Assessment of drivers of deforestation and forest degradation in Eastern Samar and Davao Oriental REDD-plus project sites: final report

The study is part of the project “Preparation of a National REDD-plus Mechanism for Greenhouse Gas Reduction and Conservation of Biodiversity in the Philippines” (National REDD-plus System Philippines) funded by the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety under its International Climate Initiative.

 
It has the objectives:

• (1) analysis of drivers and causes of deforestation and forest degradation in the project sites;
• (2) assessment of the importance of various drivers and causes of deforestation and forest degradation; and  
• (3) development of differentiated recommendations

to address the various drivers and causes of deforestation and forest degradation.
The assessment followed three of the five steps identified in the Decision Support Tool for Identifying and Addressing Drivers prepared by the ASEAN Regional Knowledge Network on Forests (ARKN-FCC 2014). These steps include:

• (1) gatheringinformation and assessing drivers;
• (2) selecting drivers to address; and
• (3) designing interventions to address prioritized drivers.
• (4) implementation of selected interventions to address the prioritized drivers and
• (5) monitoring and evaluating success of interventions,

are to be undertaken by the respective REDD-plus project partners.

The methods used include review of secondary data, information, and literature; key informant interviews; focus group discussions; analysis of available data sets from NAMRIA and Department of Environment and Natural Resources-Forest Management Bureau; descriptive statistics; financial analysis; and qualitative descriptions.

The priority drivers identified with the stakeholders in both project sites include: upland agriculture expansion, timber poaching, tree cutting for fuelwood, charcoal, rattan extraction, and mining. Underlying causes of deforestation and forest degradation include socio-demographic factors such as increasing population and in-migration; cultural factors like changing consumption patterns; economic factors that include poverty, limited livelihood opportunities, and market demand; technological factors such as low productivity, proliferation of chainsaws, and poor access to market; and policy and institutional factors among which are unstable policy environment and weak forest governance. 

To address the drivers of deforestation and forest degradation through REDD-plus, the interventions include forest land use planning, co-management of forests and forest lands with tenure options, improved governance, and improved livelihood options. Addressing the poverty and lack of livelihood options that drive current degradation activities needs to be prioritized such as technical, financial, and marketing assistance on improved upland farming systems. A number of farm-based livelihood options were analyzed that would guide the project implementers and farmers. The options analyzed include: status quo or business as usual (BAU); REDD-plus without enhancement; REDD-plus with communal tree plantations (dipterocarps and fast growing trees), agroforestry-based farming (coconut, banana, or citrus based), fuelwood plantation, and rattan plantation. The BAU option involves the current kaingin farming or shifting cultivation with timber poaching and fuelwood tree cutting. The REDD-plus without enhancement option means they will stop kaingin farming and timber poaching/fuelwood tree cutting, but this option yields negative net present value (NPV) of benefits. All other interventions with REDD-plus enhancement such as agroforestry and/or timber plantations resulted to positive NPVs and attractive internal rates of return.