who has the qualities of being wise, honest, and can render fair judgement. Customary practice has the advantage of understanding better the conflicts because the indigenous people speak their own language and they respect the authority of their tribal leaders. Disputes are often resolved as they put high primacy on preserving harmony and peace in their communities. Space for Innovations Having their community rights over the land allowed MILALITTRA to explore, innovate, and enter into partnerships to advance their tribal vision and agenda. One of these initiatives is the Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES). PES is a financing scheme anchored on pricing intangible environmental products and services adapted into a funding mechanism to generate economic return and sustain the ecosystem services. MILALITTRA acted as the seller. They proposed to cover 1,648 hectares (816 hectares for agroforestry and 832 hectares for reforestation). The buyers are those who would benefit from this scheme and include businesses, cooperatives, academic institutions, religious organizations, households, and individuals. XSF, as the fund manager, acts as the intermediary between buyers and sellers. After three years since its launching in May 2014, the project has generated PhP 4.2 million from 14 investors, and planted trees in 61 hectares of forest lands. Measurable Impact The recognition of community land rights through the issuance of CADT provided MILALITTRA the authority and power to implement and institute their traditional land governance system. It also allowed them establish linkages with external partners, both government and CSOs, to enhance the development of their ancestral domain. This sets the foundational structures and management practices in forest conservation. The question lays on whether these interventions will be translated into concrete outcomes and impacts. Fortunately for MILALITTRA, they were able to gather spatial data with the assistance from PAFID on the boundaries of the traditional territory of the Talaandig when they applied for CADT in 2003. This serves as the baseline in measuring impact with quantifiable indicators. In addition, they were able to do similar data collection in 2013, a decade after the issuance of CADT. PAFID’S 3D map trend analysis highlights the following results: Classifications Remained as Forests Non-forest to Forest Forest to Non-forest Remained as Non-forest Percentage Change 33 13 4 50 • Considerable area (33 percent) in MILALITTRA has remained as forests after more than 10 years. • There have been generating positive results with 13 percent of the area changing from non-forest to forests. • There were also areas that have transformed from forest to non-forest land uses, however, constituting only 4 percent of the area. These are the areas that were affected by the strong winds of Typhoon Bobha (Pablo as the local name) in December 2012. 7