Report - Social Watch Philippines

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Forestry There is a need to harmonize varying methodologies, systems and defi nitions of forests and forest cover to objectively determine baseline forestry data. The DENR forest cover estimates are based on the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) defi nition of forests which includes primary and semi-natural forests, productive and protective plantations and production areas. 2 Consequently, offi cial indicators used in the draft MDG progress report do not take into account forest utilization. It does not distinguish whether forest growth is for “core-reserve” forest, production areas or even plantation forests. An alternative defi nition, one that is more refl ective of the need to protect our forests, is presented by the Ad Hoc Technical Expert Group on Forest Biological Diversity (AHTEG) of the Convention on Bio-Diversity. Forests are defi ned as “a functional ecosystem unit which should be conserved, used sustainably, and the benefi ts derived from it should be shared equitably.” Establishing a clear baseline is critical, considering that the overall Philippine Greenhouse Gas (GHG) inventory contained in the Philippines Second National Communication 3 (SNC) registered an astounding 81 percent decrease. This is, according to the SNC, mainly because of an equally fantastic ‘increase in the amount of emissions sequestered by the LUCF sector’, even offsetting combined increases in energy, agriculture and waste sectors. This comes as a surprise considering that the Philippines’ Initial National Communication in 1999 conservatively projected an increase in emissions from 100,738 ktons CO 2 -eq in 1994 to 195,091 ktons CO 2 -eq in 2008 or an annual growth rate of 4.8% over 14 years. The much-touted newly forested areas really fall under the Mining Forest Program of the DENR-MGB, a permutation of the “Adopt-a-Mountain Program”. Mining companies, with permits from the government, are actually mandated to reforest under the Mining Act of 1995. These newly-forested areas are in fact produc- 122 SOCIAL WATCH PHILIPPINES tion areas where access and rights are exclusive to the mining companies. According to Alyansa Tigil Mina (ATM), 4 the National Minerals Action Plan (NMAP) - part of the government’s mining industry revitalization program, lists priority mine sites for development that will encroach on almost 53 percent of ancestral domains of indigenous tribes and about 60 percent of protected areas. This means, that in effect, forest reserves within ancestral domains and protected areas are converted to production forests which will eventually be cut. The shift in the nature of the country’s forest cover from core reserve forests to production forests is also reinforced by the tenurial instruments issued by government. Areas covered by Integrated Forest Management Agreements (IFMA) and Industrial Tree Plantation Lease Agreements (ITPLA) have increased from 615,000 hectares in 2001 to 833,000 hectares in 2007. Over 5 million hectares have been covered by IFMA’s/ITPLA’s from 2001 to 2007. 5 Community organizations and citizens’ groups have long criticized these forest tenurial instruments mainly because they tend to be permits directed for forest production activities instead of forest management and protection initiatives. Affected areas, mostly indigenous communities, have also raised questions on these instruments’ disregard for communal and ancestral domain rights. Furthermore, there is also a need to assess the extent of protected areas that were excluded or dis-established to give way for energy development projects such as biofuels. There is a need to present data that disaggregates forest cover data across types of forest utilization. There are indications that while forest production areas are increasing our reserve forest areas are dwindling. In this case, the increase in forest cover will be short term since trees within production areas are meant to be ‘harvested’ eventually, and long term environmental sustainability is compromised since our reserve forests are not effectively protected. 2 Global Forest Resource Assessment Update 2005: Terms and Defi nitions, FAO, 2004. 3 Enabling Activity for the Preparation of the Philippines’ Second National Communication on Climate Change to the UNFCCC. DENR, UNDP, GEF. 2009. 4 The Alyansa Tigil Mina (ATM) is a coalition of organizations and groups who have decided to collectively challenge the aggressive promotion of large-scale mining in the Philippines. Composed of Non-Government Organizations, People’s Organizations, Church groups and academic institutions, the ATM is both an advocacy group and a people’s movement, working in solidarity to protect Filipino communities and natural resources that are threatened by large-scale mining operations. 5 DENR-FMB Forestry Statistics – Integrated Forest Management Agreement/Industrial Tree Plantation Lease Agreement (IFMA/ITPLA), Tree Farm And Agroforestry Farm Leases: 1977-2007.
