Co-management of community groups

There are two types of co-management. The first is the use of local indigenous knowledge together with new knowledge to produce new products, for example, the use of water hyacinth as an ingredient in organic fertilizer, nipa palm products and half-polished rice. The second type is responsible coastal wetlands management, which includes responsible fishery management, participatory irrigation management, solid waste recycling, peat swamp fishery management.

A Center of Excellence is a collaborative endeavor among stakeholders in an area and includes the immediate community, local authorities, government agencies, academics, the private sector and other development oriented organizations. The community, which is the main stakeholder, takes the lead role in facilitating development plans and projects from external agencies that can be integrated locally. Likewise, depending on its local needs and demands, the community requests technical and financial support from outside sources. The community, being the center of the activities, ensures that decision-making emanates from the local level and that local stakeholders are empowered to apply their own knowledge and skills. Good practices are then replicated or shared with other communities for wider dissemination.

CORIN and AIT field offices will encourage, facilitate and host students from AIT and other post-graduate/graduate educational institutions both in this region and other parts of the world to undertake thesis research or special study assignments that will contribute towards improving co-management by community groups and making this experience available to capacity building programs in neighbouring countries related to improved wetlands and aquatic resources management.