Benefits of flood-prone land use and the role of coping capacity, Candaba floodplains, Philippines

Socio-ecological benefits provided by floods and use of flood-prone land can be essential, particularly where livelihoods are tied to natural hydrologic cycles, for instance in many developing countries. We use a physically based rainfall-runoff model and remotely sensed data to characterize seasonal inundation in Candaba, Philippines. Through community surveys and focus groups, we identify strategies that allow residents to cope with floods and benefit from the use of flood-prone lands. We apply direct market pricing methods to assess seasonal land use benefits in flood-prone and dry villages. While primary benefits are associated with rice cultivation, we find that flood-prone communities adapt their livelihoods to seasonal inundation, for instance, by using land alternately for agriculture and wild catch fisheries during dry and wet seasons, respectively. Livelihood benefits in flood-prone villages (US $ 2266/ha) were similar to benefits in non-flooded villages (US $ 2746/ha). In flood-prone villages, mean benefits from wild fish capture (US $ 190/ha) are marginal to mean benefits from farming during the wet season (US $ 1200/ha). However, the adaptive practice of wet season fisheries and dry season agriculture in flood-prone lands yields annual benefits (US $ 1754/ha) that are significant within the context of the local economy. We conclude that discounting benefits from direct flood-prone land use may misrepresent the socio-economic role of floodplains. Supporting benefits from floodplain use while targeting coping capacities may enhance resilience to seasonal flooding, livelihoods and ecosystem function linked to natural hydrologic processes.