Researches:
Article title: Island Stories: Mapping the (im)mobility trends of slow onset environmental processes in three island groups of the Philippines
Authors: Sonja Ayeb-Karlsson & Noralene Uy
Publication title: Humanities and Social Sciences Communications 9(1): 60, 2022
Abstract:
There is an immediate lack of people-centered empirical evidence investigating how slow onset events influence human (im)mobility across the globe. This represents an important knowledge gap that makes it difficult for climate policy to safeguard vulnerable populations (whether on the move or left behind). In this study, 48 qualitative focus group discussions in the Philippines elaborated around people’s (im)mobility pathways in the context of slow onset events. The selected collective storytelling approach effectively mapped out the (im)mobility trends of 12 different origin- and destination locations involving the perceptions of 414 women and men across six provinces on Luzon, the Visayas and Mindanao islands. The research findings delicately outlined people’s translocality and its interlinkage with their personal (im)mobility experiences. People described how slow onset events such as longer-term soil and water degradation often contributed to reduced livelihood sustainability that influenced their decisions to move or stay. At the very core of people’s narratives were the ways that the environmental changes and (im)mobility experiences influenced people’s wellbeing. Some people described how temporary migration could increase their social status and boost wellbeing after returning home. Others described adverse impacts on their mental health during their migration experiences due to loss of place, identity, food, and social networks. The research findings show how policy can better support those moving, hosting, or identifying as immobile, as well as where (geographically and socially) more assistance is needed.
Full text link https://tinyurl.com/3t7v3vpr
Article title: Ecosystem resilience and community values: Implications to ecosystem-based adaptation
Authors: Noralene Uy and Rajib Shaw
Publication title: Journal of Disaster Research 8(1):201-202, 2013
Abstract:
In recent years, the case for ecosystem approaches in disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation is strongly argued because losses can be reduced and safer and resilient communities built by ensuring resource sustainability and enhancing ecosystem resilience. Recognizing the interdependencies of ecological, physical, economic, social and institutional actors and that community-level perception can shape adaptation actions, a study is conducted through surveys of village councils and households in Infanta, Quezon, Philippines. Utilizing a questionnaire covering 5 dimensions, 25 parameters and 125 measures selected based on the local context of Infanta, the level of resilience in mountain, riverine, urban, agricultural plain, estuarine and coastal ecosystems is determined. In addition, a survey on community values for ecosystem services as well as autonomous and recommended adaptation actions is done. Results show that overall resilience levels of ecosystems lie between 3.08 (medium resilience) and 3.26 (high resilience) on a scale of 1 to 5. The coastal ecosystem demonstrates the highest resilience while the mountain ecosystem shows the lowest resilience. Moreover, the community gives high value to the floodplain and ocean as natural assets and the forest and coastal ecosystems for their provisioning, regulating and cultural services. Lastly, autonomous daptation actions are primarily ecological, economic and social in nature. By assessing the resilience of ecosystems and mapping of community values and actions as attempted in this study, entry points for an ecosystem-based adaptation strategy are identified while addressing positive and negative factors as well as gaps and opportunities to enhance the resilience of Infanta's ecosystems.
Full text link https://tinyurl.com/bd4prmcy
Article title: Watershed Approach to Ecosystem Management
Authors: Noralene Uy and Rajib Shaw
Publication title: Ecosystem-Based Adaptation (Community, Environment and Disaster Risk Management, 12:107-122, 2012
Abstract:
The watershed approach is recognized as a holistic approach to ecosystem management. The chapter examines the concept of watershed as an ecosystem in relation to ecosystem management, disaster risk reduction, and climate change adaptation. It describes the importance of watersheds in disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation. It specifically looks at the watershed approach and provides some case studies showing the important role of communities in watershed management. Moreover, it discusses some incentive schemes in managing watersheds.
Full text available upon request to the author/s.
Article title: An Ecosystem-Based Resilience Analysis of Infanta, Philippines
Authors: Noralene Uy, Yukiko Tekeuchi, Rajib Shaw
Publication title: Environmental Hazards 11(4):1-17, 2012
Abstract:
An exploratory study is conducted to assess the resilience of Infanta through an analysis of its ecosystems from ecological, physical, economic, social and institutional perspectives. Recognizing the strong interdependencies of ecological, physical, economic, social and institutional dimensions in ecosystems and that community-level perceptions can shape adaptation actions, a survey is conducted in 36 village councils in Infanta, Quezon, Philippines utilizing a questionnaire covering 5 dimensions, 25 parameters and 125 measures selected based on the local context of Infanta to gain an understanding of the level of resilience in mountain, riverine, urban, agricultural plain, estuarine and coastal ecosystems. Results show that overall resilience levels of ecosystems lie between 3.08 (medium resilience) and 3.26 (high resilience) on a scale of 1–5. However, resilience scores in the five dimensions vary from 2.57 (low resilience) to 3.51 (high resilience). On the whole, overall resilience levels in the 36 villages exhibit high levels in the social dimension and low levels in the economic dimension. By assessing the resilience of ecosystems as attempted in this study, a baseline is determined where entry points for adaptation actions that are responsive to prevailing ecosystem conditions can be identified, positive and negative factors addressed and gaps and opportunities acted upon to enhance the resilience of Infanta's ecosystems.
