Resources & Gallery

The Marine Protected Area Management Effectiveness Assessment Tool (MPA MEAT) is a harmonized framework used to assess and benchmark the governance, enforcement, and management of MPAs in the Philippines. It evaluates MPAs across four sequential effectiveness levels—established, strengthened, sustained, and institutionalized—using specific threshold indicators and scoring criteria to guide management improvements.

The Marine Protected Area (MPA) Planning Toolkit, published by the DENR-Biodiversity Management Bureau through the SMARTSeas PH Project, serves as a comprehensive guide for establishing and managing ecological, social, and institutional MPA networks in the Philippines. It aims to enhance the management effectiveness of individual MPAs, conserve marine biodiversity, and strengthen the climate resilience of coastal ecosystems and local communities.

The Marine Protected Areas and Networks Monitoring and Evaluation (MPA/N M&E) System Toolkit provides a flexible, step-by-step guide to help managers design and implement results-based monitoring systems. It integrates governance, ecological, and socioeconomic indicators to track management progress, enable adaptive management, and foster sustainable marine conservation in the Philippines.

The Gender Analysis Toolkit for Coastal Management Practitioners is a practical guide developed by Mangroves for the Future, the Stockholm Environment Institute, and the Southeast Asian Fisheries Development Center to help practitioners integrate gender dimensions into coastal resource management and resilience planning. It outlines research methodologies and illustrative questions across five key domains to evaluate gender roles, asset control, decision-making power, cultural norms, and institutional practices in coastal communities.

The Competence Assessment Toolkit is a guide developed by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources to assess and enhance the knowledge, skills, and attitudes of Marine Protected Area (MPA) managers and practitioners in the Philippines. It evaluates personnel across five core management components—Planning, Financing, Communications, Enforcement, and Monitoring and Evaluation—to identify capacity gaps and guide targeted training for effective marine conservation.

This guidebook presents a suite of science-based vulnerability assessment tools—ICSEA-C-Change, CIVAT, and TURF—designed to help coastal managers and local governments evaluate the impacts of climate hazards on Philippine coastal ecosystems, shorelines, and fisheries. By integrating local knowledge with scientific data through a participatory process, these tools support the prioritization of site-specific adaptation strategies to enhance community resilience.