Cordillera Traditions Help Keep Philippine Environment Intact By Michael A. Bengwayan, Ph.D.

Cordillera Traditions Help Keep Philippine Environment Intact

By Michael A. Bengwayan, Ph.D.

Kiangan, Philippines---Long before there were environmentalists in the Philippines, the Igorots (a collective name for the tribes of the Cordillera)  practiced sustainable forest and farming practices.


Many of them still do, high in the mountains comfortably nestled upon the lofty heights of the Cordillera mountain range, where the tribes hold the key to information that can unlock a model of conservation.

For them it is not about trees, animals, and plants; it is a way of life. It is a life that provides a playing and training ground for their children, and as they nurture the land, they are nurtured by it.

It is their wealth.


The indigenous Igorot practice the development and management of centuries-old tayans, lakons and muyung/pinugos — woodlots. These indigenous technologies are  as old as their rice terraces,

The famed Banaue  rice terraces,  for one,  has been irrigated by brooks and springs gushing out from muyungs and pinugos for some 2,000 years. The same is true to the rice terraces of the Bontocs in Maligong and those of the Iaplais in Sagada and Besao which are watered by tayans and lakons, respectively.

Conservation is not new to the Igorot families of the Philippines. Family traditions among indigenous peoples have played a role in the cultural and biological diversity practices of the environment .

The indigenous people account for most of the world's cultural diversity and that many of the areas of the highest biological diversity on the planet are inhabited by indigenous people.

Among the Igorots, a system of blood ties, collective responsibility, heredity, litigation, and indemnity provides the bond that keeps the people together.

However, many laws have been passed that undermine the life, caretakership, and knowledge of the Igorot as a whole, through disinheriting them: first through Spanish colonization, then American, and in modern times, the Filipino government.

Two thousand years ago, the Ifugaos carved out, by hand, terraces creating farms from the mountain sides, until this day, a practice that has become a part of their daily lives. They do not consider themselves as owners of the land, but as caretakers.

Among Ifugao tribes, muyungs or pinugos are located above the rice terraces. If someone wants access to the resources, he or she has to ask permission; when permission is granted, the person who has benefited from the resources contributes toward the environmental balance of the muyung by clearing an area of weeds before leaving. The exchange is one of obligation and responsibility, not money for the use of this man-made landscape of alternating woodlots and rice paddies.

Muyungs are noteworthy features of Ifugao families. Muyungs are woodlots that are privately owned by way of inheritance, although there are also communally owned muyungs. Most often, it is the youngest daughter who inherits the muyung.

This practice is believed best because the older members of the family are present to help in the conservation of the muyung until the youngest is of age and can decide what she will do to manage the muyung. And so the customary laws were set by the elders a long time ago that in case the daughter does not marry, she will have a place to get her timber, fuel, and other house needs. Muyungs are seldom sold, except in dire financial need.

The Ifugao families know that with the development, preservation, and management of a muyung comes water to irrigate rice fields and vegetable plots, food for the table, timber for shelter, medicine for the sick, firewood for cooking, and natural resources for customary and cultural practices.

The famed Banaue rice terraces are dependent on the muyungs for irrigation.

Below all muyungs are rice terraces known as kaingin or habal — swidden farms, which are temporary plots of land that are maintained by cutting back and burning off the vegetative cover. This system allows water from the muyung springs and brooks to irrigate rice fields and prevents topsoil erosion. Cutting or harvesting of the trees is done strictly on a selective basis, as widescale cutting is not allowed.

The elders of families and clans are the ones who are authorized to choose and mark the trees that can be cut. Men do the cutting, but children help cut branches of fallen trees, from which they clean off the twigs to bring home as firewood. Planting is done by all family or clan members. 

Family members, including children, regularly weed and prune their muyungs as a part of the regular upkeep, but most of the work is done by the women. Violations of customary laws, and related regulations call for strict penalties and fines.

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Today, some parts of the muyungs are being turned into small areas for vegetable production because many families are in need of cash. Many fruit trees are also being integrated to provide family income.

