Geodatabase Development for Forest Restoration and Biodiversity Conservation in the Mt. Makiling Forest Reserve, Philippines

A GIS-based database (or geodatabase) was developed for the Mt. Makiling Forest Reserve, on Luzon Island, Philippines toward the establishment of a management decision support system. The study presents initial results in the development of a geodatabase, as well as the use of geographic information system (GIS) in the planning, design and implementation of programs for forest renewal and biodiversity conservation. GIS use for data encoding is already extensive but its use as a planning and analytical tool is limited, if not altogether lacking. An outline for the establishment of a geodatabase is presented that will allow processing, analysis and modeling and, ultimately, the sustainable development and conservation of the mountain forest reserve, which is a significant watershed area and an important catchment for Laguna de Bay - the largest freshwater lake in Southeast Asia. The database design is patterned after the GAME model earlier developed. GAME is an acronym for GIS-based assessment, monitoring and evaluation which uses regular-shaped polygons to provide a full description of the watershed. There are five (5) levels of detail or precision that can be used to characterize and map watershed phenomena: 100-ha grids, 25-ha quadrants, 1-ha cells, 0.04-ha squares and 0.01-ha granules. Depending on the level of detail required for analysis, the appropriate precision level can be used to describe land use/land cover, especially degraded areas, habitats, species distributions and conservation hotspots, among others. The geodatabase for the Mt. Makiling Forest Reserve already contains data and information on soils, slope, elevation and land use.