Resisting the coastal squeeze through village associations? Comparing environmental, organizational, and political challenges in Philippine seaweed‐growing communities

Abstract

This article investigates collective action dynamics and local politics amidst Philippine seaweed-growing communities. Government agencies and civil society organizations generally encourage collaboration at village level through the formation of cooperatives and associations, often on the assumption that it facilitates the translation of economic growth into rural poverty reduction. Here, we explain how the formation of associations is entangled with the local and central state politics. We argue that civil society initiatives cannot be analysed separately from local and communitylevel politics. This contribution reveals a gap between the objectives of rural, coastal associations, and the organizational capacities of communities to sustain such initiatives. Utilizing community support as a means to compensate for market and government failures does not only depend on a facilitative policy environment and start-up support but also on household-level capabilities. It also demonstrates that in addition to the interests of big business and national-level politics, village-level politics can obstruct effective and sustained implementation of value chain interventions.

Local divergence and obstacles to spur inclusive coastal development in Iloilo Province, the Philippines

“…The unintended consequences, then, are a waste of resources, high opportunities to cultivate seaweed, and increasing poverty (see below). I have also observed such trends in other seaweed-growing areas (Andriesse & Lee, 2021). Nevertheless, the case of San Dionisio shows that things can improve when multiple parties-government agencies, local associations, and NGOs-agree on a way forward.…”

“…While not as vibrant as it had been during the boom period of 2005–2010 (Figure 2), seaweed growing bounced back after Typhoon Yolanda and provided additional income for households, especially in San Dionisio where socio‐economic conditions had generally been more favourable (Andriesse & Lee, 2017). After the 2015 fieldwork, the media reported on difficulties seaweed growers in various areas of the Philippines were experiencing, as well as decreasing exports of the end product carrageenan (Figure 2), due to a combination of factors including further typhoons, the 2015–2016 El Niño Southern Oscillation phenomenon (hereafter El Niño; this phenomenon increases ocean temperatures reducing seaweed yields), and a lack of local capabilities to organise and benefit more from the global seaweed/carrageenan value chain (see Andriesse & Lee, 2021, for our study on seaweed growing challenges in Sorsogon, Palawan and Guimaras Provinces).…”

“…One vulnerable group are fishers and their families. Not only is overfishing a major challenge, but fishing‐based households bear the brunt of typhoons and sea level rise, and such households occupy a lower rank in rural political economies, most notably when compared to rice smallholders (Andriesse et al., 2021; Andriesse & Lee, 2021). However, despite the relative decline of marine fishing in the face of the aquaculture boom, the number of fishers has not decreased.…”

Women and adaptive capacity to climate change in East African seascapes – Zanzibar as an example

“…Thus, the personal problems of the women together with dynamics of local politics can lead, under certain circumstances, to a decrease in adaptive capacity. Another reason for weak organization has been related to changes in environment, seaweed farmers in particular settings in the Philippines stopped producing and organizing due to poor water quality and lack of financial means (Andriesse, 2022). Women in Zanzibar experience and observe the environmental changes.…”