The Cordillera Review Volume 1 Issue 2

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38 The Cordillera Reviewmanner, protected and conserved. In these communities, devolution ofauthority and responsibility over forests from the central government touser groups has a chance to succeed.Unfortunately, the above assertion will not hold true forcommunities where the property regimes over forest lands is open access,usually because the settlements were established recently throughinternal migration in the Cordillera. Let us take the example of MountData where the forest has been treated as open-access by in-migrantsfrom elsewhere in the Cordillera and there are no community norms topenalize over-exploitation (Rood 1995, 11-12). Resources at the MountData Plateau are deteriorating at a rapid rate—roughly two percent ofthe original forest is left—and the settlements seem to have no norms tostop this process (Rood 1995). The probability for collective action toemerge is low because it implies a conscious working together. Collectiveaction is something that is not often observed among migrantcommunities because there is no sense of community or collective identityamong resident households.The same pattern of outcomes is also reported as taking place atthe Mount Pulag National Park 15 by Batcagan (2007). A new road, fromBallay to Tawangan, 16 as well as the availability of irrigation have madevegetable gardening an attractive source of cash income to subsistencefarmers here. Pine and mossy forests have been cleared to give way tovegetable gardens (Batcagan 2007, 61). The pattern of agriculturaltransformation that took place at Mount Data where formerly subsistencefarmers have shifted to vegetable gardening has also taken place at theMount Pulag National Park.Economic ChangesEven in traditional communities the incentives for local users to manageforest resources may be altered or even diminished because of economicchanges. Let us discuss a few of these economic changes that haveoccurred in the Cordillera Region: the commercialization of agriculture,the establishment of non-farm livelihoods, and the opportunity to beemployed overseas.Insights on the effect of the commercialization of agriculture onforests can be obtained from the agro-ecosystem researches of the CSCin the 1980s. Agro-ecosystem research is undertaken primarily to clarifythe relationships among the biophysical and socio-cultural elements inrural communities as these undergo change from subsistence agricultureto commercial cropping. The human-environment interaction is studiedfrom the point of view of the household. The farming household viewsthe forests as part of a portfolio of resources and livelihood activitiesmendoza 25-52.pmd381/27/2010, 2:33 PM
Po licy Inno va tio ns a nd Effe c tive Ma na g e m e nt o f Fo re sts 39alongside farming (subsistence and/or commercial), animal husbandry,etc.The community studies undertaken from 1987 to 1990 highlighthow the farming households are experiencing a rise in their cashrequirements because of their aspiration for children to be bettereducated, their desire for consumer goods and appliances, and the needto purchase agricultural inputs. How farmers respond to marketopportunities and cope with their cash needs have importantimplications on the upland environment and thereby on the interactionbetween agricultural change and forest conversion.The research concluded that “agricultural expansion stimulatedby commercialization, inevitably has a negative effect on the preservationof forest” (Prill-Brett et al. 1994, 36). Therefore, programs intended tointensify or expand agricultural production in Cordillera communitiesmust take into consideration their potential impact on forest conversion.More importantly, Cordillera forest conservation cannot be pursuedsuccessfully without consideration of how forests and their productsare utilized within the farming systems of households and communities.The study warns that projects narrowly focused on achieving thedepartment or ministry’s agenda, i.e., Department of Agriculture foragricultural productivity, DENR for reforestation or community-basedforestry and conservation, especially because they are independentlypursued, do not lead to appropriate outcomes.The emergence of non-farm livelihoods like those related to thegrowth of tourism may also alter the local community’s use of forestresources. In the municipality of Sagada, the pine forests are a majorreason for its being a top tourist destination in the Cordillera Region. Inthis community of 12,300 people (in 2007), the monthly total of localand foreign visitors comprise from a quarter to a third of its localresidents 17 making tourism a significant economic activity in the locality.Therefore, one can argue that the incentive to preserve and conservethe pine forests has increased with the growth of tourism here. On theother hand, Cruz (2001, 42) would contend that “the increasinglyimportant role played by tourism in the Central Sagada economy couldalso lead to higher rates of forest extraction as tourist inns and hostelsget renovated and new ones established.”The last among the sources of economic changes is overseasemployment. This has not bypassed the Cordillera Region given thatthe Philippines registered one of the highest numbers of overseascontract workers in the world today. The 2004 Survey on OverseasFilipinos 18 shows that in October 2004, there were 1.06 million overseasFilipino workers (OFWs), of which 820 thousand worked in Asia, 108thousand in Europe, and 95 thousand in North and South America.Although the Cordillera Region ranked only 14th out of 17 regions inmendoza 25-52.pmd391/27/2010, 2:33 PM
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