"What is important now is to bring these marginal farmers into the mainstream of economic productivity. The poorer they become, the more likely they will extract more resources from their environment," said Wilfredo Saraos, DENR deputy director for Central Luzon.
But Saraos said that despite this, the government is still winning the war against illegal logging. Last year, "hot" forest products worth about P4 million were confiscated in the region.
Sustained mopping-up operations identified illegal logging hot spots, resulting in the seizure of some 135,014 board feet of logs and lumber flitches, he said.
In the past five years, anti-illegal logging operations have yielded 1,540,172 board feet of logs and lumber flitches worth some P46 million in Central Luzon.
Forest conservation expert Fred Sadueste said 261 forest protection officers and forest rangers have been deployed and 14 monitoring stations and patrol bases have been set up in the region.
Sadueste said the Army’s 7th Infantry Division based at Fort Magsaysay in Nueva Ecija has been actively involved in the DENR’s fight against illegal logging.
"The (help) of media and the public’s growing environmental concern in the government’s effort to crack the whip on forest saboteurs, as well as the participation of non-government organizations have strengthened the DENR’s intelligence and surveillance network," he added.
Saraos, however, said that with 90,000 slash-and-burn farmers in Central Luzon, "the government must now channel its energy in winning the war against poverty, now that the fight against illegal logging has become effective."
These kaingineros clear forest lands by burning vegetation so that they could use the areas for farming. Saraos cited a study by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization showing that poverty has become the main factor in forest degradation worldwide.
He said 95 percent of the total destruction of the world’s forests is blamed on subsistence farmers.
In Central Luzon, the 90,000 slash-and-burn farmers occupy an average of eight hectares, he noted.
He estimated that forests in Central Luzon still have about 19,963 cubic meters of commercial timber.