100 trucks worth of illegal timber seized from Philippines last old growth forests

The Sierra Madre is the last major old growth forest in the Philippines. Credit WWF-Philippines.

June 2009. An estimated 300,000 board feet of lumber was confiscated by authorities after raiding three lumber yards and log ponds in the Philippines. The lumber yards are allegedly owned and operated by prominent local politicians and businessmen.

The majority of the seized timber - mostly of white or red lawaan - had already been processed into fine-cut boards, ready for delivery to Manila. The volume of confiscated timber represents close to 100 ten-wheeler truck loads of lumber.

Since January, enforcement efforts in the hills surrounding the Northern Sierra Madre Natural Park have yielded over a million board feet of illegal timber trusses from the lush watersheds of the Sierra Madre.

Sierra Madre: Under Siege
The Northern Sierra Madre Natural Park is a 300,000+ hectare forest, watershed and wildlife sanctuary. It is arguably the largest remaining block of old-growth forest in the Philippines. Approximately 45% of all Philippine endemic plants can be found within its lush, primeval forests. Philippine eagles and Philippine crocodiles are just two of 153 recorded endemic animals which thrive within and around the park. The NSMNP is also the source of water that feeds an estimated 400,000 hectares of rice farms and corn fields that blanket the Cagayan Valley. This is Luzon's largest rice granary.

Sadly the forests of the Sierra Madre are being assaulted by unchecked illegal logging, farming and forest clearing. Previous enforcement efforts lacked the political follow-through to effectively prosecute offenders and provide alternative forms of sustainable income for displaced workers from this illegal trade. The recent seizure is a chance to make a difference - and to ensure that whoever owns the lumber yards are made answerable for the damage wrought to the Northern Sierra Madre Natural Park.

Timber Wars
The local situation is tense: over the last month, an enforcement team was ambushed by armed men using M16s and M203 grenade launchers while returning from an enforcement mission which had yielded four chainsaws and 30,000 board feet of lumber. The assailants recovered three chainsaws.

More recently, Mayor Frank Talosig of Maconacon - a strong conservation ally from a town within the Park's core zone - was ambushed in his car and shot in the neck. Luckily, the Mayor survived and no one from the team
was killed.

Endemic corruption
"The problems are systemic: politics, widespread corruption and most importantly, poverty. Many of our stakeholders have been logging in the Sierra Madre for decades and find it hard to switch livelihoods. If we don't stop this now, however, farming communities within the valley that depend on the water provided by the Sierra Madre will suffer. Destruction of the forests will destroy the watersheds. How will lowland communities secure enough water to grow rice or corn? Remember, environmental concerns have been known to spawn severe economic effects," says Ed Tongson, who oversees all of WWF's water and watershed programs in three Philippine provinces - Laguna, Romblon and Isabela.