A CONSERVATIONIST here said there is a need to bridge tribal governance of Indigenous Peoples (IP) and policies to promote sustainable management of ancestral domains.
Joshua Donato, project coordinator of Mt. Apo Indigenous Peoples Conference 2026, said IP within Mt. Apo faces pressing land domain issues, environmental degradation, and policy gaps that hinder development.
“This is the first-ever Mt. Apo indigenous conference in connection with what is happening around in terms of protecting the indigenous people in terms of royalty mismanagement, and other issues,” Donato said during the PEP Talks on Friday at SM Lanang.
Donato cited cases of ancestral lands being sold, which their studies attribute to tribes lacking resources to develop and sustain their land.
“We provide alternative livelihoods so they no longer have to go to the forest; community-based tourism is one such option,” he said.
With this, Indigenous peoples’ groups, government agencies, and conservation advocates will hold the first Mount Apo Indigenous Peoples Conference on Oct. 28 and 29 at Malagos Garden Resort here.
The program has plenary sessions, covering women’s enterprise, biodiversity conservation, land management, IP rights, and disaster risk resilience.
A Mount Apo Declaration and a five-year action plan on governance, land management, and ecotourism are eyed to be produced at the conference, which will convene indigenous peoples’ groups, government agencies, and conservation advocates.
The two-day conference aims to gather tribal leaders, including the Bagobo-Klata, Bagobo-Tagabawa, Obo-Manobo, Ata, and Matigsalug, to harmonize land management policies across government bodies and establish a united Mount Apo Declaration.
Donato said the Mount Apo Declaration will encompass the commitments from the stakeholders.
The conference is also expected to produce a draft of a Five-Year Action Plan where participants will formulate a 5-year action plan spanning policy governance, land management, disaster risk resilience, biodiversity conservation, and eco-tourism frameworks.
The conference will also promote sustainable livelihoods to curb illegal land selling, slash-and-burn farming, and the expansion of banana plantations into protected forests.
Donato said community-based eco-tourism is pushed as an alternative livelihood for indigenous families.
He cited Lifebank Foundation Sicao’s work in the Sicao community on Mount Talomo, where there are about 14 waterfalls that have a potential for eco-tourism but have never been formally opened to hikers.
The area has about 1,800 hectares under the project, around 90 percent of it forest cover, within the larger 6,000-hectare Bagobo-Klata ancestral domain.
About 90 percent of the trail area falls within Mount Talomo’s strict protection zone, where activities are barred.
He said their group is seeking its reclassification to a multiple-use zone and is drafting a tourism management plan for submission to the city tourism office.
“We also plan to lobby the watershed management council, since the area is also a watershed,” he said, noting the city has a watershed protection ordinance.
The boundary delineation is targeted for next year, and a multi-stakeholder meeting is planned after the conference.
Donato said the opening of this eco-tourism site is expected to help promote Davao City while supporting livelihoods for the IPs.