154	-0.213*	-0.125
	Fishing for sale	0.108	-0.195	-0.178	-0.017
	As firewood	0.102	0.076	0.185	0.111
	Bird/bat watching	0.419***	0.263**	0.008	0.333***
	Mangrove boardwalk	0.231	-0.181	-0.027	-0.129

*, **, *** indicates significant correlation at p-value of <0.05, <0.01 and <0.001, respectively.

Figure 4. Level of effectivity of the government’s assistance in managing the blue carbon ecosystems

Figure 5. Percentage participation of the local residents to various coastal management-related activities

Figure 6. Percentage of the respondents choosing what stakeholder should be responsible for protecting their mangrove forests

Table 7. Regression analysis between being informed of the coastal management plans and awareness on local ordinances, laws and penalties for violations as well their participation in coastal management activities

Variable			Independent
			Informed	Awareness on Coastal Plans
Balangiga	Dependent	Participation	0.380***	0.429***
			(1.067)	(1.042)
		Seminars/Trainings			0.665***
					(0.665)
		Ordinances/Laws				0.504***
						(0.923)
		Penalties					0.374***
							(1.218)
		Adjusted R^2	0.135	0.175	0.436	0.246	0.131
		Observations	95
Salcedo	Dependent	Participation	0.265**	0.340***
			(0.980)	(0.956)
		Seminars/Trainings			0.814***
					(0.530)
		Ordinances/Laws				0.593***
						(0.665)
		Penalties					0.573***
							(0.804)
		Adjusted R^2	0.060	0.106	0.658	0.345	0.320
		Observations	91
Lawaan	Dependent	Participation	0.040	0.368***
			(1.042)	(0.970)
		Seminars/Trainings			0.879***
					(0.507)
		Ordinances/Laws				0.810***
						(0.725)
		Penalties					0.826***
							(0.747)
		Adjusted R^2	−0.009	0.126	0.770	0.652	0.678
		Observations	94
Balangkayan	Dependent	Participation	0.178	0.310**
			(1.033)	(0.998)
		Seminars/Trainings			0.793***
					(1.091)
		Ordinances/Laws				0.676***
						(1.280)
		Penalties					0.593***
							(1.361)
		Adjusted R^2	0.021	0.086	0.624	0.451	0.344
		Observations	92

*, **, *** indicates significant correlation at p-value of <0.05, <0.01 and <0.001, respectively. Values in parenthesis are the standard errors.

Figure 7. Level of affectedness of the respondents if mangroves are destroyed