Ethnicity and the utilization of non-wood forest products: findings from three Philippine villages

Abstract

The utilization and trade of non-wood forest products in three villages in the Philippines were compared in this study. Two villages were situated close to each other on the Island of Palawan. The Tagbanua, an indigenous people, inhabited one village; migrants from the Visayas Region of the Philippines populated the other. The third village is located on the Island of Leyte, in the Visayas Region, populated by native Visayan settlers. There was no significant difference in the number of NWFPs utilized by the indigenous people and the migrants. However, there was a wide disparity in income between the two groups, with migrants earning more, partly due to the marketing of commercial NWFPs. This gap could be decreased by fairer trading practices that are dependent in part on better educational opportunities, land rights, legal assistance and access to markets for the Tagbanua. Specific socioeconomic characteristics, such as the presence of a hunter within the household and size of the family were found to have a positive correlation with the use of NWFPs in some study villages. Income and the food expenditure of the household were inversely related with the use of NWFPs in the native Visayan village.