Biodiversity Stewardship for Sustainable Livelihood: A Community’s Paradigm Shift Based on case study entitled : “Biodiversity Stewardship for Sustainable Livelihood : A Barangay’s Paradigm Shift” Authored by : Jose V. Reano, from Broadchem Corporation, Philippines Presented by : Jose V. Reano, at Asia Regional Forum on Biodiversity, Cha-am, Thailand, November 2011 Broadchem Corporation is a private entity established in 1989 as a product development company for new and emerging products for the animal health industry in the Philippines. As a fast-growing and dynamic company, it has a strong corporate social responsibility (CSR) programme with a focused advocacy on education, livelihood and environment. The company’s current thrust is “Embracing Green” and is highly synonymous to its biodiversity programme initiated in 2004 in Atisan, a mountain village in San Pablo, Laguna, Philippines. Prior to Broadchem’s intervention, Atisan was in a sorry state, considered as a case example of one of the most neglected or ignored communities in San Pablo. The village was in dire poverty; slash and burn farming was rampant; soil erosion was frequent; and people lacked alternative livelihoods. Most of all, the residents simply did not know or lacked knowledge on how to be good stewards of nature. With these challenges, Broadchem forged a partnership with the Atisan community with the following simple and highly doable objectives: to become able stewards in order to protect Atisan’s biodiversity; create livelihoods for the farmers and provide nature-based socio-economic benefits; and enable sustainable use of natural resources and effectively manage threats to nature. Planting Indigenous Trees for Livelihood In the past, Gmelina and Mahogany trees were planted in Atisan. As the trees were not indigenous to the area, most of them did not grow well. Drawing from this experience, Broadchem 114 THE ASIA REGIONAL FORUM ON BIODIVERSITY encouraged the Atisan farmers to plant local trees. Applying multiple cropping to curb erosion and manage pests and diseases in the mountainous area, a wide variety of cover crops and fruit trees were planted. Today, the main produce of Atisan is Bignay, which is scientifically called ‘Antidesma bunius’. Bignay trees, which produce nutritional and medicinal fruits, are being processed into fruit wines which can compete with the leading brands of red wine in the market. Bignay wine is an organic and indigenous fruit wine with exotic and flavorsome red wine characteristics. It is rich in powerful anti-oxidant properties. The ripened Bignay fruits are carefully handpicked from about 10,000 trees located at the cool mountain range of Atisan. In 2011, the community produced 12,000 bottles of dessert wine, which has 11.5 per cent alcohol. Their goal is to produce 30,000 bottles. Other nutritional products that are being processed from Bignay fruits are jam, jelly, juice, vinegar and bread wine pastries. The Bignay leaves are also being processed into a premium tea which serves as a supplement to lower blood sugar. The leaves are believed to have therapeutic properties which may have a huge potential in processing and converting into a nutraceutical product for diabetics. Other indigenous produce such as Kalumpit, Karamay, Catmon and Kaong are all locally harvested in the area. The by-products are pickles, sweet ingredients, candies, pastries, etc. There are more locally grown fruit-bearing trees in the community which are being processed as well, among them, Guyabano, Anonas, Suhang Gubat and Libas. ~ ~
In Celebration of His Majesty the King of Thailand’s 84th Birthday Anniversary
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