Sub-theme
6. Innovation for Water Governance and Management
Topic
6-8. Creative technology and tools for water resources management
Body
Sand and gravel (SAG) mining alters the biophysical characteristics of the rivers in the Philippines, posing a threat to the irrigation infrastructures and livelihood of rice farmers. While the environmental impacts of SAG mining are widely researched, its social dimension remains understudied. This research explored a trans-disciplinary approach using a semi-systematic literature review, remote sensing (RS), and an in-depth interview to develop a tool to measure the social change in mining-affected rice farming communities. This research generally attempts to contribute to building the foundation of social impact assessment (SIA) for water management. The focus was placed on the municipality of Albuera and the city of Ormoc between the year 2010 to 2020. The water and mining policies in the Philippines, and relevant literature were scrutinized to establish social change indicators and identify RS approaches for their monitoring. The analysis resulted in a list of measurable indicators toward geomorphological dynamics, landscape and riverscape aesthetics, land-use change, and infrastructure vulnerability. Visual inspection of satellite images from Google Earth and RS indices of Modified Normalized Difference Water Index (MNDWI), Normalized Difference Turbidity Index (NDTI), Normalized Difference Built-up Index (NDBI), Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Green Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (GNDVI) and Normalized Difference Water Index (NDWI) from Landsat-7, Landsat-8, Sentinel-2, were conducted in Google Earth Engine and Quantum Geographic Information System to assess the established indicators. The results were validated through an in-depth interview with selected rice farmers. Responses from the interview were critically analysed by employing the theory of socio-hydrology. Overall, the observed biophysical changes were correlated with the change in access to waterways, change in the living practices and patterns of traditional occupations, change in the safety and security of the environment, and change in value priorities of the mining-affected communities. Although the findings are subject to further studies, the study made a significant contribution to developing accessible and low-cost social impact monitoring tools.