The primary partners/beneficiaries will be the community members, mainly indigenous Pala'wan who depend on the mangrove forests which lie within their ancestral domains for their subsistence. Other relevant stakeholders may also benefit from the mangrove protection and rehabilitation as well as strengthened partnerships. IP community partners in southern Palawan, who have been asserting ownership and management of their ancestral domains or territories, will be given the opportunity to undertake or enhaned livelihood projects. They will also be empowered to implement community monitoring and enforcement initiatives. Community mobilization is a critical step to broadening the enforcement base.

The project can be replicated in other mangrove areas in Palawan as the rest of the Philippines, where communities dependent on mangrove are confronted with threats and destructive activities. Lessons gleaned from this project can be written into case studies and shared in conference and exchange visits on mangrove management or biodiversity conservation. Such visits can be planned between the communities within and outside Palawan to ensure direct encounters with community partners and actual site visitations. By the end of two year project period, IP community partners should be empowered to take the lead in their livelihood, enforcement, and resource management activities according to their Ancestral Domain Sustainable Development and Protection Plans (ADSPP). The project will have outputs in three areas: training/capacity building, resource management, and livelihood support. IP community partners will also gain trained paralegals, increased knowledge on mangrove management, and enhanced capacity for sustainable alternatives to mangrove destruction.

This project will address the destruction of mangrove ecosystems which provide invaluable services to poor, resource-dependent communities that live around them. In southern Palawan, illegal mangrove exploitation from fishpond development and "tanbarking" are rampant due to poverty and limited resource management capacity, especially in areas claimed by indigenous combined with the absence of alternative livelihoods and tenurial security exacerbates the threat to these critical ecosystems