The UNDP considers the agricultural technology of the Ifugao as a fine model that should be replicated elsewhere, and no local conservation initiative could afford to ignore it.

However, just as many of the features are not apparent to the unaware observer, so too is the system of belief, that gave birth to the Ifugao conservation practices.

Weak laws and Poor Implementation Exacerbates Deforestation in the Philippines By Michael A. Bengwayan

Weak Laws and Poor Implementation Exacerbates Deforestation in the Philippines

By Michael A. Bengwayan

The Philippine forests are rapidly disappearing as fast as the country’s population is growing. 

A Senate committee on environment  bared that only 1.75 million acres remain of the nation's virgin forests.

Many experts fear there may be no virgin forests before 2050. Non-believers scoff at this, saying it is an exaggeration. But the figures cannot be wrong. The effects of deforestation are not figments of imagination. 

 The worsening poverty caused by inadequate and ruined natural resources are real. 

The rate of deforestation in the country is among the highest in the world. According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, in 1934, 57 percent of the country or 42 million acres were forested, 26 million acres of which was primary or virgin forests. In a span of 50 years, almost two thirds of the forests was lost to deforestation as indicated in a study by Ford Foundation in 1990. It found out that the country's forest was down to only 16 million acres, 1 million of which was virgin forests. 

The worst deforestation happened during the period of 1990 to 1999 where 750,000 acres of virgin forest were lost. 

The loss is incredible, the rate of deforestation in that decade was almost 75,000 acres a year. It also came at a time when logging ban was imposed in some selected sites in the country. 

As a result, flooding, soil erosion and degradation pegged at 100,000 tons of soil yearly, loss of species diversity and genetic material, loss of human lives and properties and aesthetic and recreational loss were at their worst. 

Much of the blame  is on governments that over the years have passed laws favorable to logging concessions and implemented forest protection poorly. 

Unchecked logging remains the main culprit. Government negligence has prompted the devastation of forests. Today, much of the remaining forests are still being invaded by commercial loggers. 

The country was Asia's greatest exporter of rain forest timber since 1920s and remained so until 1960. However, overzealous extraction, disregard for future supply and poor logging practices, exacerbated by illegal logging, have effectively destroyed the industry and severely degraded much of the remaining forest.

Philippine forestry laws passed since 1930 have failed to provide adequate security provisions for virgin and secondary growth forests, thus the forests had virtually no protection at all. For instance, there is only one forest guard for every 7,500 acres. 

But even then, many official policies and strategies from the very start were faulty. Laws that required harvesting on a sustained yield basis were lacking, the logging industry lacked supervision, little attention has been paid to selective logging and timber extraction methods allowed logs to be taken even from extremely steep and fragile slopes. 

Although it was obvious by the early seventies that forest resources was dwindling rapidly, practices that sustained yield were not heeded. Legislation to phase out raw log exports, in the belief that this lucrative trade was the main cause of over cutting, was first introduced in 1973. However, the ban was never implemented and a modified scheme served to concentrate ownership of timber licenses in the hands of a few Marcos supporters, with little commitment to reducing raw log exports. 

Despite a subsequent ban on the export of raw logs since 1986 and the not-so successful community-based forest management there is still a continuing bias towards log production. Even after 1991 when logging was banned in sensitive areas such as virgin forests, in residual forests with a slope of 50 percent or greater and in watershed areas, compliance with the mandatory conditions and prevention of illegal logging is made difficult by insufficient resources. 

From 1972 to 1988,  the logging industry amassed $42.85 billion in revenues at the rate of $2.65 billion a year. But it also laid to waste some 8.57 million hectares of forests. Over the same period, loggers destroyed 9.6 million acres of virgin forests, raking in $19.4 billion in income. 

Former Department of Agrarian Reform Secretary Horacio Boy Morales warned that the country's forest cover is now only 17 percent, far below the 60 percent required for ideal ecological balance. He further predicted that if the trend continues, there will be no forests by 2020 and that the Philippine hardwoods which used to dominate the forests will be gone. 

