ADB extends financing for 4 upper river basin projects

MANILA, Philippines - The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has extended a $100-million loan and $3.9 million in grants to the Philippine government for the development of four upper river basins.

The project package falls under the Integrated Natural Resources and Environment Management program, which addresses the unsustainable watershed management in four priority river basins of the country.

The project is scheduled for completion on June 2020 as the loan has a principal repayment period of 12 years.

The four river basins are the Chico River Basin in Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR), Wahig-Inabanga on the island of Bohol, Lake Lanao Basin in the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), and the Upper Bukidnon River Basin in Bukidnon.

The watersheds of the river basins comprise an estimated 45 percent of the country’s total land area, and are home to one in four Filipinos, including indigenous communities.

Natural resources in upper river basins are the primary source for domestic energy and the local production base.

“More importantly, these forest ecosystems play a critical role in economic development by regulating water quantity and quality for sustaining irrigation, hydropower generation and domestic water supplies, maintaining and restoring biodiversity, and mitigating climate change through carbon sequestration,” the ADB said in a statement.

The ADB, however, has set certain conditionalities when the projects affect the indigenous people, the environment, or involve gender issues.

“Where any of the project activities are located in areas occupied by indigenous peoples’ communities, an indigenous people’s development plan shall be prepared,” it said.

Another conditionality to the loan is that the Philippines must follow the principles of ADB’s policy on gender and development during the implementation of the project, including taking all the necessary actions to encourage women living in the project area to participate in the planning and implementing project activities.