The Politics of Community Forestry in the Philippines

Abstract

Policy reforms aimed at preserving the Philippines' remaining forests, including the flagship community forestry program, have created a gap in the supply requirements of the local wood industry. Trade liberalization, however, is expected to fill this gap with the importation of lumber until forest plantations, both corporate and community based, are capable of yielding the needed volume. This article focuses on political intervention and how it can impede the process of communities taking over former logging concessions and other forestry reform policies. Community forestry represents a shift in policy from the system of timber license agreements given to the elite in the past and was most pronounced during the authoritarian years of government. Democracy, coupled with an effective nongovernmental organization movement and a vigilant civil society, enabled the change. However, pressures from politicians can derail this flagship program of government, as a case study of the largest community-based forest in the Philippines shows.