Philippines: Reforestation project after logging destruction

The Philippines is an archipelagic country in Southeast Asia, with a population nearing 110 million people.

Right now, the country has about 7 million hectares of forest. That might sound a lot, but it only covers 23% of the Philippines series of islands’ available land.

What’s more, is that in 2010 there was over 13 million hectares of natural forest, extending over 62% of the archipelago’s land area.

That’s a 46% decrease in forest area in 12 years. A huge loss - due mostly to the destruction of the forests for profit.

During the last few decades, the Philippine rainforest that used to cover about 90% of the country’s land area, has been reduced to less than 10%, due to deforestation driven by:

• Logging

• Slash-and-burn agriculture

• Land development

• Forest fires

There are many drivers for the deforestation, but the biggest reason is commodity-driven. Commodities include mined minerals, palm oil, and construction materials.

During the 1960s, mahogany, a common tree type in the Philippines, became of increased value globally. As you can guess, this meant the mahogany was cut down almost to extinction, leading to:

• Soil erosion

• Indigenous communities displaced from their land

• Contaminated waterways

• Drop in biodiversity and the extinction of plant & animal species

• Indigenous communities losing the productivity of their land

What are we doing about it?

Ok, enough of the bad news. Here’s some good news.

We’re planting trees in projects in Bukidnon and Misamis Oriental. These projects are helping in many, many special ways, like:

🌳 Providing communities with economic incentives and easily replicable planting techniques, to support them in restoring their local environment and economy…

🌳 … which helps Filipino communities to fulfill an agreement with the local government which allows them to legally acquire the land they inhabit through reforestation

🌳 Teaching agroforestry techniques to promote food security

🌳 Protecting forests and communities from logging

As you can see, there is so much good happening through your tree-planting efforts in the Philippines. Despite the devastation of the last few decades, there is positive change happening improving thanks to the support of people like you.