THE NEW REFORESTATION program of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources has a lot of gray areas and potential loopholes that greedy businessmen and investors could exploit for their selfish interests.
The country might end up seeing businesses rushing in droves to these forest lands – including verdant areas – in the guise of reforestation but in reality would end up amassing wealth while abandoning their commitment to re-green such areas.
And what about the communities surrounding such erstwhile or current forestlands that would be awarded to these investors/companies, will they also be uprooted because of conflicting claims? Our geohazard maps and zoning ordinances are too imperfect to a point that abuses tend to be justified in the name of progress, at the expense of local communities.
‘The program eliminates the fragmented application processes and overlapping requirements that have historically discouraged potential investors and delayed project implementation.’
FOREST MANAGEMENT
Newly-appointed Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Raphael Lotilla said the Sustainable Forest Land Management Agreement (SFLMA), which supersedes all other previous reforestation and land-use agreements, would allow participants to pursue various business objectives like wood production (there goes legitimacy for logging again), ecotourism (so why was the NGO in Tanay not allowed to continue its operations, which had received various international awards for its sustainability) on up to 40,000 hectares each for 25 years, renewable for another 25 years.
Other endeavors to be allowed in SFLMA are agroforestry, forest plantation, pasture and livestock development, ecotourism, renewable energy, and carbon offset projects.
Individuals and peoples’ organizations may also participate in the forest management program with their allocations limited to 50 hectares and 1,000 hectares, respectively.
The DENR program covers all forest land in the public domain (this is where the danger lies), particularly denuded areas.
EXEMPTIONS
For sites with less than 50 percent natural forest cover, the proponent will be responsible for reforestation to bring the forest cover to at least 50 percent,” according to Administrative Order No. 22 on the SFLMA program.
“Exempted from this (the 50 percent reforestation mandate) are developments that require open areas such as grazing, timber production (does this mean that because of timber the concessionaires do not need to replace what they have cut?), renewable energy (which has the danger of annihilating wildlife) etc.,” it added.
“The program eliminates the fragmented application processes and overlapping requirements that have historically discouraged potential investors and delayed project implementation,” Lotilla said.
The SFLMA voids eight forest management instruments: the Integrated Forest Management Agreement, Community-Based Forest Management Agreement, Forest Land Grazing Management Agreement, Socialized Industrial Forest Management Agreement, Forest Land Use Agreement, Forest Land Use Agreement for Tourism, Special Land Use Permit, and the Community-Based Forest Management Agreement.
Under SFLMA, participants are exempt from logging bans and may export without restriction. (This is what I fear most, a gateway for illegal loggers).
RENEWABLE ENERGY
Ray Thomas Kabigting, assistant director of DENR’s Forest Management Bureau said SFLMA will revive the country’s reputation as a net wood exporter.
In 2024, local wood demand reached 6 million cu.m.. of which 85 percent was imported while only 2 percent of local demand was met by public plantations and 13 percent by private plantations, he added.
The DENR is also prioritizing renewable energy within forest land because we support the National Renewable Energy Plan of the government,” he added.
The user fee structure is P1,200/ha./year for forestry/agroforestry ventures, P300/ha./year for grazing, P85,000/ha/yr. for energy use and P7,200/ha./yr. for special uses like ecotourism.
This would enable the government to raise P600 million based on exactions in 2024 from user fees from previous forest management programs, which Kabigting admitted is quite low considering the coverage of 1.4 million hectares.
Lotilla said the benefit should not be viewed just in user fees but also in the productivity to be unleashed by these ventures. Timber, rattan, and bamboo are among the main targets for forest plantation businesses.
For agroforestry operations, the target crops are fruit trees, cacao, coffee, and vegetables.