ASIA-PACIFIC FORESTRY: THE QUEST FOR SOLUTIONS IN A CHANGING WORLD

WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO BE ON TRACK IN SUSTAINABLE DEVELOP-ment? In the light of climate change, increasing poverty, political upheavals and pressing economic issues among others, the challenge of forest management becomes even tougher for countries in the Asia –Pacific region as elsewhere in the world.

In the first-ever Asia-Pacific Forestry Week held in Hanoi, Vietnam from April 21-25, 2008, the event becomes this year’s largest and most important forestry event in the region as it gathered more than 500 participants from governments, non-government organizations, research and academic institutions, international networks, United Nations (UN) agencies and the private sector to share insights and seek solutions to pressing forestry issues.

The event was anchored around the 22^nd Session of the Asia-Pacific Forestry Commission (APFC), one of six regional forestry commissions supported by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the UN. This is also consistent with the Multi Year Plan of Work (MYPOW) of the United Nations Forum on Forests (UNFF). The APFC promotes environmentally sound, socially acceptable and economically efficient technologies and appropriate policies in line with emerging forestry trends among 33 member countries. The Philippines is a member country.

Other regional networks have also included events and activities during the week such as the sessions on the Regional Model Forests Network for Asia, Asia Pacific Forestry Sector Outlook Study (APFSOS) of the FAO, National Forest Programme Facility (NFP) of the FAO, Global Forest Resources Assessment and East Asia Forest Law Enforcement and Governance (FLEG).

Discussions for the week-long event zeroed in on the three pillars of sustainable development: social, environmental, and economic. For the social pillar, “Forests and poverty” issues included resource tenure and access, decentralization, livelihood and community participation. Environmental pillar stressed forests and climate change and how forestry can mitigate it. The economic pillar on the other hand discussed topics related to trade, timber certification, and forest law enforcement and governance and forestry investment.

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources-Forest Management Bureau (FMB) represented the Philippine government in the APFC. The Philippine delegation was headed by FMB Director Romeo T. Acosta and composed of 60 participants, 19 of which were from the DENR and other national government agencies while the rest were from NGOs, academe, local government units, as well as representatives from the United States Agency for International Aid (USAID), Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) Philippines and the Philippine Wood Producers Association (PWPA).

The Philippines through the FMB served as the lead organizer and Co-chair in the East Asia FLEG parallel session with Director Romeo T. Acosta presenting a report on the Philippine FLEG Strategy during the said session on Earth Day, April 22, 2008. The East Asia FLEG aims to combat illegal logging and its associated trade of illegal timber and related corruption practices through transparency; national and regional dialogues as well as information sharing and regional collaborations.

Philippine participation was also active in sessions of the Global Forest Assessment 2010, APFSOS, Regional Model Forest Network (RMFN) and NFP Facility.

The RMFN-Asia Meeting which was also held on Earth Day and composed of representatives from China, Indonesia, India, Thailand and the Philippines was likewise facilitated by FMB. Among others, their discussions revolved around lessons learned in the implementation of model forests and how these could be sustained as well as governance issues, and areas of cooperation.

The RMFN-Asia takes off from the International Model Forest Network or IMFN

in a common goal to sustainably manage forests and natural resources and thus contribute to sustainable development of ones country. A model forest is one that adopts a voluntary, partnership-based approach towards the achievement of sustainable forest management or SFM as it integrates the environmental, social and economic aspects within a geographic area.

In the Philippines, one such model forest is the Ulot Watershed Model Forest situated at the South Central portion of Samar Island and covers Western and Eastern Samar provinces where capabilities of stakeholders are continuously strengthened to enable them to effectively manage the 87, 536 hectares of watershed area.

Meanwhile, as far as NFP in the Asia Pacific region is concerned, the FAO, in collaboration with technical and donor agencies is boosting efforts to enhance its implementation through the conduct of workshops to raise awareness and to facilitate information exchange, among others. These are needed in the wake of acceptance issues posed by paradigm shift in the policy development process and other institutional issues with regard to NFP implementation.

In the Philippines, the NFP Facility is focused on the Community-Based Forest Management Strategy promoted by the FMB. This strategy involves all organized efforts of the government to empower communities in and adjacent to public forest lands for the protection, rehabilitation, management, conservation and utilization of forest lands and resources. The NFP Facility provides assistance in identifying and finding solutions to problems encountered in the implementation of CBFM procedures at the field level, delivery of services at the institutional level and policy development and formulation of appropriate procedures at the program level.

A major activity under the NFP Facility is the preparation and implementation of the National and 2^nd Decade CBFM Strategic Action Plan which aims to enhance partnerships of the Agency with the different stakeholders in order to improve even further the implementation of the CBFM strategy. The defining factor however, is the sense of ownership of this plan by the stakeholders.

One of the components of the Facility is devoted to the updating of the Plan through multi-stakeholders participation. Our country gets the opportunity to share the experience in developing the Plan through its presentation of the National CBFM Strategic Plan 2008-2017 as well as the other aspects of the Philippine NFP Facility

That the focus of discussions of the Asia-Pacific Forestry Week was on the three pillars of sustainable development cannot be overemphasized for a country like the Philippines where the varied functions of forests – as source of energy and clean water, provider of environmental services, employment, cradle of biodiversity, sink of greenhouse gases, among others – necessitate a balancing act that would respond to the needs of various sectors of the present generation without compromising the requirements of generations still to come.

The next important step is the translation of these regional initiatives into national action plans suited accordingly to local conditions and experiences but always anchored on emerging global events. For indeed, the search for appropriate responses to issues on forestry never ends in the eternal pursuit to maintain a workable balance between development and conservation.

It is even more challenging for the Philippines. Consider this: with probably more biodiversity than any country in the world, per square meter, having more than 52,177 species half of which are found nowhere else in the world, the Philippines is considered one of the 18 mega-diversity countries which together contain 70-80% of global biodiversity (Mittermeier et al, 1997). More than half of the recorded 1,130 terrestrial wildlife species are found only in the Philippines.

The hectic and endless round of sessions and discussions during the Asia-Pacific Forestry Week are invaluable insights in crafting a truly responsive country plan – one that would reiterate the Philippines’s important contribution to forestry this side of Asia-Pacific. (I. Paulme)

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