Impacts and influences of small holder upland development project in alleviating poverty in the Philippine uplands

For more than ten years, the Philippines has adopted the Community-Based Forest Management (CBFM) Program as a forest restoration strategy and for poverty alleviation in the uplands. The pattern of upland development since the adoption of the CBFM in 1995 has involved the provision of the following: (a) security of long-term tenure to forest lands; (b) assistance by the government to forest plantations, livelihood activities, and infrastructure and other support services, and (c) involvement of government and NGOs [non governmental organizations] in strengthening and empowering communities to implement such projects. The concept of CBFM departs radically from the traditional notion that considers forest occupants as the culprits of forest degradation. CBFM directly involves upland communities in developing, rehabilitating and protecting the forests. The implementation of CBFM assures the generation of employment opportunities in the uplands through seedling production, plantation establishment, forest protection and conservation activities, harvesting, processing, transporting and marketing of CBFM products. This paper documents and evaluates the impacts and influences of the CBFM program on the human well-being of the upland communities following the Millenium Ecosystem Assessment (MAM) framework. This framework postulates that people are integral parts of the ecosystem and that dynamic interaction exists between them. This study showed that the CBFM participants had attained improvement in their well-being i.e. marked increase in income over the benchmark income before they were awarded a CBFM project, and acquisition of several household and farm assets which were before uncommon to forest-dependent communities. There appeared to be inequitable access and enjoyment of resources, opportunities and eventually material benefits generated by the CBFM project. This study had identified several issues and concerns as well as policy recommendations toward this end.