5/2003: The National Landcare Conference - Landcare in the Philippines

April/May 2003 - The Australian Landcare model has proven to be very successful in spreading a grass roots land conservation movement in the Philippines.  Through an ACIAR project, supporting work by ICRAF and the Philippines Government, the Landcare model has been successfully adopted throughout the southern island of Mindanao.  A group of Filipinos involved in the ACIAR project are presenting their story at the National Landcare Conference, underway in Darwin. 

The development of Landcare in the Philippine’s marks the first grassroots land conservation movement to evolve outside of Australia.  ACIAR’s involvement has focused on testing the applicability of the Australian model in Mindanao.  The success of the Landcare model, now involving farmers, community groups and schools, is helping to rehabilitate marginal land where farming and cultivation too often resulted in soil erosion.

While farmers have been clear about the problem, the best ways of limiting erosion have not been.  The Landcare model has helped equip farmers with a suite of methods and skills that can be used to limit erosion and environmental degradation. 

The group from the Philippines have been featured by ABC Rural Radio and through the ABC Rural website’s coverage of the National Landcare Conference. 

ABC coverage of the National Landcare Conference