Full text available upon request to the author/s.
Article title: Local adaptation for livelihood resilience in Albay, Philippines
Authors: Noralene Uy, Yukiko Tekeuchi, Rajib Shaw
Publication title: Environmental Hazards 10(2):139-153, 2011
Abstract:
Local adaptation to climate change is essential for vulnerable coastal communities faced with increasing threats to livelihood and safety. This paper seeks to understand the micro-level enabling conditions for climate change adaptation through a livelihood lens in a study of six coastal villages in Bacacay in the province of Albay, Philippines. Albay is a high-risk province due to hydro-meteorological and geophysical hazards. The analysis of livelihood resilience utilizing the Sustainable Livelihoods Approach shows that a soft adaptation strategy focusing on enhancing human and social capital needs to be undertaken to increase adaptive capacity and build resilience in the study area. Moreover, the micro-level variations in the villages suggest that the understanding of local conditions is indispensable in planning and formulation of appropriate adaptation strategies and actions at local level.
Full text available upon request to the author/s.
Book Chapters
Chapter title: Private Sector and Higher Educational Institution Partnerships to Enhance Resilience in the Philippines: The Experience of the National Resilience Council
Authors: Antoni Yulo Loyzaga, Noralene Uy, Dexter Lo & Emma Porio
Publication title: Safety and Resilience of Higher Educational Institutions, Considerations for a Post-COVID-19 Pandemic Analysis pp.233-253, June 2022
Abstract:
By their concentrated scientific knowledge, technical expertise, organizational infrastructure, and material resources, the private sector and higher education institutions play a pivotal role in disaster risk reduction and resilience, being co-owners of risk as well as co-creators and co-implementers of solutions to resilience challenges. The impact and influence that the private sector and higher education institutions possess inform and catalyze evidence-informed decision-making in risk reduction across sectors, at different levels, and beyond their specific geographic locations. The COVID-19 pandemic provided an opportunity for higher education institutions and the private sector to mobilize resources and initiatives to support the government response. The experience of the National Resilience Council and its academic partners in implementing resilience programs in the Philippines shows that multi-stakeholder participation, trust-building, communication, information sharing, partnership, and social transformation provide the enabling conditions to enhance the resilience of higher education institutions. Post-COVID-19, the private sector and higher education institutions can leverage and strengthen existing partnerships and explore opportunities for future collaborations to build resilient societies. The private sector and higher education institutions continue to play an essential role in facilitating disaster risk reduction and resilience actions that foster transformation toward resilient development pathways.
Full text available upon request to the author/s
Chapter title: Turning Blue, Green and Gray: Opportunities for Blue-Green Infrastructure in the Philippines
Authors: Noralene Uy & Chris Tapnio
Publication title: Ecosystem-Based Disaster and Climate Resilience, pp.161-184, August 2021
Abstract:
Nature-based solutions represent a critical concept that harnesses natural systems to provide essential services for disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation. As a nature-based solution, blue-green infrastructure takes advantage of nature’s innate ability to substitute for or strengthen infrastructure systems by preserving, enhancing, or restoring a natural system's elements to build high quality, resilient and lower-cost infrastructure. The chapter describes how ecosystem-based disaster risk reduction, ecosystem-based adaptation, and blue-green infrastructure are implemented in the Philippines, including the policies that support them, the status of implementation, and through a case study in Polillo, Quezon, Philippines. Findings show that despite policies in place to support and advance the mainstreaming of nature-based solutions in the country, the environment's cross-cutting nature as a sector makes enforcement and implementation of programs, plans, and activities extremely challenging. Implementing nature-based solutions in the Philippines has so far been undertaken as a response to environmental challenges. More than being reactive, a proactive focus on nature-based solutions for prevention, mitigation, and rehabilitation is needed. The science and evidence for blue-green infrastructure would need to be strengthened to inform decision-making better, gain political commitment at all levels, secure funding and private sector engagement, and ultimately advance its implementation.