Figure 1: Biodiversity Hotspots Biodiversity As of 2005, the Philippines is still listed as one of the 25 biodiversity hotspots in the world according to Conservation International (see Figure 1). According to the Philippine Clearing House Mechanism for Biodiversity, there are 234 protected areas (PA’s) under the National Integrated Protected Areas System (NIPAS) covering a total area of about 5,234 million hectares as of 2008. The offi cial indicators in the MDG progress report cite a 19,800 hectare increase in the PA’s covered. It also reported a signifi cant increase in plant species that are under the threatened species list of protected wildlife. The two indicators cited in the progress report are actually inconsistent. If protected areas are increasing in coverage, why then are the number of threatened species increasing. The reason behind declaring protected areas is to arrest the massive deterioration of biodiversity within these areas. This inconsistency actually indicates that protected area coverage only occurs on paper and minimal actual or even effective protection happens. The Protected Area Management Board (PAMB) is the mechanism where area management plans, protection programs and activities are developed and implemented. Functional and effective PAMB’s determine the success of protection programs and activities within the protected areas. Data from the DENR-PAWB show that a little over 150 PAMB’s have been established.. Among those that have been established, many of the PAMB’s are dysfunctional and are not convening largely due to non- allocation of and non- release of budgets from the Integrated Protected Area Fund. A more accurate picture of the biodiversity situation in the country, therefore, should not rely on the declarations establishing protected areas. It is necessary to ascertain whether protection activities within the established protected areas are actually and effectively undertaken. Monitoring the performance of the PAMB’s gives us a more precise indication of the country’s situation in terms of biodiversity. Coastal resources According to the 2005 Environment Monitor of the World Bank that focused on the Philippine Coastal Resources, “the present status of coastal ecosystems in the Philippines is a cause for alarm. Almost all Philippine coral reefs are at risk due to the impact of human activities, and only 4 to 5 percent remain in excellent condition. More than 70 percent of the nation’s mangrove forests have been converted to aquaculture, logged, or reclaimed for other uses. Half of the seagrass beds have either been lost or severely degraded, and the rate of degradation is increasing. Beaches and foreshore areas are under increasing pressures from rapid population growth and uncontrolled develop- Winning the Numbers, Losing the War: The Other MDG Report 2010 123
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Winning the Numbers, Losing the War
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT Many deserve our th
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CLEEP Comprehensive Livelihood and
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MOA-AD Memorandum of Agreement on A
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ABOUT THE AUTHORS/CONTRIBUTORS Leon
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FOREWORD By ISAGANI R. SERRANO This
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An urgent MDG message: Inadequate f
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The use of the budget instrument fo
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MDG chances: stability and vulnerab
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may mean a short honeymoon period.
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what we got from Annex I countries
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(Php58.6 Billion) of GDP at current
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Fourth Assessment Report provide a
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Losing the war on poverty The Other
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Table 1. Philippines’ MDG progres
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(NER) and medium on both cohort sur
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incidence of 97.46 percent. The las
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special needs; (c) 228,928 women in
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cultural structures urgently needin
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capacity to confront the dreaded cl
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MDG Goal 1 Targets 1 and 3: On erad
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Table 1. Prevalence of undernutriti
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2007, women’s national unemployme
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in the service and production secto
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een generally positive—increased
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Table 9: Partial Listing of Big Lan
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and promote gender equality in all
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While many see this as an education
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seen in both public and private pre
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and therefore, limited coverage. Th
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Table 7. Education Expenditure as a
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Box 2. Education budget tracking (2
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This paper looks at highly vulnerab
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to education. 5 In practice, debt p
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Table 5. Distribution of Government
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Table 7. Average Daily Basic Pay by
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in the 80’s, according to Sibal,
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eports of female OFW deaths, sexual
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Table 13. Trafficked Migrants Assis
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plicating overpopulation and poor w
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CAN$318.8 billion. While they found
Page 88 and 89: . Women’s economic empowerment i.
Page 90 and 91: statistics-fs-violence-against-fi l
Page 92 and 93: New policies and programs meant to
Page 94 and 95: Table 2: Immunization Status 1998 2
Page 96 and 97: Table 4. List of Nutritionally Vuln
Page 98 and 99: percent), who gave birth at home (9
Page 100 and 101: protocol is another comprehensive s
Page 102 and 103: 5. Revamping the health insurance s
Page 104 and 105: Universalizing health care As we po
Page 106 and 107: Progress of work in improving mater
Page 108 and 109: Figure 2. Use of Skilled Birth Atte
Page 110 and 111: In terms of postnatal care, 77 perc
Page 112 and 113: Abortion Worldwide abortion rates h
Page 114 and 115: went down from 9.8 percent in 2005
Page 116 and 117: longer to health care centers in co
Page 118 and 119: However, USAID, with the concurrenc
Page 120 and 121: Box 1. Safe Motherhood: a brief his
Page 123 and 124: The rising challenge of HIV/AIDS an
Page 125 and 126: Sexual transmission remains to be t
Page 127 and 128: national response. Since health was
Page 129 and 130: Figure 7. Frequency distribution of
Page 131 and 132: Table 5. Annual estimated cost for
Page 133 and 134: tion of Public-Private Mix Departme
Page 135 and 136: Not much time, but not without opti
Page 137: Questions and more questions on the
Page 141 and 142: MDG’s, but more importantly, on b
Page 143 and 144: 8. Organic Agriculture Act of 2010;
Page 145 and 146: science Bureau (MGB) but funded by
Page 147 and 148: Problems and gaps Incoherent and cl
Page 149 and 150: must be able to provide for non-pro
Page 151 and 152: Trade, debt and aid: MDG retardants
Page 153 and 154: Table 1. Recent Trade and Investmen
Page 155 and 156: elated social spending; Three, ille
Page 157 and 158: eing proposed in Congress. But more
Page 159: Results - Developing countries and
Page 162 and 163: Mindanao situation Mindanao is the
Page 164 and 165: Table 1.Cohort Survival Rate by Reg
Page 166 and 167: MTPDP has not gained momentum to ef
Page 168 and 169: Seven provinces in Mindanao, almost
Page 170 and 171: a. Lobby for the crafting of laws a
Page 172 and 173: Moro situation after the Treaty of
Page 174 and 175: and Palawan movement and Mindanao I
Page 176 and 177: Appendix B Are the Moros Filipinos?
Page 178 and 179: Government with respect to the Moro
Page 180 and 181: legal and political shields behind
Page 182 and 183: Goals and Targets (from the Millenn
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Report - Social Watch Philippines

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