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FOREST DEGRADATION AND RESTORATION, AGROFORESTRY AND
BIODIVERSITY IN THE PHILIPPINES
A STATUS REPORT 1
FOREST DEGRADATION AND RESTORATION
Degraded Lands in the Philippines
The Philippines has a total land area of 30 million hectares., 17 million of which
were originally covered with forests. Through the years, forest cover has decreased to
about 6.8 million hectares in 1992 or 11.2% of the total land area. Only less than a
million hectares of virgin forests remain. In the past 30 years, reforestation rate was
recorded as 15,000 hectares per year, lagging behind deforestation, which averaged
224,000 hectares annually. In a span of 46 years, we have lost about 9.6 million hectares
of forests and have witnessed their transformation into degraded or marginal lands.
In the Philippines and elsewhere, degraded lands are areas in which the
productive capacities are below the threshold level such that the yields of desired
products is not able to cover the cost of producing them. This has resulted from the
removal of forest vegetative cover and the subsequent depletion of soil fertility.
Destructive logging, shifting cultivation, overgrazing, mining and other indiscriminate
extraction and exploitation of forest resources have led to severe soil erosion and land
degradation in most upland areas in the country.
In the Philippines, degraded lands consist of the following: rocky areas with
shallow soils, grasslands (in particular Imperata), mine tailing areas, waterlogged sites,
lahar devastated areas, and de stroyed mangrove forests. Cogonal grasslands comprise the
bulk of these degraded lands in the country. Recent satellite data show that degraded
grasslands in the Philippines comprise 23 to 28% of the total land areas in Luzon and
Visayas alone.
Current Strategies To Rehabilitate Degraded Lands
Efforts to rehabilitate and/or restore degraded lands in the Philippines are
primarily being undertaken through reforestation, and agroforestry. Forestry statistics
show that as of 1994, about 1.4 M hectares ha ve been reforested already. About 950,000
hectares were planted under various government programs, about 380,000 hectares under
private industrial tree plantations, timber lease agreements, and the remainder by other
1
Country report prepared by the CFNR AKECU Research Team presented during the Planning
Workshop of the ASEAN-Korea Environmental Cooperation Project held at the College of Forestry and
Natural Resources, University of the Philippines Los Baños, College, Laguna, Philippines on 24-25 January
2001.
Forest Degradation and Restoration, Agroforestry and Biodiversity
Country Report - Philippines
groups. These figures wold have increased by now with the achievements over the past
years.
Most reforestation efforts focused on fast growing tree species to effect rapid
revegetation of grassland areas. Biotechnology too has been a potent tool in assuring the
successful establishment of tree seedlings in marginal lands. Biotechnology offers great
promise in providing quality seedlings that can perform better in degraded lands. It
involves the use of engineering and scientific principles in the processing of materials by
biological agents. The most promising strategy currently developed to enhance
revegetation of degraded lands is the use of biofertilizers like mycorrhiza and biological
nitrogen fixing (BNF) organisms. This involves the introduction of appropriate
microorganisms, which develop symbiotic relationships with roots of reforestation
species and increase their capacity to grow under adverse site conditions. In addition,
being natural products, they are environment-friendly and do not cause pollution. For
instance, Mycogroe, a mycorrhizal inoculant produced at UP Los Baños was observed to
increase growth of Eucalyptus and pines by 24% and 22% respectively. Mykovam, an
inoculant not only for tree legumes, effected 30-60% in Acacia species. Mycorrhiza
increases also the drought resistance of plants, hence its potentials in mitigating the
impacts of El Niño in reforestation. In addition, mycorrhiza replaces 60-85% of the
fertilizer requirements of trees thus ensuring savings for the tree farmer.
Inoculation with BNF is beneficial for the establishment of tree legumes like
acacias, narra and kakauate. In addition, choice of species and species-site adaptability is
important ingredients in site rehabilitation. Species with symbiotic associations like
mycorrhiza and BNF are used to hasten revegetation and help restore site productivity.
The correct species-site matching through evaluation of site conditions serve as guide in
the choice of species for rehabilitating degraded sites.
