The Marbel Buluan Watershed forms the catchment of several major river systems that straddle over three provinces on the island of Mindanao in the southern Philippines. A controversial mine, the Tampakan copper-gold project, is planned at the centre of the watershed. Over the past decades, numerous local stakeholders have raised concerns on the impacts of the mining project to the environment, health, food security and livelihoods of the directly affected indigenous and local communities and in low-lying areas. In March of this year, after years of preparation, the three provincial governments finally signed a joint ordinance (local law) creating the Mt. Buluan Protected Watershed, in effect putting more than 8,000 hectares of mountain into formal protected area status and a ‘no-go zone’ for destructive projects.