Causes of Forest Destruction (Part 3)

CAUSES OF FOREST DESTRUCTION (Part 3)
by Antonio C. Antonio

October 1, 2014

Forest destruction could be attributed to natural and anthropogenic causes.  In this article, I will be focusing only on other causes of the forest destruction.  (This is the 3^rd of a 3-part series.)

There are other causes of deforestation which are basically anthropogenic too. Their level of influence and contribution to deforestation cannot be ascertained and remain largely relative. Please note that these are additional causes of deforestation in the Philippine setting and may not apply to other countries. These are:

1.     Population Growth – Population growth or overpopulation exerts pressure on land use. As the population grows bigger, (a) more land is dedicated to agriculture for food security purposes, (b) land is allocated to establish more housing and residential units that are needed to house and settle the additional population, (c) more business and livelihood establishment are constructed and established to provide employment for the additional population, (d) more roads and bridges will have to be constructed to provide mobility and access between growing communities, (e) more power and energy will be needed to provide and support the growing communities and industries with the necessary utilities (just to name a few.) Unfortunately, the legislative measure that addresses the problem of population growth in the Philippines is still pending (for decision on its constitutionality) in the Supreme Court. Republic Act 10354 or the Responsible Parenthood and Reproductive Health Law is an Act providing for a National Policy on Responsible Parenthood and Reproductive Health.

2.     Graft and Corruption – Graft and corruption exist all over the world. It is just more rampant and evident in developing economies such as the Philippines. Agencies tasked with the protection and preservation of natural resources are, more often than not, the initiators of graft and corrupt practices for money consideration. The propensity of businesses to gain more profits also fuels this practice. An honest-to-goodness implementation and enforcement of existing laws, rules and regulations by government should at the very least limit or lessen graft and corruption.

3.     Government Policies – Public policies are tools of government to spur economic growth and development and to gain the trust and confidence of the citizenry. When there are inconsistencies and contradictions in public policies or there is a selective application of public policies, these create inequities and send the wrong signals to the population. The purposes and objectives of such public policies are more often not accomplished in this manner. A glaring example of conflicts in Philippine upland public policy are two contrasting Executive Orders (EO 23, declaring a moratorium on the cutting and harvesting of timber in the natural and residual forests and creating the Anti-Illegal Logging Task Force, and EO 79, institutionalizing and implementing reforms in the Philippine mining sector providing policies and guidelines to ensure environmental protection and responsible mining in the utilization of mineral resources.) These EOs [a] encourage the extraction of non-renewable resources (EO 79) and bans the harvesting of renewable resources (EO23), [b] encourages clear cutting of forest areas (EO79) and bans the selective logging of timber products (EO 23), [c] hastily crafted an IRR (Implementing Rules and Regulations) which critics claim is less advantageous to government for EO 79 and never bothered to draft an IRR for EO 23 (if there was one, nobody in the wood industry comprising some 20 million people has seen this draft), [d] the provision of marginal income for mining workers (EO 79) and the non-provision of safety nets for the wood industry workers (EO 23)… to mention some glaring disparity. Selective and preferential treatment of the different industry sectors in the country will only fan distrust for government.

4.     Livelihood Activities of the Upland Dwellers – Upland land use for livelihood purposes such as slash and burn agriculture or kaingin and swidden or shifting agriculture remain insignificant as contributors to deforestation. The common practice is the abandonment of the area after it is no longer economical to till. The act of abandoning such area will trigger ecological succession and, in time, return the area to a climax stage. Efforts, however, should be made to encourage and develop other forms and means of livelihood activities to cushion the effects of soil degradation caused by these livelihood activities in the uplands.

These are the other causes of forest destruction.

Just my little thoughts…

(Note:  This portion is part of the article “Causes of Deforestation” published at http://antonantonio.blogspot.com/.)

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