Action Agenda for the Rehabilitation of Degraded Lands
Reforestation is considered as a most fitting solution to the urgency of
rehabilitating the degraded lands of the country. The following technical considerations
present possible means of hastening the process of rehabilitation:
• Vigorous site characterization of areas that need immediate rehabilitation all
over the country. A national/regional classification scheme will have to be
developed that will greatly facilitate the prioritization of the said areas for
efficient allocation of resources, the choice of species (site-species mix), the
adoption of most appropriate production technologies and cultural
management prescriptions (seed, seedling, plantation and possibly harvesting),
and the selection of the most effective and efficient participatory approach(es).
• Use of quality materials (seed and planting materials) for reforestation. The
success of artificial forest regeneration activities defends on the use of quality
seeds and planting materials produced in forest nurseries. The vigorous
implementation of DAO 95-09 dated 29 March 1995 and DENR
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Forest Degradation and Restoration, Agroforestry and Biodiversity
Country Report - Philippines
Memorandum Circular No. 95-20 dated December 1995 which seek to
regulate seed production, collection and disposition should be done. The same
policy can also be expanded to include the following:
v Formulation of a comprehensive national certification scheme for
forest tree seeds in the Philippines.
v Establishment of National Forest Tree Seed (or Tree Improvement)
Center and the creation of a National Forest Tree Seed Board to be
responsible for the implementation of the seed certification scheme.
v Establishment of a network of regional forest nurseries all over the
country to assure the production and use of quality planting materials
for forestation activities in the country.
v Formulation of National Comprehensive Forest Tree Improvement
Plan which will assure the establishment of more seed production
areas (SPAs) and insure the long term production of genetically
superior seeds and planting materials for reforestation/forest plantation
endeavors through the further establishment of a network of seed
orchards of priority species
v Formulation and implementation of an effective and efficient forest
fire/grassland fire management and control program. Such a program
should aim for the maximum involvement of communities, non-
government organizations, government agencies and the private sector.
v Expansion of the species base for reforestation in the country. This
can be achieved through the use of indigenous tree species. Research
and a vigorous tree domestication program, both for agroforestry and
reforestation should complement this undertaking.
v Encouragement of the planting of fruit trees in upland areas.
v More vigorous links with the private sector in the conduct of
reforestation and upland development.
v Initiation of carbon offset program involving primary industries in the
country.
v Adopting ecotourism as a strategy to rehabilitate the degraded lands.
Lately ecotourism has emerged as n attractive venture to conserve,
rehabilitate and develop the uplands . The increasing demand by both
local and foreign tourists for ecotourism has signaled a shift from the
traditional extractive method of generating income from the forests
and the various resources thereat to one which involves studying,
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Forest Degradation and Restoration, Agroforestry and Biodiversity
Country Report - Philippines
enjoying, and appreciating the upland environment and culture with
minimal or no impact at all.
By focusing on the rehabilitation, conservation and preservation of the natural
environment, communities could develop another alternative source of livelihood that has
minimal impact to the environment. In fact, the very foundation by which ecotourism
will thrive and prosper is through the preservation and/or conservation of the
environment. As such, we may be able to sustainably manage the forest and
simultaneously support communities with viable source of livelihood.
The development of the uplands in the Philippines are mostly carried out in the
context of community based forest management approaches. The Community Based
Forest Management Program (CBFMP) of the Department of Environment and Natural
Resources (DENR) has the basic purpose of improving the well being of forest dependent
communities and at the same time ensuring the sustainable management, rehabilitation
and protection of the country's threatened forest lands and resources. As there exist a
recognizable tie-up between human activities and the process of degradation of the
uplands, it is clearly evident that the rehabilitation of the latter can also best be done with
the participation of the communities in the uplands or proximal to such areas.
The success of CBFMP depends largely on the human capability of the
implementers and the participants of the project. Specifically, equipping participants of
CBFM needs to be strengthened to insure that the different phases of the program will be
handled by technically capable members of the community. This could include the
planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation stages of the project components.
Research Needs in the Restoration of Degraded Forest Lands in the Philippines
The degradation of forestlands in the Philippines will likely continue in the many
years to come. Pessimism aside, trends indicate that we are still faced with increasing
hectarage of forestlands that need to be reclaimed, rehabilitated or restored. This trend is
further aggravated by the multitude of stresses being imposed on forest ecosystems due to
global change. It is predicted that global change will exacerbate these stresses
continuously at an increasing rate. Efforts are already underway in addressing these
problems. There is a need, however, to intensify further these efforts. Research may
offer significant breakthroughs that will help overcome the many constraints to the
process of rehabilitating and/or restoring degraded forest ecosystems in the country.
