Subject: Illegal Logging Kills Philippine Forests
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10/11/99
OVERVIEW & COMMENTARY
Environment News Service (ENS) continues its awesome coverage of 
logging and forest issues with this report from the Philippines. ENS 
is now providing news to the Forest World News Center--ForestNews Now 
at http://www.forestworld.com/news/center.htm .  The extent to which 
Philippine forests have been reduced, and the threats posed to the 
remaining remnants, is made clear.  The liquidation of the Philippine 
forest ecosystem is being repeated Worldwide in remaining large 
forest expanses.  With only 20% of the World's old growth prior to 
human impact remaining, there is no excuse for this cut and run, boom 
and bust mindset.  The timber industry must be reigned in globally as 
an urgent priority first step to ensure biodiversity and ecosystems 
associated with remaining ancient forest wildernesses are not 
squandered.
g.b.

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Title:   Illegal Logging Kills PHILIPPINE Forests
Source:  Environment News Service, http://www.ens.lycos.com/
Status:  Copyright 1999, contact source for permission to reprint 
Date:    October 11, 1999
Byline:  Michael Bengwayan

MANILA, Philippines, October 11, l999 (ENS) - The Philippines' once 
sprawling 16 million hectares (39.5 million acres) of virgin forests 
dominated by hardwoods is now down to only 700,000 hectares (1.7 
million acres). The blame is falling on governments that over the 
years have passed laws favorable to logging concessions and 
implemented forest protection poorly. 

The Philippines, with a deforestation rate of 1,900 hectares (4,695 
acres) a day, will likely be completely denuded by 2025, forestry 
experts predict. 

"Unchecked illegal logging remains the main culprit," Philippine 
senator Loren Legarda says. "Government negligence has prompted the 
devastation of the forests. Much of the remaining forests have now 
been invaded by commercial loggers," she said. 

"Philippine forestry laws passed since 1930 have failed to provide 
adequate security provisions for virgin and second growth forests, 
thus the forests had virtually no protection at all. For instance, 
there is only one forest guard for every 3,000 hectares (7,413 acres) 
of forests," she said. 

Much of the nation's forests were open-season to any logging company, 
particularly on the islands of Mindanao and Northern Luzon. The 
logging firms circumvented government forestry laws and corrupt local 
officials enriched themselves. 

A common practice was for firms to apply for a Timber Licensing 
Agreement on areas exceeding those required by law and have these 
areas sub-contracted by smaller loggers including those operating 
illegally. Since the 1950s, many politicians were also in the logging 
business, preventing forestry officials from implementing forestry 
laws. 

>From 1972 to 1988, Legarda revealed that, "The logging industry 
amassed US$42.85 billion in revenues at the rate of $2.65 billion a 
year and laid to waste 8.57 million hectares (21.2 million acres) of 
forests. Timber was not the only loss, but also natural habitats 
which treasure much of important animal and plant biodiversity," she 
said. 

Over the same period, loggers destroyed 3.88 million hectares (9.6 
million acres) of virgin forests, raking in $19.4 billion in income. 

At the present rate of deforestation, less than seven per cent of 
virgin and second growth forests will be left by 2010. By 2025, there 
may be no Philippine forests to speak of left at all. 

Reversing this trend is a gigantic, if not an impossible task, 
considering the fact that the rate of reforestation, which is about 
80,000 hectares (198,000 acres) a year, is far out-stripped by the 
deforestation rate. 

Legarda said that deforestation in the Philippines is the major 
reason behind flooding, acute water shortages, rapid soil erosion, 
siltation and mudslides that have proved costly not only to the 
environment and properties but also in human lives. 

To avoid such ecological disasters, "It is absolutely necessary for 
the Philippine government to overhaul some forestry laws which have 
outlived their usefulness, such as the 1975 Forestry Code, and 
implement appropriate forestry laws with urgency and genuine 
political will," Legarda stressed. 

In 1990, the Philippine government borrowed US$325 million from the 
Asian Development Bank for a national reforestation plan. It turned 
out to be a failure. 

The Ford Foundation and the Philippine umbrella organization of 
environmental NGOs, the Upland NGO Assistance Committee (UNAC), 
reported widespread corruption in the use of these funds. 

Dr. Frances Korten, country representative for the Ford Foundation, 
revealed that much of the funding was used by local politicians to 
advance their own political agendas. Even within the government 
environment agency many employees, including some directors, were 
found to have personally profited from the funds. A large number of 
the trees species planted were for short-term commercial purposes, 
not for sustaining forests, Korten said. 

UNAC said the reforestation program created "fly-by-night" NGOs which 
had no technical expertise in reforestation. Many wasted the funds. 

Even as then-Environment Secretary Fulgencio Factoran Jr. trumpeted 
that the reforestation plan was a success, it turned out to be a 
failure. Five years after its launching, many of the trees planted 
were found out by NGOs to have died. 

These problems prompted the Japan led Asian Development Bank (ADB) to 
discontinue the second round of loans intended for further 
reforestation. 

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