Full text available upon request to the author/s
Chapter title: Coastal Risks from Typhoons in the Pacific: Politics and Policy for Threatened Seas
Authors: Noralene Uy & Joe-mar Perez
Publication title: Climate Change and Ocean Governance, pp.90-101, February 2019
Book title: PhilCCA Working Group 2: Impacts, Vulnerabilities and Adaptation
Authors: Noraleen Uy, Rex Oafallas Cruz, Rodel D. Lasco, Juan M. Pulhin
Publisher: Oscar M. Lopez Center of Climate Change Adaptation and Disaster Risk Management Foundation, Inc., February 2018
Abstract:
This report is an assessment of the current understanding on climate change impacts, vulnerabilities, and adaptation in the Philippines. It focuses on ecosystems, freshwater resources, coastal systems and low-lying areas, agriculture and fisheries, and human health. The depth and breadth of assessment vary across chapters due to the uneven availability of literature specific to the Philippines. In cases where there are limited literatures specifically pertaining to the Philippines, the assessment of impacts and vulnerabilities to climate change in the country was inferred from published results of related studies in other countries.
Full text available upon request to the author/s
Chapter title: Guinsaugon, Leyte Landslide: Experience and Lessons in Land Use Policy
Authors: Noralene Uy, Benigno Balgos, Rajib Shaw
Publication title: Land Use Management in Disaster Risk Reduction, pp.197-214, December 2017
Abstract:
Land use planning was an important issue revisited after the Guinsaugon, Leyte, landslide in 2006. Without a national land use policy in the Philippines, effective planning and implementation of the comprehensive land use plan of local government units is still sought. This chapter examines the landslide disaster experience of Guinsaugon, Leyte, and its implications for land use policy specifically looking at the need to revisit land use policy and the importance of risk-sensitive land use planning and public participation in land use planning after a disaster. It also describes the land use planning process in the country including policies and relevant government agencies. The lessons of the disaster are expected to strengthen land use decisions in mountain regions in the country.
Full text available upon request to the author/s.
Chapter title: Ecosystem-Based Disaster Risk Reduction: Experiences, Challenges, and Opportunities in the Post-2015 Development Agenda
Authors: Noralene Uy, Rafaela Jane P. Delfino, Rajib Shaw
Publication title: Sustainable Development and Disaster Risk Reduction, pp. 119-142, 2016
Abstract:
Ecosystems, climate change, and disaster risk reduction are among the cross-cutting issues highlighted in the Rio+20 Conference. In view of the post-2015 development agenda, the chapter discusses the important role of ecosystem-based disaster risk reduction in sustaining ecosystems and building disaster-resilient communities. It describes ecosystem management strategies that link ecosystem protection and disaster risk reduction, elucidates the challenges in advancing the use of ecosystem-based disaster risk reduction and linking it to policy, and identifies opportunities for scaling up.
Full text available upon request to the author/s.
Book title: Ecosystem-based Adaptation
Authors: Noraleen Uy and Rajib Shaw
Publisher: Emerald Publishing Group Limited, December 2012
Chapter title: Overview of Ecosystem-Based Adaptation
Authors: Noralene Uy and Rajib Shaw
Publication title: Ecosystem-based Adaptation, pp.pp. 3-17. December 2012
Abstract:
Ecosystem management has emerged as a preferred, and often, mandated approach to managing ecological systems. However, this comes with much debate because of the complexity in its applicability and feasibility due to political, economic, social, cultural, and ecological factors. This chapter outlines the evolving nature of Ecosystem-based Adaptation (EbA), and provides an insight on the future direction.
Full text available upon request to the author/s
Chapter title: Ecosystem Services, Biodiversity, and the Millennium Development Goals
Authors: Noralene Uy and Rajib Shaw
Publication title: Ecosystem-based Adaptation, pp.pp. 19-39, December 2012
Abstract:
Ecosystem services are essential for human well-being. The chapter explores the linkages between ecosystems and ecosystem services, biodiversity, and the Millennium Development Goals. Specifically, it focuses on the discussions in the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, the ecosystem approach within the framework of the Convention on Biological Diversity, and ecosystems' role in the achievement of specific targets of the Millennium Development Goals. It highlights the need for ecosystem-based approaches to ecosystem management, biodiversity conservation, and attainment of human well-being.
