Sustaining livelihoods and sharing the riches of the forest: building on a legacy amidst new challenge

The paper highlighted the Univesity's contribution towards promoting natural resources-based livelihoods in the form of human capital development, research and technology outputs, process and product innovations, and policy formulations. It pointed out the need for a more comprehensive assessment to help identify costs and outcomes and to effectively measure the impacts of University efforts. Two case studies relevant to nature-based livelihoods were reviewed, one on the use of value chain analysis for plantation wood, rattan, and bamboo, and the other, on the impact of forest charges on forest-based livelihoods. The use of value chain analysis enabled the identification of weaknesses along the chain of custody of various forest-based products as they flowed from producer to trader to processor and the consumer. Value chain also helps in the formulation of interventions designed to increase the share of VC stakeholders who have gained the least from their participation in the chain. The study in forest charges confirmed its adverse effects on the capacity of NTFP gatherers to profit from their resource extraction activities. The two studies converge in proposing policy interventions that will revise the use of forest charges as instruments for capturing government's share in forest incomes. Finally the paper outlined some of the strategies that UPLB could adopt in terms of promoting livelihoods amidst the changing socio-economic milieu in the peri-urbanizing Calamba-Los Baños-Bay landscape. Three areas where UPLB can intervene were identified, which include development of livelihood-supportive technologies that use or take advantage of the area's natural resources; the use of University-owned land assets to promote livelihoods; and building the capability of the population for livelihood in a landscape that is undergoing economic transition. The paper has proposed that the University initials participatory ecotourism programs using value chain analysis as one of the4 tools to attain more inclusive development, and to offer a nature-based or eco-tourism degree program.