The Region 8 GIS Network in the Philippines -
A smart concept to reconcile data, government, and academic institutions
Heidrun Simm
GIS Consultant / German Development Service (DED)
University of the Philippines in the Visayas Tacloban College (UPVTC)
6500 Tacloban City, Leyte, Philippines
Tel. +63-53-3258425, +63-53-3218962
Fax +63-53-3219396
Email : simm@mozcom.com, uptclshc@mozcom.com
Introduction
The forests and marine ecosystems in the Philippines are degraded. Only few programs focus on sustainable use of natural resources. The LGUs lack experience to fulfil the tasks that were devolved to them by the Local Government Code in 1991. Apart from the little experience with resource management project implementation, funds are often lacking. Besides that, legislation on the protection of natural resources is hardly enforced.
Data and information, which are needed for resource management programs and projects, can generally be accessed only under substantial expenditure of time, or are not available at all.
Planning is often rather a statement of the current status than a plan for the future. The plans are rather a sketch of the situation, based on data and maps of insufficient quality. If there are plans for the future they often cover only a short period. A sufficient entry of data and an appropriate analysis of the long-term development hardly takes place. An important part for decision making in planning processes would be the appropriate visualization of data as maps and charts, but that is often replaced by descriptions in text format. Many LGUs and government agencies have a demand to solve those problems through external support and training of their personnel.
Brief History and Objectives of the Region 8 GIS Network
Being aware of those problems, the University of the Philippines in the Visayas Tacloban College (UPVTC) decided to support LGUs with data and GIS services at reasonable cost. The idea was to provide data by setting up a Regional Environmental Information System (REIS) and offer related GIS services.
After a short time it was learned that a certain part of the data needed by LGUs, especially for Comprehensive Land Use Plans (CLUPs) is provided as hardcopies by Government Line Agencies. Those data are often of insufficient quality and it is a major problem to combine information of maps from different sources. So it became clear that UPVTC would not be able to be the clearinghouse for the whole region and fill the gaps by gathering primary data, but could support the Government Line Agencies to improve the quality of their respective data.
Through consultative meetings and workshops, UPVTC initiated the discussion about data availability and quality, the demand for capability building and information exchange amongst Government Line Agencies, Provincial Governments and academic institutions. As a result of those meetings the Region 8 GIS Network was launched in March 2001 with 18 member institutions through the ratification of a Memorandum of Understanding.
The Network is composed of
-
5 Local Government Units (LGUs):
the Provincial Governments of Leyte, Southern Leyte, Eastern Samar, Northern Samar,
the City of Tacloban,
- 7 Government Line Agencies of Region VIII:
BFAR – Bureau of Fisheries &? Aquatic Resources
DA – Department of Agriculture
DAR – Department of Agrarian Reform
DENR – Department of Environment and Natural Resources
DILG – Department of Interior and Local Governance
DOST – Department of Science and Technology
NEDA – National Economic Development Authority
- 6 Academic Institutions:
ESSC – Eastern Samar State College
LSU – Leyte State University
NIT – Naval Institute of Technology
SLSCST – Southern Leyte State College of Science and Technology
UEP – University of the Eastern Philippines
UPVTC – University of the Philippines in the Visayas Tacloban College
UPVTC functions as Network Secretariat