Decades of forest destruction by wanton and indiscriminate logging have made the country prone to landslides, Morales said.this has led to the degradation of watersheds which are basically the lifeline of food production and water supply. because of environmental degradation, the Philippines has become one of the most disaster- prone countries in the world where tremendous rise in threats to life, resources and property is always widespread. 

Such a situation is difficult to put back into order. 

Deforestation is the major reason behind flooding, acute water shortages, rapid soil erosion, siltation and mudslides which have proved costly not only to the environment and properties but also in human lives.

Reversing the tremendous forest depletion is a gigantic, if not, an impossible task, considering that the rate of deforestation far outstrips the rate of reforestation. 

Social forestry, where forest productivity rests on local community participation, is showing signs of progress in the country. But the strategy is not enough. More so because land ownership and forest management are issues which cannot be separate from each other. The Legal Resources Center (LRC) says that for the government to have an effective forest management program, some of the existing government environmental policies need to be overhauled. 

True enough. Many environmental government policies look at conservation without consideration of the rights of the people who live where conservation or environmental programs are. While the Philippine Strategy for Sustainable Development calls for local participation in forestry programs, the truth is, indigenous peoples' participation is marginal, solicited only for the purpose of lending projects cultural credibility, the LRC said. 

Mount Pulag National Park in Benguet is an ideal example. Many times used as a reason to avail of international funding of environmental programs, majority of the people are never involved in a real sense. The Kalanguyas, tired of the exploitative approaches of so- called environmental program implementers, bluntly told the government it has no need of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources in the area. 

Forestry projects in the Philippines has devoured millions of dollars in loans and grants. But there is little to see. In 1990, the government borrowed $325 million from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) for a national reforestation plan. It went to the dogs. The Upland NGO Assistance Committee (UNAC), an umbrella organization of 125 upland NGOS working directly with upland communities concluded that the program was a failure. Politicians meddled in the program, government foresters became contractors, trees species planted were for commercial use, and the reforestation targets were not reached in many parts of the country. 

The program was ill- conceived and managed and relied on insufficient data. She argued that the function of the multilateral banks is to make hard-currency loans for projects that can generate foreign exchange for repayment. Thus, they are ill-suited to solving environmental problems. ADB's provision of massive environmental loans to the Philippines accelerated the very damage it intended to reverse. 

The continuing loss of forests in the Philippines is a result of combined administrative mismanagement, corruption and social inequity. The value of forests, both as a resource base and as an environmental control, remains undervalued in the face of over-riding economic need.

Volunteer for PINE TREE: Help Earth a Safer Place to Live In

by michael a. bengwayan, ph.d.

The Cordillera Ecological Center or   PINE TREE is a volunteer group based La Trinidad, Benguet, Philippines that develops and implements sustainable conservation practices and livelihood opportunities through education, research, training and information dissemination.

Its mission is to fight environmental degradation and poverty through social change and development of local solutions to lessen global environmental problems.

Our goal is to promote conservation and environmental justice for Earth and  the rural poor.

WE ARE ALWAYS LOOKING FOR VOLUNTEERS TO HELP US.

 

Environmental Volunteers – – people who serve in a community or for the benefit of natural environment primarily because they choose to do so. Many serve through a non-profit organization –  either individually or as part of a group.

 

What Makes A PINE TREE Environmental Volunteer?

 

Volunteering is fun and rewarding, but it’s also a little more complicated than just showing up and having a good time. Here’s some advice on how to make the most of your volunteer work:

Be selfless. Selfless is the opposite of selfish. Don’t think about what you can do to help yourself. Think about what you can do to help others.

Be well-trained. Know what you’re doing as a volunteer. If you need some time to learn your job, take that time. If you need training or need someone to show you what you’re supposed to do, speak up. If you’re good at your job, it will be much easier to help others (plus you’ll have a lot more fun).

 

Be dependable. Do what you say you’ll do, and do your best. Don’t show up late, and always keep your promises. People will be relying on you so you don’t want to let them down.

Be enthusiastic. Don’t moan and groan your way through your volunteer work. If you really don’t like what you’re doing, find something else. Always have a positive attitude and show others that you’re doing this because you WANT to.

