By Kyle Aristophere T. Atienza, Reporter
THE government’s new investor-focused forest-management program will allow participants to pursue various business objectives like wood production and ecotourism on allocations of up to 40,000 hectares each for tenures of 25 years.
The Sustainable Forest Land Management Agreement (SFLMA), which offers 1.2 million hectares of forest land for private investment in the first year, is expected to boost wood production and renewable energy use, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) said.
Participants will sign production-sharing agreements to use forest land for ventures in agroforestry, forest plantation, pasture and livestock development, ecotourism, renewable energy, and carbon offset projects.
Individuals and peoples’ organizations may also participate in the forest management program with their allocations limited to 50 hectares and 1,000 hectares, respectively.
The 25-year contract is renewable for another 25 years.
The DENR program covers all forest land in the public domain, particularly denuded areas.
For sites with less than 50% natural forest cover, the proponent will be responsible for reforestation to bring the forest cover to at least 50%,” according to DENR Administrative Order No. 22.
“Exempted from this are developments that require open areas such as grazing, timber production, renewable energy etc.,” it added.
“The program eliminates the fragmented application processes and overlapping requirements that have historically discouraged potential investors and delayed project implementation,” Environment Secretary Raphael P.M. Lotilla said.
The new program supersedes eight forest management instruments such as the Integrated Forest Management Agreement, Community-Based Forest Management Agreement, Forest Land Grazing Management Agreement, Socialized Industrial Forest Management Agreement, Forest Land Use Agreement, Forest Land Use Agreement for Tourism, Special Land Use Permit, and the Community-Based Forest Management Agreement.
Under SFLMA, participants are exempt from logging bans and may export without restriction.
Ray Thomas Kabigting, assistant director at the Forest Management Bureau of the DENR, said the new forest management program will help the Philippines become a net wood exporter.
Domestic wood demand hit 6 million cubic meters in 2024 “and we imported 85% of that,” he noted.
Of the domestic demand, only 2% was serviced by public plantations, and 13% by private plantations, he added.
“On top of that, we are also prioritizing renewable energy within forest land because we support the National Renewable Energy Plan of the government,” he added.
The user fee structure is P1,200 per hectare per year for forestry/agroforestry ventures, P300 per hectare per year for grazing, P85,000 per hectare per year for energy use, and P7,200 per hectare per year for special uses like ecotourism.
Asked how much the government expects to earn from the program, Mr. Kabigting noted that user-fee revenue in 2024 from previous forest management projects amounted to P600 milllion.
“This is quite low compared to the area of coverage which is around 1.4 million hectares,” he said.
“With the rationalization of user fees, we expect to have an improvement in terms of our revenue contribution to the government,” he added.
“The returns to the economy should not only be seen in terms of the revenue but also of the productivity that is going to be unleashed as a consequence,” Mr. Lotilla said.
Timber, rattan, and bamboo are among the main targets for forest plantation businesses.
For agroforestry operations, the target crops are fruit trees, cacao, coffee, and vegetables.