EDITORIAL – Restoring rainforests

Environmentalists have long sounded the alarm over the rapid depletion of the country’s rainforests. A report yesterday said that a century ago, 70 percent of the archipelago was forest area – about 21 million hectares. By 1988, the forest cover had dwindled to six million hectares. A decade later, this was further reduced to just 800,000 hectares, with trees lost to illegal logging, slash-and-burn farming and indiscriminate development.

Forests not only prevent soil erosion and minimize flooding but also improve air quality, increase sources of fresh water and provide habitats for the country’s richly diverse animal and plant life. The consequences of massive deforestation have been evident for many years. The freak flood that killed thousands of residents of Ormoc in Leyte over a decade ago was blamed on the depletion of the city’s watersheds. The landslides and floods that devastated several provinces in Luzon late last year were also blamed on deforestation due mainly to illegal logging.

Now environmental groups are launching a nationwide program to restore at least one million hectares of the country’s rainforests by 2020. The groups will need the full support of the national government as well as local officials and community leaders to ensure the success of the project. Reforestation requires sustained care and infinite patience. Similar programs launched by politicians in Metro Manila and neighboring provinces have foundered because seedlings planted with great fanfare were neglected once the TV cameras were gone.

Restoring rainforests will have to take into account the needs of communities that depend on the forest for their livelihood. Cooperation of these communities is crucial in nurturing new forest growth and keeping out illegal loggers. Sustainable agroforestry is possible without destroying trees that take decades to attain full growth. The government must do its part by prosecuting illegal loggers and improving measures to protect what’s left of the rainforests. As in any crime, illegal loggers must get the message that there’s a steep price to pay for destroying forests.