Potentials of Isabela
“Purposeful travel to natural areas to understand the culture and history of the environment, taking care not to alter the integrity of the ecosystem, while producing economic opportunities that make the conversation of natural resources beneficial to local people..” is the way the Ecotourism Society puts it when it added a social responsibility component to the definition of ecotourism. Bearing this in mind, all the more that it becomes compelling to crack heads to truly strike a balance between economic growth, social equity and environmental equity.
Maconacon, Divilacan, Palanan and Dinapigue have long sought for a balanced development. They are set on a backdrop of relatively healthy greens and blues yet generally weak in spirit. This is the general impression that the study team gathered during the interactions with stakeholders, particularly heads of offices of all the municipal government. Taking into account that the setting of the development initiative is amidst fragile ecosystems, the study team deemed the process to be as consultative as possible given the limited timeframe, that fragile culture as those of the agtas were looked into also. Two of their clusters have been visited.
The of land access to the “mainland”, as the coastal residents would refer the provincial center, have been translated to importation of even staple food items from neighboring provinces, limited income opportunities, inferior social services among others. With their issues and concerns so real, the need to safeguard the environment vis-à-vis the fact that most of the coastal towns are under the Northern Sierra Madre Natural Park, the inherent geological hazards becoming to the Agtas, have to be harmonized with the thrust to provide for sufficient food, incomes, healthcare, education and the whole range of services to promote more decent living to all.
Towards the desired state of Coastal Isabela, an economic growth driven by agricultural and tourism development, and an improved delivery of social services undertaken with the least disturbance to the natural environment is proposed to be taken. Recognizing that this development goal would hardly happen without the necessary infrastructure support such as access roads, airport and seaports, power facilities, irrigation, at the least are necessary. Importantly though, all projects must have environmental safeguards in place even before actual implementation. Mobilizing civil society to become active environmental stewards during project implementation would be very crucial.
In consideration of the natural endowments of each municipality and economies of scale, the proposed development is advancing a functional complementation of the four coastal towns. Maconacon would be the Gateway and Air Transportation Hub of the North, Divilacan would be Ecotourism Center for Mangrove-Friendly Aquaculture, Palanan to be the Crops Production Center, Agro-processing Center and Sea and Air Transportation Hub and Dinapigue to be the Livestock Production Center, Social Services Center and Gateway of the South.
The development projects identified are to be funded from various schemes. For one, the time has come for the coastal tows to again undertake claim-making with concerned national line agencies with the mandate to provide facilities like airports and seaports for instance. The LGUs, which have been highly IRA dependent and prudent in spending in spite gaps in the delivery of services, will now have the opportunity to generate more income and aggressively reach out to their constituents. Private investments can now be mobilized from all fronts for as long as locals take priority in the opportunities. Lastly, institutional arrangements should be in place to properly safeguard the fragile ecosystems just so human lives can continue to be protected as well.