Return to Mount Isarog 2

In January and February of 1994 the issue of illegal logging came to a head. On one part of the mountain easily reached by road, people from outside the local communities were being paid by a Naga City businessman to cut rain-forest trees. Army personnel were paid toaccompany the loggers and trucks—illegally, of course, but quite effectively. Community leaders agreed that a large community action was needed. One afternoon, after a small truck had gone up the mountain to pick up the latest load of lumber, groups from all of the communities met to set up a barricade. When the truck came down the road and stopped at the barricade, nearly 100 people were present. When they were told that they were acting illegally and that the lumber and truck were being confiscated, the army guards reacted angrily, firing their automatic weapons over the heads of the people, who quickly scattered. The truck pushed past the barricade, and headed into town.

     Among the people at the barricade were several with two-way radios who described the scene to a radio station in Naga City. The next day, news of the encounter was made public, and the names of the owner of the truck, the person purchasing the lumber, and the officer in charge of the army garrison figured prominently. The commander of the local garrison offered an official apology; the other offenders denied direct knowledge of illegal activities, but promised to stop buying timber from people on the mountain. Although no one was arrested or fined, the truck never returned to the mountain.

     Mount Isarog has now been selected as one of ten sites to be the focus of funding for continued protection and community-development activities through a grant from the European Union. Salaries for forest guards (many of whom had been volunteer community forest guards) and a general supervisor will be paid through the grant. The park boundaries will be re-surveyed and marked clearly, and socioeconomic surveys will identify progress and problems, and will seek new solutions.

     For rural people in areas like Mount Isarog, the future looks uncertain. Poverty is severe, people are poorly educated, and past damage to the environment continues to cause floods and droughts. But economic activity in Naga City and other small urban centers is increasing, providing some jobs and increasing the market for the vegetables and livestock produced by small-scale farmers. Hikers and bird-watchers are beginning to visit the park, hiring guides and buying food from local restaurants. A sense of optimism and hope for the future is present in the people who live near the forest.

     The future of biological diversity and human society are tightly intertwined in the Philippines. Massive extinction and economic instability and decline are both almost certain outcomes without the rain forests that provide habitat for the plants and animals and the clean water that flows when the forest prevents floods, droughts, and erosion. Given the tiny amounts of forest that remain in most places in the nation, it is clear that the moment of crisis and decision is now upon us. The decisions that will make the difference between tragedy and prosperity are being made today; in ten years, perhaps in one year, and perhaps even tomorrow, it will be too late. For some species, and some watershed forests, it is already too late; some species are extinct, and some islands have no remaining natural forest. The greatest treasure of the Philippine rain forest, the one most worthy of protecting and guarding jealously, is the forest itself. There is still time to assure a prosperous future formost of the people of the Philippines and most of the remarkable fauna that is their natural heritage, and to prevent irreparable damage—but not much time, and it is slipping away.

Original URL: http://archive.fieldmuseum.org/vanishing_treasures/Prospects_2.htm