Building Resilience From the Ground Up in Mindanao, Philippines

Since late September, the Tribes and Nature Defenders community in Mindanao has been at the forefront of escalating climate risks posed by extreme weather events.  

With back-to-back super typhoons pummelling the island nation, community members have grown numb to the effects of these damages, fighting for mere survival amid the loss of housing and essential infrastructure. 

These unnatural disasters have highlighted the urgent need to invest in long-term interventions to build climate resilience and strengthen agricultural livelihoods, which constitute 25% of the national workforce.

Building ecological and economic resilience

Rather than waiting until the effects are already happening, the TND team has been investing in a proactive response to mitigate the impacts of climate change. 

In the face of compounding environmental and socio-economic stressors, this project is building a scalable coffee agroforestry system, which strategically integrates trees with crops to create a robust defense system against climate extremes. The multi-layered canopy of trees acts as a natural buffer against extreme climate effects, with a deep root system helping to resist soil erosion during catastrophic storms.

Because coffee is a valuable global commodity, this resilient farming method also offers a promising path to entrepreneurship and income diversification for farmers. By intercropping with other native species, such as abaca, cassava, bananas, and fruit trees, farmers are not reliant on a single crop, spreading their risk and creating multiple revenue streams throughout the year.

Types of native species, illustration courtesy of reNature

Beyond pursuing these regenerative agricultural techniques, the project’s “train-the-trainer” approach aims to bolster local capacity. By transferring knowledge of agroforestry initiatives and empowering the community through sustainable education, this project fosters long-term self-reliance while demonstrating a viable path for youth retention in agriculture. 

As a farming community in one of the most climate-vulnerable nations, it is increasingly important to invest in solutions that empower communities to build resilience from the ground up. TND is leading the way in building a system that actively restores the land while supporting communities to secure sustainable livelihoods.