Last 16 November, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) invited the NTFP Task Force to a meeting of the Technical Working group of the DENR and the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) on the harmonization of the implementation of indigenous peoples’ rights and environmental policies. We were asked to present our draft policy proposal on the rules and regulations on the extraction and marketing of non-timber forest products within ancestral domains. It was a rare opportunity as the said proposal met much resistance from the Forest Management Bureau of DENR. This was our chance to get the policy discussion moving at higher level within these agencies!
To stress the urgency of reducing the bureaucracy of NTFP permitting procedures for indigenous communities, I presented the NTFP industry in the Philippines, with a global focus on forest honey and rattan products. I pointed out that the Philippines is currently a net importer of honey, and because of unsupportive policies, forest honeys of the Philippines could not be transported from the provinces and garner the higher prices that Brazilian and Zambian honeys fetch on the international market. I also spoke about the achievements of the Cebu furniture companies which contribute considerably to the uS$300 million generated by the Philippine furniture industry; 30% of which is comprised of rattan materials. I highlighted the nouveau rattan Voyage Bed of movie actor Brad Pitt designed by internationally renowned and multi-awarded designer Kenneth Cobonpue, a native of Cebu City. That got the room stirring!
Finally, after getting the room excited about the industry prospects, I got down to the real issues and bottlenecks of Philippine policy on NTFPs which are hurdles to the development of NTFP industries. These include the lengthy permitting system, inappropriate monitoring systems for NTFP resources, high forest charges and the disconnect between policies of different government agencies (the reason why we made the draft policy to begin with), among other issues. I gave the recommendations of the NTFP-Task Force on the harmonization of policies, the fast-tracking of NTFP permits, the streamlining of requirements, the reduction of forest taxes and the need to explore more cost-effective, participatory NTFP monitoring systems.
I ended with the salient features of the proposed policy on NTFP harvesting and marketing which would recognise community generated resource use plans as permits for NTFP harvesting and trade once duly validated by the DENR. Executive Director of the NCIP, Ms. Rosalino Bistoyong was the first to support the NTFP Task Force’s call to form a policy working committee between the two agencies to come up with policy recommendations in support of NTFP harvesting and trade of indigenous people. undersecretary Teresita Castillo swiftly formed a working group of members from both agencies and invited NTFP-TF to join in the policy discussions. She demanded that within 3 weeks, the said working committee should present their recommendations.
Let’s hope this responsive and progressive act by both agencies will finally lead to more community supportive resource use policies that would help generate greater incomes for indigenous forest-based peoples!
The author can be reached at crissyg33[AT]yahoo.com (replace [AT] with @)
