Forestry

About six months after the government issued an executive order calling for a moratorium on the cutting and harvesting of timber in national and residual forests, the country’s wood industry is complaining about a number of problems that have started to affect their profitability.

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippine Wood Producers Association (PWPA) is urging the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) to start the evaluation of operations of all wood producers to enable a more realistic review of the wood industry’s request for the lifting of the total log ban.

Northern Mindanao tree planters and wood processors are asking the Environment Department to return the one-year supply contract for “tree planted species” instead of the five-year supply contract mandated by Executive Order (EO) 23 or the moratorium on logging.

A GROUP of local wood producers on Tuesday called on the government’s attention over the influx of substandard and smuggled imported plywood from China.

The government’s moratorium on timber harvesting has started to take its toll on furniture makers as sawmill companies scaled down operations by trimming the working period to four instead of five days.

NATIVIDAD, Pangasinan , Philippines  – It’s summer, and expect some parts of the country’s vanishing forests to go up in smoke because of fires.

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippine Exporters Confederation, Inc. (PhilExport) has called for the immediate suspension of the implementation of the total log ban, citing dire consequence to the lucrative wood-based industries.

MANILA, Philippines – Wood producers holding industrial forest management agreements (IFMAs) or timber license agreements (TLAs) are appealing to the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) to give them more time for an orderly phase-out of their logging activities in natural and residual forests included in their contracts.

MANILA, Philippines – The grim projection is out: At the rate the Philippines is ravaging its natural resources, it world be the first Southeast Asian country to lose its forests within the first half of the present century.

MANILA, Philippines – Once a lavish exporter of logs. Now a heavy importer of this wood product. Also, a big chunk of the country’s lumber and other forest products, on top of the imported logs, is now sourced from Asian and Pacific countries (Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, China, Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea) and…

EXPORTERS have asked the government to lift the total log ban, which they claimed was injurious to wood-based export sectors.

2011 is the International Year of Forests. Foresters the world over should be rejoicing that the global community is recognizing the importance of the world’s forests and what they can give us, but the Philippine professional foresters are united in their stand against the total log ban (25 years in the Senate Bill proposed by…

MANILA, Philippines –  Environment Secretary Ramon Paje said Malacañang’s recent order for a moratorium on the cutting and harvesting of timber in natural and residual forests will not affect the country’s wood supply.

THE forest industry and the academe on Tuesday warned that the worsening problem of illegal logging will escalate if the government will not repeal and fine-tune Executive Order 23, Malacañang’s total logging ban.

MANILA, Philippines –  A total log ban will result in the loss of P30 billion worth of investments and the dislocation of 650,000 workers nationwide, the Society of Filipino Foresters Inc. said.

THE government has canceled up to 500 inactive mining permits and suspended all large-scale mining applications until the end of the year while it reviews all pending and inactive claims, Environment Secretary Ramon Paje said Friday.

MANILA, Philippines – President Aquino yesterday declared an indefinite log ban all over the country.

MANILA, Philippines – The Society of Filipino Foresters Inc. (SFFI) is opposed to the imposition of a total log ban as proposed by Senate Bills 1360 and 21.72.

THE country stands to lose as much as P30 billion in revolving investments and about $1 billion worth of value-added wood products exports if the government implements a logging ban.

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippine Wood Producers Association (PWPA) appealed yesterday to President Aquino to reconsider a total log ban, warning of its social impact on over two million people directly and indirectly working in the wood industry.

MANILA, Philippines – President Benigno Aquino III is considering a total log ban in selected areas following floods and landslides that hit several provinces. But if it were up to climate change experts, a total log ban is not the key to stop landslides.

MANILA, Philippines –  Lawmakers yesterday supported the call for a total log ban in the country.

MANILA, Philippines – President Aquino is mulling the implementation of a total log ban nationwide following the massive flooding and landslides that hit several areas in the country.

MANILA, Philippines – Environment Secretary Horacio Ramos yesterday called for meaningful multi-sectoral participation in forest management, which will enable the country to achieve self-sufficiency in its forest product requirements.

Over the last century, the forest area in the Philippines has fallen from 21 million hectares in 1900 to just less than 6 million in 1996 (DENR 2002). As recorded, large area of forestlands were already converted to tree plantation, mining and marginal upland agriculture which gave a 200,000 hectares per year deforestation rate in…