Following are relevant research topics that may help fill the gap in existing knowledge
and technologies in forest restoration/rehabilitation.
l Quantitative methods of evaluating biological and physical consequences of
restoration efforts
l Development of performance/success/sustainability indicators in forest
restoration
l Quantification of environmental stress and defining silvicultural regimes to
alleviate such stresses
l Determination of the responses of species to climate change in the Philippines
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Forest Degradation and Restoration, Agroforestry and Biodiversity
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l Breeding for stress tolerance among species in the Philippines
v Understanding biochemical and physiological aspects of gene action
(epigenetics) regarding species ability to cope with edaphic and climatic
stress environments
v Appropriate screening/evaluation technologies to select for variability in
stress tolerances among tree species
v Standardized tolerant and susceptible checks for specific stress tolerance
traits to minimize environmental effects
v Selection and breeding methods cons idering multiple environmental stress
interactions
l Ecological classification scheme to forest restoration and rehabilitation in the
Philippines
v Extensive and intensive characterization of degraded forest lands
v Defining critical environmental conditions associated with each site
classification
v Linking ecological classification with models of growth response to
provide quantitative methods for evaluating consequences of silvicultural
treatments
l Landscape approaches to restoration of degraded forest lands in the
Philippines
v Capturing flows of scarce resources across landscapes
v Reducing forest fragmentation
v Re-integrating fragmented forests
v Reducing nutrient losses to other landscape components and encouraging
synergies among components
v Manipulation of the flows of water, energy, nutrients, propagules, soil and
organic matter that flow into, within and out of the landscape elements
AGROFORESTRY
The Philippine Uplands and Agroforestry
Upland areas in the Philippines have been subject to severe degradation as pointed
out earlier. The rehabilitation and/or restoration of these areas is deemed urgent
considering its role as a life support system for areas downstream (lowland agricultural
areas, settlement, and coastal and marine ecosystems). Uplands in the Philippines cover
vast areas – 17.6 million hectares (almost 60 percent of the total land area). Currently,
these areas are inhabited by an estimated 20 million Filipinos, about half of which are
solely dependent on the forests for their livelihood. Trends indicate that this number is
still increasing. This continuing pattern of migration is definitely exerting severe stress
on the upland ecosystem, particularly the soil.
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Forest Degradation and Restoration, Agroforestry and Biodiversity
Country Report - Philippines
Agroforestry as a land use system has been considered as a primary intervention
in the rehabilitation of the degraded uplands in the Philippines. In this system, trees or
woody perennials are grown in association with agricultural crops and/or livestock. It is
designed to be both a productive and protective approach in the rehabilitat ion of such
lands. The agricultural component provides the productive component on an early basis
while the woody perennials fulfill the protective function by maintaining the desirable
hydrologic conditions in the area and contributing to soil amelioration in many ways.
When practiced in the marginal uplands of the country, appropriate agroforestry systems,
some indigenous while others have been developed through scientific principles, hold
promise in promoting sustainability in the otherwise degraded uplands of the country.
Agroforestry in the Philippines
Agroforestry systems and practices in he Philippines are numerous. Following is
a grouping of the most dominant practices:
a. Agrisilvicultural systems – production combination of forest crops with
agricultural crops.
