11 groups get P5-M ‘debt-for-forest swap’ grants

Forest preservation efforts in the country got a much-needed boost after the Philippine Tropical Forest Conservation Foundation (PTFCF) gave a total of P5 million in grants to 11 organizations nationwide under its "debt-for-forest swap" scheme.

This came in the wake of a Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) decision cancelling over 8,000 tenurial agreements across the country, including more than 200 community-based forest management agreements, for violations of terms and conditions.

PTFCF executive director Maria Paz Luna said the beneficiaries of this year’s first tranche of grants include the Soil and Water Conservation Foundation, Pacific Farmers Livelihood Developers Inc. in the Visayas, Center for Alternative Rural Technology, Institute of Primary Health Care-Davao-Medical School Foundation, and Institute for Small Farms and Industries-Ateneo de Davao University.

The other grant recipients are FRENDS Inc., Upholding Life and Nature, Cordillera Green Network, Integrated Rural Development Foundation, Institute of Social Order, and Palawan Conservation Corps.

The PTFCF manages the "debt-for-forest swap" program, which was established as a result of a bilateral agreement between the Philippine and US governments.

The bilateral agreement came after the US signed the US Tropical Forest Conservation Act in September 2002, agreeing to reduce the Philippines’ debt.

Under the agreement, $8.25 million in peso-denominated interest payments of the Philippines to the US would go to a local forest conservation fund to be managed by a non-government organization in the next 14 years.

"The projects are a combination of forest protection and restoration activities, ranging from assisted natural regeneration, soil conservation, setting up of nurseries, restoration of dipterocarp forests, mangrove research and community-based forest management, to livelihood projects and the production of video training materials for the enforcement of forest laws," Luna said.

Luna said that without strong outside support and capacity-enhancement, the policy on forest preservation has merely put the burden of conservation on poor forest dwellers instead of accomplishing its avowed intention of social justice.

"Originally intended in 1995 to allow local stakeholders to benefit from the forest while taking care of it, the model of community-based forest management agreement has yielded spotty results," she said.

Citing environmental reports, the PTFCF said that by the year 2010, the country’s primary forests would dwindle down to 320,000 hectares if nothing is done today.

In 2004, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) reported that the country’s forest cover has expanded to 7.2-million hectares, or an increase of 1.8-million hectares or about 33 percent from the 5.4-million hectares in 1985.

Luna, however, said the DENR only based its information on satellite images taken by the National Mapping Resources and Information Authority in 2002 and a year’s worth of analysis.

"It may have increased, but the quality has gone down according to a 2005 World Bank Monitor. And 4.8-million hectares still need to be reforested to maintain the 40-percent forest cover needed for an archipelago," she said.

Luna said the PTFCF expects to award over P40 million in additional grants this year.