Be open-minded. One of the really great things about being a volunteer is the chance to learn and experience new things. Keep your mind open to new possibilities, and you’ll probably grow as a person.

Be respectful. Always remember to show respect for other people and other cultures. Keep in mind that your way of thinking or living is not the only way there is.

 

Be cooperative. Don’t be a “hot shot” or a loner. Don’t try to do everything yourself. Work as part of a team to make sure everyone gets a chance to participate and do his or her fair share of work. If someone asks for help, be willing to lend a hand. If you need some help, ask politely for it.

Be understanding. Try to see things through other people’s eyes. Try your best to understand what other people are going through, even if it’s something you’ve never dealt with yourself.

Be humble. Humble people don’t brag or go around telling everyone about all the good things they’ve done just to get some attention or feel superior. They’re happy knowing that they’re making a difference, and don’t need to shout about it.

Be friendly. Treat others like friends, and they’ll do the same for you. Many people who volunteer meet new people with whom they want to stay friends.

 

VOLUNTEER NOW!

SAVE LIVES, SAVE THE ENVIRONMENT, SAVE YOURSELF!

Contact: Dr. Michael A. Bengwayan

Director, PINE TREE

422-1652

Email: pinetreephill@gmail.com

 

PINE TREE was started in 2001 by Dr.  Michael A. Bengwayan when the New York City-based Echoing Green Foundation (www.echoinggreen.org), an international think-tank advocating social entrepreneurship worldwide chose him a a Social Change Fellow.

He was awarded a prize of $US90,000 to start PINE TREE and allowed him to do a post doctoral training at Rutgers University, New Jersey, USA.

 

The MISSION  is  being concretized by appropriate technology and education that enables people to implement and concretize culturally acceptable, ecologically sustainable, gender sensitive, and economically viable activities that promote equitable use, management, conservation and development of natural resources.

PINE TREE focuses on agroecology, conservation and indigenous knowledge because the three are interrelated and interdependent.

 

How To Calculate CO2 in Trees by Dr. Michael A. Bengwayan

How To Calculate CO2 in Trees

How to calculate the amount of CO  sequestered in a tree per year

Prepared by

Dr. Michael A. Bengwayan

Director

Cordillera Ecological Center (PINE TREE)

The Cordillera Ecological Center (PINE TREE) , Philippines  estimates that trees planted either for reforestation , afforestation and agroforestry in the Cordillera region, having a tropical climate, will sequester atmospheric carbon dioxide at an average of 50 pounds of carbon dioxide per tree per year.

The rate of carbon sequestration depends on the growth characteristics of the tree species,

the conditions for growth where the tree is planted, and the density of the tree’s wood. It

is greatest in the younger stages of tree growth, between 20 to 50 years. Complicating the issue is the fact that far less research has been done on tropical tree  species as compared to temperate tree species.

Nevertheless, I  can roughly estimate the amount of CO2 sequestered in a given tree,

by dividing the tree’s get a yearly sequestration rate.

This process:

1.  Determine the total (green) weight of the tree.

2.  Determine the dry weight of the tree.

3.  Determine the weight of carbon in the tree.

4.  Determine the weight of carbon dioxide sequestered in the tree

5.  Determine the weight of CO sequestered in the tree per year

1. Determine the total (green) weight of the tree

Use the following algorithm:

W = Above-ground weight of the tree in pounds

D = Diameter of the trunk in inches

H = Height of the tree in feet

For trees with D < 11:

W = 0.25D2H

For trees with D > 11:

W = 0.15D2H

Depending on the species, the coefficient (e.g. 0.25) could change, and the variables D

and H could be raised to exponents just above or below 1.  However, these two equations

could be seen as an “average” of all the species’ equations.

The root system weighs about 20% as much as the above-ground weight of the tree.

Therefore, to determine the total green weight of the tree, multiply the above-ground

weight of the tree by 120%.

2. Determine the dry weight of the tree

Studies show that  the average tree is 72.5% dry matter and 27.5% moisture.