§ Alley cropping (Sloping Agricultural Land Technology or SALT 1)
§ Multistorey AF systems
§ Improved fallow
§ Taungya
§ Trees planted as boundary marker, live fence, live trellis or
shelterbelts/windbreaks
§ Sustainable Agroforest Land Technology (SALT 3)
§ Agroforestr tree farms
§ Coffee under Paraserianthes falcataria stands
§ Cacao under Gmelina arborea stands
§ Coffee under Samanea saman stands
§ Coffee under Benguet pine (Pinus kesiya) stands
b. Silvipastoral systems – integration of forest crops and animal production
§ Tree-crop grazing
§ Protein bank (fodder bank)
c. Agrisilvipastoral systems – integration of forest crops, agricultural crops and
livestock
§ Simple Agro Livestock Technology (SALT 2)
§ Agroforestry-aquaculture-livestock integrated production system
Community Based Forestry programs in the Philippines have adopted
agroforestry as a major intervention in the restoration/rehabilitation of degraded uplands
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Forest Degradation and Restoration, Agroforestry and Biodiversity
Country Report - Philippines
in the country. In The Developments in Agroforestry Research (1997), it was reported
that the adoption of agroforestry interventions is positively affected by the following:
§ Provision of the farmers’ basic needs
§ High regard of the farmers to the CBFM program
§ Ownership of the land/security of tenure
§ Extensive social participation of the farmer
§ High level of educational attainment
§ Size of the farm granted to the farmer through the Certificate of Stewardship
Contract
§ Long experience in farming
On the other hand, impediments to farmers’ adoption include the following:
§ Disinterest among the farmers due to highly marginal conditions of the farm
§ Poor organizing skills of project implementers
§ Boundary conflict and insurgency (unstable peace and order conditions)
§ Onslaught of natural calamities
§ Rampant pests and diseases on crops and livestock
§ Weak/inefficient market structures
§ Lack of farm to market roads
Agroforestry Research in the Philippines
Research in agroforestry in the Philippines in the past has largely been aimed at
seeking a basic understanding of the tree – crop interface with most of the investigations
focusing on yield parameters of the agricultural component. Compatibilities between the
perennials and the annuals were determined with the objective of determining the most
suitable combinations that will produce the highest yield of produc ts at the least cost
considering the ecology of the farm. Agronomic and silvicultural prescriptions were also
tested. Topics such as crop sequencing, pruning treatments, soil amendments, choice of
suitable species for hedgerows, herbage yield and nutrient content have been investigated.
Of the different agroforestry systems, alley cropping has been the most popularly studied.
The effects of agroforestry practices, particularly on the soil, has been studied
quite extensively in the Philippines. Soil erosion rates and changes in other hydrological
parameters were related with various practices. These types of research were largely
conducted in the farm level and almost all of the studies covered at most three to five
seasons of cropping. No studies ha ve been undertaken yet which will seek to get an
understanding of the farm dynamics on a longer time frame, establishing trends or
patterns in farm yield and hydrological processes over an extended time. In like manner,
investigations that go beyond the farm and considers the entire landscape have yet to be
conducted. Information on the impacts of agroforestry practices on an entire watershed
which understandably requires longer periods of monitoring and evaluation, are still non-
existent.
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Forest Degradation and Restoration, Agroforestry and Biodiversity
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Social research in agroforestry has been limited to the determination of the
farmers’ attitudes and perceptions to agroforestry interventions and developments, and
getting an understanding of the dynamics in a community relative to the adoption of
agroforestry interventions, The economics of agroforestry studied are limited to that of
the household and/or farm and cover only a limited period of time. Trend and patterns
are not established yet regarding fluctuations in income level. There were also studies
that dealt with the documentation of indigenous agroforestry systems and practices in
some regions of the country. The Banaue Rice Terraces, for example, is a showcase of
an indigenous agroforestry system whose sustainability has been the subject of many
investigations. And so are the Naalad system in Cebu, and the various multistory systems
across the country.
Obviously, research has still so much to unravel in the country’s quest to attain
sustainability in agroforestry. Research on the following are still wanting to further
enhance the existing body of knowledge and technologies on sustainable agroforestry in
the Philippines:
§ Suitability of more indigenous tree species as hedgerows in alley cropping
systems
§ Potential of short rotation forestry based agroforestry systems
§ Documentation and evaluation of more indigenous agroforestry systems
§ Suitability of agroforestry systems and practices across a number of
environmental conditions
§ Production of shade tolerant varieties of agricultural crops
§ Below-ground interact ions of crops (perennial and annual)
§ Livestock integration in agroforestry
§ Agroforestry technology assessment
§ Impacts of agroforestry practices on the landscape/watershed
§ Integrated pest management in agroforestry systems
§ Post harvest technologies for agroforestry products
§ Tree domestication for agroforestry
§ Biodiversity implications of agroforestry systems and practices
§ Carbon stock assessment and sequestration in the different systems and
practices
BIODIVERSITY
Philippine Biodiversity and Conservation
The Philippines has long been recognized for the richness of its flora and fauna.
