Community-based forest management in the Philippines

Some of the most severely degraded forests of the Philippines are being restored by local community groups whose members are newcomers to forestry. As stakeholders, they are developing their own criteria and indicators for evaluating the environmental and social consequences of their field practices, with the technical assistance of the Philippine natural resources agency and other advisers. Eventually, those homegrown criteria may be used for external assessments by international certifying organizations. Although establishing criteria and indicators cannot guarantee sustainable forest management, initial results indicate that they can prevent field practices from further degrading the country's forest ecosystems and forest-dependent communities.