Therefore, to determine the dry weight of the tree, multiply the weight of the tree by

72.5%.

3. Determine the weight of carbon in the tree

The average carbon content is generally 50% of the tree’s total volume.   Therefore, to

determine the weight of carbon in the tree, multiply the dry weight of the tree by 50%.

4. Determine the weight of carbon dioxide sequestered in the tree

CO2 is composed of one molecule of Carbon and 2 molecules of Oxygen.

The atomic weight of Carbon is 12.001115.

The atomic weight of Oxygen is 15.9994.

The weight of CO  is C+2*O=43.999915.

The ratio of CO  to C is 43.999915/12.001115=3.6663.

Therefore, to determine the weight of carbon dioxide sequestered in the tree, multiply the

weight of carbon in the tree by 3.6663.   sequestered in the tree per year

5. Determine the weight of CO

Divide the weight of carbon dioxide sequestered in the tree by the age of the tree.

Et voila!  Congratulations!

EXAMPLES

Estimated growth rates and sizes of  trees were taken from the World

Agroforestry Centre’s “Agroforestree Database” :

Let’s see how much a Calliandra calothyrsus might sequester in a year.  A 10-year-old

Calliandra would probably grow about 15 feet tall with a trunk about 8 inches in

diameter.  Therefore:

W = 0.25D2H

H = 0.25(8 )2(15) = 240 lbs. green weight above ground.

240 lbs. * 120% = 288 lbs. green weight (roots included)

288 lbs. * 72.5% = 208.8 lbs. dry weight

208.8 lbs. * 50% = 104.4 lbs. carbon

104.4 lbs * 3.6663 = 382.8 lbs. CO2 sequestered

382.8 lbs / 10 years = 38.3 lbs. CO2  sequestered per year

Or consider a 10-year-old Grevillia robusta, 45 feet tall with a trunk 6 inches in diameter.

Using the same calculations as above, the amount of CO2  sequestered would be 64.6 lbs.

per year.

Or a newly-planted Acacia angustissima, 2.5 years old, 15 feet tall with a trunk 3 inches

in diameter: 21.5 lbs. of CO2 sequestered per year.

Or an Albizzia lebbek, 15 years old, 30 feet tall, with a 12 inch trunk: 68.9 lbs. of CO2

sequestered per year.

Because PINE TREE has been planting Caliandra calothyrsus since 1992, we can easily calculate the carbon sequestered by our trees. Thank you.  MICHAEL A. BENGWAYAN, Ph.D.

Why I Support A Total Log Ban in the Philippines By Michael A. Bengwayan, Ph.D.

Why I Support A Total Log Ban in the Philippines

By Michael A. Bengwayan, Ph.D.

The Philippines, one of the twenty megadiversity hotspots in the world, is in danger of losing all its forests.

Its forest cover is ranked 4th in the world’s top 10 most threatened forest hotspots. If the deforestation rate of 157,400 hectares per year continues, the country’s remaining forest cover will be wiped out in less than 40 years. The area lost to deforestation every year is twice the land area of Metro Manila.

In 2005, DENR bared that the Philippine forest cover was only 7.391 million ha. This increased to 7.665 million ha in 2010. However, the figure is just 25.6 percent of the country’s 30-million ha land area, way below the 54 percent ideal forest cover for tropical countries.

The deforestation in the country can be traced to centuries of colonial rule, visionless leaders, flawed laws, commercial logging, corruption and misguided government policies.

During the pre-colonial period, forests covered at least 90 percent of the country’s total land area. Cultural and religious traditions of the people then allowed the forests to regenerate even if they were used to supply food and building materials.

But during the Spanish colonization, trees were felled to build roads, bridges, docks and ships for the galleon trade. Forests were replaced by sprawling haciendas owned by Spanish friars, officials and rich families.

When the Americans took over, large-scale, export-oriented commercial logging was introduced. We had 21 million ha of old-growth forests covering 70 percent of the land area in 1900s. But the Americans raped much of these. Logs were exported mainly to the United States and used to support the mining industry set up by the Americans. By the 1940s, only 9 million ha of forests covering 30 percent of the Philippine land area were left.

