In recent years” the Philippines has seen a trend towards increased participation of indigenous peoples and communities in natural resource management. These changes have largely been brought about by new legislation: devolving environmental functions to municipal levels; adopting community based forest management as the central vehicle for sustainable forestry; and establishing processes for the recognition and titling of indigenous territories.

Despite these advances” however” forest tenure for communities remains unsecured. The new systems remain subject to the discretion of the government” and can still be undermined by Timber License Agreements” Socialized Industrial Forest Management Agreements” and other such land-use instruments.

For more information” see the original article in the Manila Times here.