HANDURAW PANAW

Handuraw Panaw is restoring and re-storying Cebu’s Watersheds through Bioregional Regeneration

 

​​“Handuraw” evokes both memory and imagination in the Visayan language of the Cebuano people. In a deeper sense, it also brings to mind a dream, a past experience longed for and a desired future that we want. 

 

This duality is at the heart of the project's approach: Memory (Remembering): bringing back and valuing our biocultural heritage deeply connected to nature. Imagination (Reimagining): working together to design better solutions to adapt to future challenges. 

 

“Panaw” means journey in the same language, inspired by the Wayfinding tradition of our Austronesian ancestors navigating unknown territories and futures across the waters. Just as Sugbo, the precolonial name of Cebu, means “to wade in water,” we discover our water identity and sense of place and belonging 

through 3 pathways: as a leadership initiative, learning journey, and living lab. 

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Our home island of Cebu, in the Philippines has 2 % left of its forest cover left due to historical logging from colonization and ultimately from large-scale urbanization. Natural ecosystems have largely been converted to residential and commercial areas that have contributed to the disaster risk and impacts that took place. 

 

We are responding to the increasing impacts of extreme weather related events such as Supertyphoon Haiyan (Yolanda) in 2013, Supertyphoon Rai (Odette) in 2021, and Typhoon Kalmaegi (Tino) in 2025. After Typhoon Tino dumped 1 month of rain in 24 hours that swelled its rivers and caused severe landslides leading to loss of life, homes, and livelihoods, Cebu, home to 5.23 million people is now at the crossroads to help decide its future in the face of the climate emergency, biodiversity loss, 

and the ongoing global security risks. 

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The project supports the people of Cebu to not only in restoring its watersheds but to re-story its narrative of its climate vulnerability and fragmented governance.