Deforestation further worsened during the Marcos regime. The logging industry was controlled by foreign companies and the local elite, some even holding public offices. Timber Licensing Agreements (TLAs) were given out by the Marcos regime to loyalists. From 1965 to 1986, the Philippines lost 7 million ha of forests.

TLAs were adjudged unconstitutional under Cory Aquino’s presidency. But instead of immediately revoking the TLAs, a “phase-out” policy was adopted to solve the problem. During the Arroyo administration, however, at least five TLAs were reinstated in 2005 and 2008, including the TLA of Surigao Development Corp., allegedly owned by a senator.

Even with the shift toward Integrated Forest Management Agreements (Ifma), Community-Based Forest Management Agreements and Socialized Integrated Forest Management Agreements as the main policy for forest management, the logging industry remained extractive

and was geared for export. The Arroyo administration encouraged foreign mining companies to operate even within old-growth forests through the Mining Act of 1995.

Today, combined reforestation efforts by the government and the private sector are not enough to arrest the rapid deforestation. Previous administrations had been weak in compelling timber license holders to fulfill their obligation of reforesting concession areas.

Although the national government allocates funds for reforestation, projects have been largely dependent on foreign funding. Moreover, opportunities for rehabilitation created room for graft and corruption. On Sept. 22, 2010, Sen. Franklin Drilon exposed on national television the alleged use of P1 billion in DENR funds for the May 2010 general elections.

We are now experiencing disasters of terrifying magnitude such as floods and landslides that result in loss of life and livelihood due to devastating effects of forest destruction. The most unforgettable of these is perhaps the Ormoc flood on Nov. 5, 1991, which killed almost 8,000 people.

In 2000-2010, there were 27 deadly floods and 24,212 by landslides that affected1.6 million people. Damage to agriculture and infrastructure ran into billions of pesos.

Forest destruction has also led to human rights violations, land grabbing, militarization, abuse of the free and prior informed consent, and killings. Indigenous peoples are the usual victims because their ancestral domains are generally found in forests..

Other effects of deforestation are loss of biodiversity and continuing threats to endemic plants and animals. The Philippines has 6,091 endemic plant species and 591 endemic animal species. Among the animal species, 151 are now endangered.

Today, commercial logging is still the leading cause of deforestation. Mining also threatens our forests. Through the Mining Act of 1995, mining companies are given timber rights, which allow them to cut trees inside their concessions. As of March 2011, more than 1 million ha were covered by mining permits and applications.

One other threat to our forests is the so-called Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD+), an international policy proposed by developed countries to mitigate the climate crisis supposedly through forest protection. Plantations were included in the forest definition within the REDD+ framework. Upon implementation, REDD+ will reward perpetrators of deforestation such as commercial loggers by encouraging them to expand operations and turn natural forests into plantations to increase their profit.

It is because of the above why we want President Duterte to sign a total log ban law. Deforestation cause widespread poverty and landlessness. Poverty drives people upland so they can eke out a living. In a country where more than half of the population is poor, forests are rich sources of food and other resources, which are very attractive to those desperate for survival.

The Executive Order No. 23 (Declaring a Moratorium on the Cutting and Harvesting of Timber in the National and Residual Forests and Creating the Anti-Illegal Logging Task Force) to impose a total log ban throughout the country has not been effective..

It allowed tree cutting by government agencies and private land owners. DPWH and DENR allowed the cutting of thousands of trees, many century-old trees.

The Executive Order No. 26 of Benigno Aquino to implement the National Greening Program, which aims to plant 1.5 billion trees in 1.5 million ha by 2016 was also saddled by corruption.

It is controversial. Ancestral lands are included for reforestation under EO 26. This rings alarm bells for indigenous peoples because many of them have been driven away from their ancestral lands to make way for tree plantations.

With the dwindling forests, coupled with the threats of more disasters brought by climate change, it is high time for a log ban and a massive reforestation effort.

But it can only be done if there are more good honest men in the government and private sector.