A major overhaul of the Philippines' forest policy has attracted praise from business interests but criticism from environmental groups.
What's happening?
As Mongabay reported, the Philippine government recently announced an initiative that it says will attract investment while still protecting the country's vast forests. The Sustainable Forest Land Management Agreement will consolidate existing, often overlapping land use laws into one renewable 25-year production-sharing agreement.
"The SFLMA represents a major shift in how the Philippines manages its 15.8 million hectares of forest lands," Raphael Lotilla of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources said.
The SFLMA was welcomed by business groups who argue that the move will streamline the application process and make developing forest lands easier. Conversely, environmental groups contend the initiative is merely a backdoor to privatization that puts profit over people. There are also concerns that small communities and Indigenous groups will be sidelined.
Why are the reforms concerning?
Deforestation is a global issue that's particularly acute in developing nations. With limited economic opportunities available, illegal logging, mining, and quarrying operations run rampant. The Philippines has lost a vast amount of its historical forest cover; trees once accounted for almost 90% of its total mass, per the Pulitzer Center. Today, it's less than a quarter.
The rainforest in the Sierra Madre mountain range on Luzon has almost disappeared entirely, the BBC reported. Though there are plans to plant five million indigenous trees by 2028 through the Forests for Life initiative, the country is still losing forest cover at an alarming rate.
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By opening more tracts of forest to economic activity, critics contend the plans are a privatization scheme that corporate interests will use for greenwashing as they exploit the country's dwindling natural resources. Kalikasan, a Philippine environmental group, described the agreement on Facebook in scathing terms as "a self-serving policy conceived from the rent-seeking and predatory motives of private firms that betrays the public interest."
What can be done to curb deforestation?
Deregulation is a popular concept with business leaders, but it often comes at the expense of the common good. This is a political issue and hardly unique to the Philippines. It is a matter of raising awareness with the public and imploring others to think carefully about their choices at the polls. As daunting as the problem may seem globally, starting locally can make a difference.
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