Stakeholder's roles and responsibilities in the Community-Based Forest Management Program of the Philippines

This paper reviews the existing social and community forestry programs in the Philippines, these being the leading programs for natural resource management and rural development in the country. The paper takes the form of a stakeholder analysis of those involved in the Community-Based Forest Management Program, drawing on literature discussing the roles of and challenges faced by the various stakeholder groups and on interviews with participants in the program. Challenges to the success of the program come from a variety of sources, in particular from the economically and socially marginalised position of the target communities, lack of resources available to support them, deficiencies in physical and social infrastructure in the Philippines, and the difficulties caused by the continual revision of forestry policies and regulations. It is concluded that in order for CBFM to be successful, greater efforts are needed to ‘empower’ the communities, provide adequate budgetary support to agencies administering the program, and provide a stable policy and regulatory framework.