Deforestation In The Postwar Philippines

The only quantitative deforestation study to focus on one country, this case analysis of the Philippines since 1946 yields more concrete data than previous cross-national studies. David Kummer's close examination of the interactions among political, economic, and cultural factors and their environmental consequences sheds light on similar situations in other countries.

This work offers a detailed case study on the dynamics of forest use, degradation, and loss in Northeast Luzon, Philippines. Following an interdisciplinary approach, the study charts the degradation and loss of forest in this area between 1950 and 1990, as it relates to the social and political context of logging, forest migration, and changes in upland agriculture. Based on ten years of research, the author introduces us to the actions, livelihood options, and motives of all the principal group of actors.

People and Forests explores the complex interactions between local communities and their forests, focusing on the rules by which communities govern and manage their forest resources.

Over the past several decades, civil and ethnic wars have undermined prospects for economic and political development, destabilized entire regions of the globe, and left millions dead. States, Scarcity, and Civil Strife in the Developing World argues that demographic and environmental stress--the interactions among rapid population growth, environmental degradation, inequality, and emerging scarcities of vital natural resources--represents one important source of turmoil in today's world. Kahl contends that this type of stress places enormous strains on both societies and governments in poor countries, increasing their vulnerability to armed conflict. He identifies two pathways whereby this process unfolds: state failure and state exploitation. State failure conflicts occur when population growth, environmental degradation, and resource inequality weaken the capacity, legitimacy, and cohesion of governments, thereby expanding the opportunities and incentives for rebellion and intergroup violence. State exploitation conflicts, in contrast, occur when political leaders themselves capitalize on the opportunities arising from population pressures, natural resource scarcities, and related social grievances to instigate violence that serves their parochial interests. Drawing on a wide array of social science theory, this book argues that demographically and environmentally induced conflicts are most likely to occur in countries that are deeply split along ethnic, religious, regional, or class lines, and which have highly exclusive and discriminatory political systems. The empirical portion of the book evaluates the theoretical argument through in-depth case studies of civil strife in the Philippines, Kenya, and numerous other countries. The book concludes with an analysis of the challenges demographic and environmental change will pose to international security in the decades ahead.

The deterioration of forest resources and poor economic performance in the Philippines calls for a serious rethinking in economic policies addressing both environmental and economic objectives. In order to protect the Philippine forests, the government implemented the Master Plan for Forestry Development covering a 25-year period (i.e. 1991-2015). However, after 16 years of implementation, the Philippine forestry industry has experienced a further reduction in production and in areas devoted to old-growth forests. The annual allowable cut remains excessive as it was prior to 1990. This proves to be an important forestry policy instrument as the findings in this book suggest that the volume of timber or the rate of deforestation is directly affected by the annual allowable cut rather than by population growth and poverty. The recent economic literature suggests the possibility of attaining both macroeconomic growth and sustainability in natural resource use. To examine the economy-wide effects of the Master Plan and the plausibility of attaining sustainable growth, a computable general equilibrium (CGE) model is developed with an appended forestry sub-model adopted from Dee (1991). The research found that given steady-state in forestry, the Dee model can serve as a simple representation of forest growth. However, in the context of positive environmental services and non-steady state growth in forestry, the Dee model might be inappropriate. Given the present land use arrangements in the Philippines, the book suggests that the country will meet both objectives of growth and conservation via a combination of a reduction in forestry discount rate and a uniform reduction in sectoral tariffs. Despite the positive effect of uniform tariff reduction on gross domestic product, employment in some sectors is negatively affected particularly that of farmers, fishers and foresters. This indicates the significance of reforestation as an employment generation tool, notwithstanding its benefits towards resource and soil conservation. In general, forest conservation can be achieved with minimal economic sacrifice. Therefore, depending on the capability of the Philippine government to enforce land use policies, a direct set-aside program (national parks) and the implementation of selective logging programs can assist in the regeneration and perpetuation of the Philippine forest. The aim of the book is to illustrate the application of computable general equilibrium (CGE) models in analysing environmental issues, specifically deforestation in countries with limited access to primary/secondary data. It is an outcome of a government funded research project on deforestation in developing economies. We hope that this book will appeal to policy makers, politicians, academics, government officials especially in developing countries, post-graduate students interested in applied general equilibrium research and the like. The book brings into light a state-of-the-art CGE model with empirical applications into forestry policies in a developing Asian economy. Hence the analytical methodology and the empirical policy analysis have a greater applicability to many countries in Asia and beyond where deforestation has become a critical dynamic issue. This book can also be used as a textbook, in advanced courses in economic modeling at graduate level in universities.