Full text available upon request to the author/s
Chapter title: Challenges and the Way Ahead in Ecosystem-Based Adaptation
Authors: Noralene Uy and Rajib Shaw
Publication title: Ecosystem-based Adaptation, pp.pp. 257-265, December 2012
Abstract:
The key concept of ecosystem-based adaptation (EbA) is how to think of ecosystem in daily lifestyles (both in urban and rural areas), and how ecosystem-based adaptation can be a tool to adapt daily lives in changing climatic conditions. Sustainably managing, conserving, and restoring ecosystems so that they continue to provide the services that allow people to adapt to climate change is known as ecosystem-based adaptation. Summarizing the key observations provided in the earlier chapters, this chapter provides the ways of action-oriented ecosystem based adaptation.
Full text available upon request to the author/s
Chapter title: The Role of Ecosystems in Climate Change Adaptation and Disaster Risk Reduction
Authors: Noralene Uy and Rajib Shaw
Publication title: Ecosystem-based Adaptation, pp.pp. 41-59, December 2012
Abstract:
In the context of natural disasters and climate change, ecosystems are critical natural capital because of their ability to regulate climate and natural hazards. This chapter examines the important role of ecosystems and their services in disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation. It discusses the relevance of adopting ecosystem-based approaches in managing risks brought about by a changing climate.
Full text available upon request to the author/s
Chapter title: Benchmarking Ecosystem Conditions
Authors: Noralene Uy and Rajib Shaw
Publication title: Ecosystem-based Adaptation, pp.pp. 177-194, December 2012
Abstract:
Benchmarking ecosystem conditions is a prerequisite to any investigation of ecological systems. It provides a description or better understanding of the system under study. This chapter discusses ecological indicators and the conceptual approaches to ecosystem assessment. It introduces a case study on participatory ecosystem resilience assessment in Infanta, Philippines.
Full text available upon request to the author/s
Chapter title: Governance in Climate Change: An Ecosystem Perspective
Authors: Noralene Uy and Rajib Shaw
Publication title: Ecosystem-based Adaptation, pp.pp. 239-253, December 2012
Abstract:
Climate change poses serious challenges to existing ecosystem governance systems due to the emerging issues that it presents. The chapter discusses two main characteristics of ecosystem governance (i.e., adaptive and collaborative) in the context of a changing climate. It examines the issues to be addressed in the review of governance systems such as ecosystem degradation, adaptation to climate change, and institutionalization of governance structures. It reiterates the importance of considering the consequences of climate change to the ecosystem, economy, and human well-being toward better ecosystem governance.
Full text available upon request to the author/s
Chapter title: Valuing Ecosystem Services
Authors: Noralene Uy and Rajib Shaw
Publication title: Ecosystem-based Adaptation, pp.pp. 223-238
Abstract:
The unsustainable management of ecosystem services often arises as a result of the non-recognition of the multiple benefits or under-valuation of ecosystem services. The chapter looks at economic valuation as an essential tool in ecosystem management decision-making and policy. It discusses the economics of ecosystem services, explains the motivations for economic valuation, describes economic valuation methods, and examines the limitations of economic valuation. It emphasizes that economic valuation can be a powerful and convincing tool for placing ecosystems on the agenda of planners and decision-makers.
Full text available upon request to the author/s
Chapter title: Livelihoods: Linking Livelihoods and Ecosystems for Enhanced Disaster Management
Authors: Noralene Uy and Rajib Shaw
Publication title: Environment Disaster Linkages (Community, Environment and Disaster Risk Management, Vol. 9), January 2012
Abstract:
Human beings are inseparable from the environment because of their dependence on ecosystems and their services (Schroter, 2009). The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (2005) identifies ecosystem services as vital links between humans and ecosystems because these services are essential for human well-being, especially in terms of security, basic materials for a good life, health, good social relations, and freedom of choice and action. Ecosystem services include flows of materials, energy, and information from natural resources that combined with manufactured and human resources contribute to human well-being (Costanza et al., 1997). These include provisioning services (e.g., food, fresh water, wood and fiber, fuel), regulating services (e.g., climate, flood and disease regulation, water purification), supporting services (e.g., nutrient cycling, soil formation, primary production), and cultural services (e.g., aesthetic, spiritual, educational, and recreational value). The regulating services provided by ecosystems, in particular, are critical for disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation. Ecosystems primarily affect both the probability and the severity of events and modulate the effects of extreme events. For example, soils store large amounts of water, facilitate transfer of surface water to groundwater, and prevent or reduce flooding, and natural buffers reduce hazards by absorbing runoff peaks and storm surges.
