The study “Integrating Adaptation in REDD+ Projects: Potential Impacts and Social Return on Investment (SROI)” was conducted by the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) in two pilot sites in Indonesia and the Philippines. It was funded by the Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) with a grant from the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). Field work in the Philippines was conducted in September 2012 with support by the GIZ Philippines Team of the Forest Policy and Piloting of Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD) Project in the Philippines, funded by the German Federal...

The municipality of Sogod in the Philippines (Southern Leyte Province) was selected as the study site after consultation with the REDD+ team.

Sogod is one of 5 target municipalities in Southern Leyte Province for the project “Climate-relevant Modernization of the National Forest Policy and Piloting of REDD Measures in the Philippines” implemented by GIZ together with DENR and LGUs with funding from the International Climate Initiative of the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU). The project aims to improve forest policies, to create specific incentives for forest protection and rehabilitation, to reduce greenhouse gas...

This study adopted the main community-based adaptation planning activities as suggested by Sova et al. (2012) and CARE International.² A 2-day participatory workshop (03–04 September 2012) was organized in the town proper of Sogod in Sogod Municipality and was attended by 30 representatives from 7 barangays (Benit, Hipantag, Kahupian, Kauswagan, Santa Maria, San Vicente and San Juan), including the barangay chiefs. The main objectives of the workshop were to determine the underlying causes of vulnerability, to understand how climate challenges fit within the broader challenges faced by the community, and to incorporate community values and priorities in the selection,...

The groups from the 7 barangays identified many common challenges.⁷ Floods, landslides, and droughts surfaced as the most important climate-related challenges. However, many challenges were identified as being nonclimate ones, such as damaged footpaths and bridges, absence of access roads and health clinics, declining abaca production and virus infestation, and wildlife loss due to excessive hunting. These nonclimate challenges, however, influence the capacity of community members to deal with climate hazards. Damaged footpaths and bridges, for example, make it difficult to evacuate people and assets when flooding occurs. The excessive hunting of wildlife has made this resource inaccessible in times...

The average climate in Sogod presents a low mean seasonality in comparison to similar climates in other parts of the world. This means that, on average, seasons (whether hot or cold or dry or wet) are not marked. The mean monthly temperature ranges from 23.6°C to 25.4°C and precipitation from 147 to 351 mm/month.

According to the Coronas Classification, the main climate classification system used in the Philippines, the largest part of Sogod falls under Type II, which characterized by the absence of a dry season and months with the largest rainfalls between November and January (PAGASA 2011). A small...

The two top aspirations that emerged from the voting are (i) restored abaca production and livelihoods (22 votes) and (ii) secure land tenure, also over farm lots and other production areas (19 votes).

The community members were then asked to plan two community interventions based on the top two priority aspirations, but also taking into account the other desired future characteristics wherever possible.

Following the priority aspirations, the two adaptation interventions that were planned in break-out groups were (i) restoring abaca production and related livelihoods, and (ii) securing land tenure.

The intervention for securing land tenure was planned assuming that...

Adaptation and mitigation strategies generally differ in their objectives and spatial scales. Mitigation has global benefits that manifest in the longer term, whereas adaptation is primarily a local issue with more immediate benefits at that scale (Locatelli 2011). However, mitigation projects can have positive or negative impacts on the adaptive capacity of communities, and adaptation projects can either enhance or hinder mitigation goals (Locatelli et al. 2011). These linkages are particularly evident in the agriculture and forestry sectors, especially in interventions such as REDD+, and there is a growing interest in exploring how adaptation and mitigation can be pursued simultaneously...

As the monetary values for a complete SROI analysis could not be calculated due to the lack of available data, a cost–benefit analysis (CBA) was conducted, which was related to the inputs and outputs of each strategy (securing land tenure and abaca agroforestry). In the CBA analysis, the best available data were used, sourced from the literature, statistics offices, and also from stakeholder statements made during the workshops. Again, the data used for the CBA were not optimal and the results should be interpreted with caution. For this reason, the most conservative estimates were used (e.g. lowest average yield...