From The Chairperson

2013-04-17 | Launch of FPE's Kalikasan BCSD Knowledge Series Vol. 7-14 | Message

Event: Launch of the Second Batch of FPE's KALIKASAN (Kaalamang Likas Yaman) BCSD Knowledge Series

Date: April 17, 2013

Venue: UP Institute for Small-Scale Industries (ISSI), Diliman, Quezon City

Twenty-one years of FPE’s serious pursuit to save the remaining forests from destruction had borne fruits. Eight (8) case studies of partner organizations documenting successes, challenges and ways forward to scale up forest governance are now available to the public.

The cases relate, among others, how our partner in Negros Occidental transformed a silent subsistence community to active forest protectors; how planting native tree species revived dying forests and earned income for farmers in Leyte; how synergistic partnerships among various agencies accelerated watershed rehabilitation in Davao City; and how the concept of social fencing in the provinces of Quezon and Laguna deepened the communities collective resolve and shared responsibility in guarding their forests for life.

While we see progress in our conservation work, FPE’s mission becomes even more relevant today as scarcity of natural resources worsens hunger; as climate change and disasters wipe out conservation investments; as unbridled population boom dangerously tilts the carrying capacity of our remaining forests, to mention some of the many emerging environmental concerns.

In almost all USAID-FPE Up-Scaling Project sites, our partners continue to face the challenges of limited micro-enterprise or livelihood support for vulnerable communities, unsustainable economic development projects favored by decision makers and influential leaders; and the lack of synchronization of fragmented conservation initiatives.

Notably, for the first time in many years, our long-time partners in conservation took the initiative of assessing and documenting what strategies worked and what could still work to sustainably protect our forests and Key Biodiversity Areas (KBAs). This is a conscious attempt to create tools and platforms for knowledge access and sharing.

All these interesting case studies constitute the second set of Kalikasan (Kaalamang Likas Yaman) Biodiversity Conservation and Sustainable Development series – a regular publication of FPE. The first set describes the results of resource and socio-economic assessments in selected KBAs. This second set combines best practices and lessons learned in forest restoration efforts under the USAID-FPE Up-Scaling Project.

So allow me to congratulate our project partners, the local government units in the project sites, and USAID for making the case studies of the Up-Scaling Project possible. We hope our readers distill the lesson learned to guide future actions toward more effective forest restoration and hunger alleviation.

Today’s sharing and publication launch is also our contribution to the Earth Day Celebration, with the theme “Earth Day Everyday, Everywhere, for Everyone.”

Let us “treat the earth well” as an ancient proverb goes, “We do not inherit it from our ancestors, we merely borrowed it from our children.”

Thank you, and again, happy Earth Day to everyone.