Baseline Assessment: Analysis of Pressures to Natural Forest s in DENR/B+WISER Sites

The assessment of pressures to the natural forests in B+WISER sites was conducted from April to August 2014 during the Regional Working Group (RWG) workshops on the Theory of Change (ToC) approach to adaptive management in conservation projects.

The method used in assessing pressures to the natural forest was informed by the ToC model and based on a slightly modified process of pressures ranking contained in the Miradi software. The modification involved the use of barangays as the unit of analysis rather than the entire conservation area as described in Miradi. The pressure ratings per barangay are shown in the annexes. The identified pressures are also encoded in maps.

The results of the assessment show that the main pressures to the natural forests in B+WISER program sites are slash and burn farming, charcoal production and fuel wood collection, illegal cutting of trees and residential and commercial development. Potential threats such as planned road construction or the building of airports were not included because the members of the RWG either did not know about these yet, or had minimal information on these.

The program sites with the highest ratings in terms of pressures to natural forests are Upper Marikina River Basin Protected Landscape (UMRBPL) and Kaliwa Watershed Forest Reserve (KWFR), Northern Sierra Madre Natural Park (NSMNP), Bago River Watershed Forest Reserve (BRWFR) and Mount Apo Natural Park (MANP). This result generally corresponds with the historical forest cover change analysis done by the Program for 2003 to 2010, i.e., the sites with high pressures ratings also had high deforestation rates.

This report makes the following recommendations: 1] Use results to inform formulation of site level strategies, 2] Continuously update results during RWG and field team meetings, 3] Use results of ecological assessments to rate pressures on non-forest targets, 4] Continue work on standardizing lexicon of pressures, and 5] Involve the BMB and integrate the pressures assessment system in the routine practices of protected areas.