The country belongs to the list of top ten countries in the Asia-Pacific Region with the
highest number of endemic and total species of plants and animals. It is also included in
the world's "hotspots" and has been made a priority area for biodiversity conservation
(Braatz, 1992).
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Forest Degradation and Restoration, Agroforestry and Biodiversity
Country Report - Philippines
There is high diversity of terrestrial plants. Endemism is also considered to high.
Estimates of the number of flowering plants is between 8,000 to 12,000 species in 200
families and 1,500 genera. Of these, 20 percent are said to be unknown yet, while 27 to
75 percent are endemic (Zamora, 1988; Cox, 1988;). Zamora et al. (1986) estimated that
there are an estimated 950 species of ferns with 31 percent endemism. For mosses, there
are about 650 species with 14 percent endemism (Iwatsuki and Tan, 1979). Species of
liverworths and hornworths was estimated to number 518 while there are more than 3,000
species of fungi and 789 species of lichen (Tan, 1981; Zamora, 1988).
Terrestrial animal diversity and endemism are likewise high. There is an
estimated 165 species of mammals with 59 percent endemism. Among birds, the
number was estimated to be 557 with 50 percent endemism. There are around 186
reptiles with 50 to 60 percent endemism; 16,700 species of insects; and 74 amphibians
with 70 percent endemism as estimated by Sohmer (1989).
The above figures notwithstanding the estimates for aquatic ecosystems in the
country are more than a fair indication of high biodiversity and endemism in the
Philippines. Expectedly, these figures are bound to increase as results of inventory are
reported in the future.
Some Issues on Philippine Diversity
In the Philippines, as well as in any part of the world, biological resources have
since time immemorial, provided the foundation for human life and the basis for human
enterprises. These resources are regarded as vital for human survival because of their
productive, consumptive and non-consumptive values. As such, with the phenomenal
growth of human population and increased economic activities through the ages,
biodiversity has been subjected to increasing stress. The loss of biodiversity in the
country has been a reality in the Philippines and will continue to be a specter that will
haunt biologists, plant enthusiasts and other biodiversity conservationists in the coming
years.
The Philippine Biodiversity Country Study Report (UNEP-DENR, 1996)
enumerated four main causes of the erosion of biodiversity in the country: (1) loss or
modification of habitat; (2) over-exploitation; (3) chemical pollution, and (4) biological
pollution. The continuous loss of forest cover through indiscriminate logging operations,
transformation of forests for agricultural production systems, and other forms of
destructive extraction of forest resources have all contributed to the disappearance of
flora and fauna. Some of these living organisms may not have been identified and
documented yet. The United Nations Environment Programme (1992) claims that as a
rule, the reduction in size of a particular habitat by as much as 90 percent will decrease
the number of species by half.
The over-exploitation of biological resources as in overcutting during commercial
logging operations has definitely contributed to the significant loss of terrestrial plant
and animal diversity in the country. Biological pollution usually results from the
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Forest Degradation and Restoration, Agroforestry and Biodiversity
Country Report - Philippines
excessive and/or unregulated use of exotic or introduced species. In the Philippines,
almost all reforestation projects and tree plantation endeavors make use of exotic tree
species. This practice of using introduced tree species has inevitably resulted in the
neglect of indigenous species. It has been determined that the combination of over-
exploitation and biological pollution was chiefly responsible for the disappearance of 15
out of 18 species of endemic cyprinids from Lake Danao in the island of Mindanao
(Davies, 1988; Davies et al; 1990; Escudero, 1994).
Chemical pollution is a consequence of domestic discharges, hazardous wastes,
and the unregulated use of agricultural fertilizers, pesticides and other chemical
preparations for use in agricultural crop production systems.
LITERATURE CITED
Davies, J. 1988. The endemic fish fauna of Philippine lakes. AWB, Asian Wetland
News, 1(2):17.
Davies, J.P., M. Magsalay, R. Rigor, A. Magpalo and H. Gonzales. 1990. A Directory of
Philippine Wetlands, Volume II. Asian Wetland Bureau, Philippines Foundation,
Cebu City, Philippines.
Escudero, P.E.T. 1994. Lake Lanao fisheries: problems and recommendations.
Philippine Biota, 27(1):1-8.
UNEP. 1992. Saving Our Planet: Challenges and Hope.
UNEP, DENR. 1996. Philippine Biodiversity Country Study. Metro Manila,
Philippines.
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