The coastal waters and shoreline of Luzon Province, the Philippines, have not been spared the loss of large tracks of mangrove forest. A multi-partnership coastal resource management project was implemented in 2005 to mitigate further degradation of the ecosystem through rehabilitation of mangrove forests in the Dasol Bay area of Pangasinan in northern Luzon. This paper presents a snapshot of results from this continuing effort and expectations for future initiatives in the area. The work is supported by Tanggol Kalikasan (Defense of Nature), with special support from the mayor’s office of the Dasol local government unit (LGU) including the Dasol municipal agriculture office, and Washington State University’s Office of International Research and Development. The authors built on a coastal resources database generated from a project-supported rapid resource assessment of Dasol Bay. Educating stakeholders about mangrove rehabilitation has been found to have an early and encouraging impact. Institutionalization through use of a structure that involves the community, an NGO, a university and individuals has helped partners meet goals. Results point to early successes from increasing environmental awareness and encouraging local participation that subsequently (1) allows effective constituency-building; (2) eases the integration of technical experts into decision-making processes; (3) provides a mechanism to channel innovative ideas and technologies; and (4) promotes learning by seeing and doing. This paper describes how the design and implementation of the Dasol Bay project promotes adaptive resource management, improves opportunities for effective governance and generates greater public support for rehabilitation of the mangrove forest. The project’s participatory community-based approach engages stakeholders in direct project implementation and leads to continuously increasing involvement by members of the community. Environmental awareness and local participation are hallmarks of this effort. Insights are provided into the future of the Multi-partnership Mangrove Rehabilitation of Dasol Bay Project (Dasol 1) and its sister project, Upland and Rural-Urban Ecosystem Management for Dasol Bay Project (Dasol 2), begun in 2006
