If the Philippines will not do something now, it would be the first country in Asia to completely lose its forest cover soon. Cebu is a case in point: It has a "zero-forest cover", said environment officials.

"Most of the country's once rich forests are gone," say the Food and Agriculture Organization's (FAO) study, entitled "Sustainable Forest Management."

"A prima-donna among the world timber exporters in 1970, the Philippines today is a wood-pauper," commented veteran journalist Juan Mercado. Should the government look for sustainable forest conservation measures from other countries to save its remaining forests?

Not so, according to the FAO regional office in Bangkok, Thailand. In fact, the Philippines is home to four of the 28 inspiring stories featured in the recently published "In search of excellence: Exemplary forest management in Asia and the Pacific."

The "stunning examples of innovation, leadership, and success" show that "there is hope for forests where new ideas are allowed to flourish," to quote the words of Dr. Nigel Sizer, director of the Nature Conservancy's Asia-Pacific Forests Program.

"Yes, excellent forest management is not only possible but already happening in places across Asia and the Pacific," noted Dr. Neil Byron, commissioner of Australia's Productivity Commission.

Restored Forest
Take the case of Mount Makiling, a major tourist attraction. Unknowingly, it is a "restored forest." Due to the population growth of Manila and surrounding areas, Mt. Makiling was almost totally deforested and covered with cogon grass.

In the late 1800s, American forester Dr. Hugh Curran Sr. came and started to reclaim Mt. Makiling by planting various species of tress coming from all over the country. Today, Mt. Makiling has been described as having an "exceptional diversity of woody plant species, totaling more than the entire number of woody species found in the United States."

But the same story is happening all over again. Land development and conversion and infrastructure expansion by private land owners and developers in adjacent areas, shifting cultivation by farmers, illegal occupancy, poaching of wildlife and forest products, uncontrolled immigration, and increase in population are all endangering the mountain's usefulness as a resource to the present and future generations.

"Despite all these threats," said Dr. Edwino Fernando, director of the Makiling Center for Mountain Ecosystems (MCME), "Mt. Makiling remains as one of the country's important biodiversity areas and significant forested watersheds. Indeed, it is a living testimony of what people and institutions can do together to conserve a natural heritage for Filipinos and for the world."

MCME is the unit of the University of the Philippines Los Baños, Laguna assigned to directly manage the forest reserve, which was created by the government in 1910 "to serve as a training laboratory for the advancement of scientific and technical knowledge on the conservation and development of the forests and associated ecosystems."

Indigenous Peoples
The last remaining forests can also be saved by involving the indigenous peoples. The Ikalahans of Nueva Viscaya, for example, have proven this. Reports Rev. Delbert Rice, an anthropologist who ahs worked with the people for 40 years: "Traditionally, they are shifting cultivators, primarily focused on the staple food crop ubi.

"Recent developments, however, forced them to take action to conserve their natural resource base and think of additional livelihood strategies. Today, they have increased the benefits from the forest while improving its biodiversity."

In 1974, the government established the 14,730-hectare Kalahan forest reserve, which became a pioneering step by both the government and the Ikalahans in resolving threats to ancestral lands and the culture, in general, of indigenous peoples.

"We can now enforce indigenous policies and rules geared towards the protection and conservation of the natural resources within the Kalahan forest reserve," said Taynan Omallio, chairman of the Kalahan Education Foundation board.

Upland Farming
In the Philippines, uplands constitute about 55.8% of the total land area of 30 million hectares. Uplands are those areas with 18% slope or greater and those within terrain classified as hilly to mountains.

"Farming is the primary occupation of uplanders," said Y.S. Rao, the late FAO regional forestry officer, during a meeting in 1988.

That's what the people of Banaue have been doing since the time immemorial. The Banaue Rice Terraces, touted to be the eighth Wonder of the World, has been declared as a World Heritage site by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). But imagine years of no water ion the rice terraces. What you see then would be brown scenery of cracked dikes and paddies. No rice. Then suddenly you realize and see, as you never had before - the importance of the bodies of forests interspersed within the landscape of the rice terraces.

"The patches of forests, usually enclosing or adjacent to Ifugao settlements are the muyong," said Dr. Rogelio Serrano, who has studied the Ifugao for a number of years. "Otherwise referred to as pinugu, these woodlots are untilled slopes covered mainly with timber, fuel wood, fruit trees, climbing rattan, bamboos, palms and other associated natural vegetation. They are privately owned and managed, with definite boundaries. They are also maintained as protection of lower farmland from runoff and erosion."

Mangroves Restoration
If you think deforestation happens only in the uplands, you're wrong. It even occurs in the lowlands. Approximately two-thirds of the original mangroves had been lost, according to some reports.

In some areas, these mangrove areas have been rehabilitated. This is particularly true in Kalibo, Aklan, home of the Buswang mangrove plantations.

"The area is being promoted as an alternative tourism site alongside Boracay Island and Kalibo's Ati-atihan festival," said Mayor Reymar Rebaldo.

"When the project was first initiated," the three FAO officials noted, "the forest existed only in people's mind. The area to be planted was nothing more than a bare mudflat that left the nearby town exposed to flooding caused by high tides and typhoons."

Then came KASAMA (Kalibo Save the Mangroves Association), which executed the dream into reality. "The unity demonstrated by KASAMA has been directly responsible for minimizing incidents of illegal cutting in the mangrove area," said officer Didi Quimpo. "KASAMA offers a far better means of protection than the local government could other wise afford."