Full text available upon request to the author/s
Chapter title: CBDRM experience of the Philippines
Authors: Noralene Uy, Rajib Shaw, Glenn Fernandez, Yukiko Takeuchi
Publication title: Community based disaster risk reduction, January 2012
Chapter title: Local adaptation to enhance livelihood assets and build resilience in Albay, Philippines
Authors: Noralene Uy, Yukiko Takeuchi, Rajib Shaw
Publication title: Climate Change Adaptation and Disaster Risk Reduction: An Asian Perspective (Community, Environment and Disaster Risk Management, Vol. 5), 2010
Abstract:
Compelling evidence in recent decades confirms that climate change is already happening as demonstrated by increasing mean temperature, changing precipitation patterns, rising sea level, and increasing frequency and growing intensity of extreme weather events in Asia. Regional climate studies have shown and projected that the worse is yet to come. According to the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR), Asia registered the highest number of hydrometeorological disasters at 1,532 occurrences in the period 1991–2005 among all regions in the world.
Full text available upon request to the author/s
Chapter title: Climate change adaptation in ASEAN: Actions and challenges
Authors: Noralene Uy, Rajib Shaw
Publication title: Climate Change Adaptation and Disaster Risk Reduction: Issues and Challenges (Community, Environment and Disaster Risk Management, Vol. 4), 2010
Abstract:
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) comprises 10 countries namely Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam (Fig. 1). The ASEAN region has a total land area of 4.5 million square kilometers (3.3% of the world total) and a coastline of 173,252 km (third longest in the world). It is a region that boasts of a wealth of biodiversity including 20 percent of all known plant, animal, and marine species and one-third or 284,000 km2 of all coral reefs. Four biodiversity hotspots identified by Conservation International cut across a wide area of the region that includes Indo-Burma, the Philippines, Sundaland, and Wallacea.
Full text available upon request to the author/s.
Chapter title: Climate change impacts and conservation practices in the coastal communities of Albay, Philippines
Authors: Noralene Uy
Publication title: Communities and coastal zone management, pp.269-281, 2010
Chapter title: Community-based water management practices in Japan
Authors: Yukiko Takeuchi, Noralene Uy, Rajib Shaw
Publication title: Water Communities (Community, Environment and Disaster Risk Management, Vol. 2), 2010
Abstract:
The Japanese culture has many meanings and proverbs associated with the word “water.” “Water” could mean “clear,” “clean,” “beautiful,” and “life.” Water is valuable to people in that it is used for drinking, cooking, washing, and fishing. On the flip side, water is a cause of disaster. Thus, people use water for survival, as well as fight with water during disasters. Because of the many uses of water, people developed a rule for water utilization. This rule cultivated trust in the community. However, infrastructure development (e.g., water supply system, dikes, and road networks), the promotion of washing machines, and social advancement changed the role of the water area from just a flowing stream, which can be simply likened to a sewer, to an important component of infrastructure.
Full text available upon request to the author/s.
Chapter title: Indigenous knowledge of the Ivatans in Batanes Islands, Philippines
Authors: Noralene Uy and Rajib Shaw
Publication title: Indigenous knowledge and disaster risk reduction: From practice to policy, pp.193-207
Book title: Indigenous knowledge disaster risk reduction: Policy note
Authors: Yukiko Takeuchi, Noralene Uy, Rajib Shaw, Anshu Sharma
Publisher: UNISDR Asia Pacific, January 2009
Abstract:
Indigenous Knowledge (IK) has been practiced in communities over time. There is news after major disasters on how IK has been effective in the protection of the lives and properties of people and communities. Some IK has been orally transmitted, and some are documented by local organizations sporadically. People and communities have developed their coping mechanisms over time, which is reflected in the form of IK. While many organizations recognize the importance of IK for Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR), there have been few systematic studies that analyze the principles of IK and its applicability to the modern context. This unique book is one of the first attempts of systematic study of IK in DRR. The key challenge will start after the publication of this book: to make it a useful reference material for decision making, research, implementation, and documentation. The target audience of the book consists of professionals, practitioners, researchers, and graduate students in the related field.
Full text available upon request to the author/s.
Chapter title: Shaped by wind and typhoon: The indigenous knowledge of the Ivatans in the Batanes Islands, Philippines
Authors: Noralene Uy and Rajib Shaw
Publication title: Indigenous knowledge for disaster risk reduction: Good practices and lessons learned from experiences in the Asia-Pacific region, pp.59-63, July 2008
Book title: Indigenous Knowledge for Disaster Risk Reduction: Good Practices and Lessons Learnt from the Asia-Pacific Region
Authors: Noralene Uy, Rajib Shaw, Jennifer Baumwoll
Publisher: UNISDR Asia Pacific, 2008