User:Ferdiem
El Nido Foundation
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The El Nido Foundation (ENF) is a community-based non-government organization working in El Nido, Palawan, Philippines.
Until about the mid-1980s, El Nido's economy largely consisted of fishing and subsistence farming, and was classified as a fifth-class municipality. With the development of tourism beginning in 1984, the community's economy began to progressively depend on the new industry. While inns and restaurants began to sprout in the town center and nearby areas, its far-flung villages (barangays) continue to engage in fishing and subsistence farming.
ENF advocates community-based resource management, believing that the active involvement of communities in environment related issues is critical in sustainable resource management. Improving the quality of life of the people of El Nido while at the same time preserving the area’s natural resource base is the foundation's core impetus. Anchored on the conviction that environmental issues and poverty are interrelated and that only by addressing these two issues in an integrated manner could lasting solutions be arrived at, the ENF facilitated the formation and institutionalization of the Protected Area Management Board of El Nido-Taytay Managed Resource Protected Area, a body composed of local stakeholders tasked to manage natural resource-related initiatives in the area. As Chair of the board’s Rules and Regulations Committee, ENF’s participation led to the development of the Internal Rules and Regulations of the board; and as member of the Resource Mobilization Committee, ENF leads in defining and implementing strategies that would ensure the sustainability of the Protected Area’s operations, especially in ecological conservation efforts.