Environment and Natural Resources Research; Vol. 8, No. 1; 2018 ISSN 1927-0488 E-ISSN 1927-0496 Published by Canadian Center of Science and Education 1 Resilience to Weather-Related Disasters of a CBFM Community in Ligao, Albay, Philippines Liezl B. Grefalda 1 , Juan M. Pulhin 1,2 & Elsa P. Santos 1 1 Department of Social Forestry and Forest Governance, College of Forestry and Natural Resources, University of the Philippines Los Baños, Philippines 2 UPLB Interdisciplinary Study Center for Integrated Natural Resources and Environment Management, College of Forestry and Natural Resources, University of the Philippines Los Baños, Philippines Correspondence: Liezl Grefalda, Department of Social Forestry and Forest Governance, College of Forestry and Natural Resources, University of the Philippines Los Baños, Philippines. E-mail: lbgrefalda@up.edu.ph Received: November 14, 2017 Accepted: November 27, 2017 Online Published: December 15, 2017 doi:10.5539/enrr.v8n1p1 URL: https://doi.org/10.5539/enrr.v8n1p1 Abstract This study assessed the resilience of a Community-Based Forest Management (CBFM) community in Ligao, Albay, Philippines to weather-related disasters. Resiliency was measured using 38 indicators comprising human, social, natural, financial, and physical capitals. The study used household survey administered to 180 respondents, complemented by focus group discussions (FGD), key informant interviews (KII), and secondary data gathering. Index of five capital assets was calculated using the equation for data normalization by a scale of 0 to 1. The overall resiliency index was estimated by getting the weighted average of all the capital assets. Pearson Correlation, Chi-square and Spearman Correlation were used to analyze the relationship of age, gender, and household size to the overall resiliency of the community. The CBFM community is less resilient with an index of 0.382. This was attributed to a lesser access to social and natural capitals with indices of 0.233 and 0.244, respectively. However, the CBFM program remains a promising strategy in improving the adaptive capacity of upland communities by contributing to the enhancement of their social and natural assets. Results revealed that there is a positive correlation between household size and resiliency while age and gender were not correlated. To build resiliency, it is recommended to increase community capacity through education and skills development, ensure access to services, provide technical and financial support from the government and promote collaboration among various stakeholders. Keywords: capital assets, community-based forest management, resilience, weather-related disaster 1. Introduction Climate change is indisputable as exhibited by gradual changes in mean temperature and precipitation patterns, sea level rise, increased frequency of extreme weather-related events, and potentially catastrophic transformations of ecosystems (IPCC, 2007). These changes will increase the probability of extreme weather events which may be associated either with high precipitation (i.e., storms, flood and landslides) or with low precipitation (i.e., drought, heat and wildfire) (Keim, 2008). Climate change will also lead to greater exposure and sensitivity of rural populations through three major impacts on their livelihoods: increase in environmental risks, reduction in livelihoods opportunities, and in consequence, greater stresses on existing social institutions (Agrawal, 2008). The Philippines is located in the western rim of the Pacific ring of fires and typhoon belt, thus it is naturally vulnerable to various natural hazards such as earthquake, volcanic eruption, drought, tidal wave, landslide, flood, and tropical cyclones (Uy et al., 2010). Several studies in the Philippines reveal that climate variability and extreme event occurrences have increased in recent years. The country continuously faces the threat of extreme events as identified in the Climate Risk Index (CRI) (Harmeling, 2009). Every year, an average of 20 typhoons pass the country and about two to three destructive typhoons center on the Bicol region (PAGASA, 2016). Albay is one of the provinces in Bicol most affected by typhoons, being bounded by the Pacific Ocean on the East, Samar Sea on the Southeast, and Sibuyan Sea on the Southwest. Albay has 16% frequency probability of experiencing destructive typhoons due to its location (Uy et al., 2010). One of the worst typhoons that the province experienced was Typhoon Durian (locally named Reming) in November 2006. The