Climate Smart Agriculture Edu-tourism: A Strategy to Sustain Grassroots Pro-biodiversity Entrepreneurship in the Philippines

Abstract

The wide array of economic activities that sustain income generation creates human pressures that lead to biodiversity and habitat loss, rapid depletion of natural resources, environmental pollution, and climate change, among others. To dissuade the alarming rate of environmental degradation, pro-biodiversity enterprises are promoted and supported in the Philippines. These enterprises conserve biodiversity through the adoption of sustainable use practices and the utilization of biological resources toward equitable sharing of benefits. Organic farming is considered a pro-biodiversity enterprise. It is categorized by the Philippine Department of Agriculture under the Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA). CSA encompasses the application of climate-smart principles in agriculture to enhance the productivity and income, develop resiliency to climate change, and reduce or eliminate greenhouse gas emissions. There are a number of grassroots or community-based pro-biodiversity agri-entrepreneurs in the Philippines that complement their farm operations with education tourism activities or farm “edu-tourism” (rural tourism or agri-tourism). It is where tourists including entrepreneurs and technology adopters visit an agricultural farm to engage in learning experiences, meet with farmers, and understand their culture as well as practices in food production and marketing. CSA edu-tourism provides income to farmers from the sales of farm produce and demonstration of farm activities. The study defines the value-added features of CSA edu-tourism to planning, implementing, and managing community-based pro-biodiversity enterprises in the Philippines. The in-depth interview with organic farmers and entrepreneurs provided the multifarious benefits of CSA edu-tourism and emphasized how it promotes harmonization of communities with nature. The study also demonstrated the relationship between edu-tourism and grassroots pro-biodiversity entrepreneurship considering the environmental conservation approach of CSA. Further, the study determined the potential financial and cultural gains of pro-biodiversity entrepreneurs from CSA edu-tourism as basis in planning sustainable, climate-sensitive, and biodiversity-friendly grassroots enterprises.