Public education in forest conservation
Natividad, Lilibeth J. 1987 Natividad, L. J. (1987). Public education in forest conservation. In AMIC Workshop on Social Marketing and Public Education Campaigns : Baguio, May 18‑26, 1987. Singapore: Asian Mass Communication Research and Information Centre.https://hdl.handle.net/10356/86125
Downloaded on 15 May 2021 04:07:27 SGTPublic Education In Forest Conservation
By
Lilibeth J Natividad
Public Education in Forest Conservation
Background/Rationale
It is said that development may be introduced through (1) a slow, natural course of history such as what characterized the
modernization of most Western countries in the world; (2) a forceful change as in wars and coup d' etats where the emerging rulers impose new patterns of behavior or (3) through active involvement in nation-wide building of a broad base of masses as has been adapted by"the majority of developing countries of the world.
The last course requires, among other things, a heightened flow of information to make the people more widely and quickly aware of the needs of the country and of the things they can do to meet these needs. Thus, information becomes a major determinant in bringing
about the people's decision to participate in nation-building. Forests play a vital role in nation-building. It provides ecological, economic and aesthetic values to the nation. At its most basic function, it ensures the physical survival of the country. How-ever, the task of conserving and renewing our forests is long and dif-ficult, requiring massive outlay of resources, both fiscal and human. Indeed, the government alone cannot rebuild our forests. Citizen parti-cipation is crucial to its success-both in observing laws and regulations in forest conservation and helping regreen denuded forest lands.
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But citizenry participation can only be possible if the people
are aware of the urgency of the problem and what they can do to help solve it.
In the context of the role asked of communication in contri-buting to the kind of change that must occur in forestry , the task.to first establish a climate of change and readiness for change among the people for participation in the great effort of forest conser-vation and renewal, and teach new skills to the people in managing their forest resources.
This communication task, however, must viewed in the context of the following situational analysis:
1. Rapid dwindling of forest resources. „, . , , . ,, .
— c a The rapid dwindling
of forest resources is a world-wide phenomenon. As early as in 1980 Newsweek Magazine reported:
"Two-thirds of Latin America's original forest is gone or seriously depleted. Half of Africa's wood-lands have disappeared. Thailand has lost one quar-ter of its forest in the last ten years, and the Philippines one seventh in the last five. Spreading patches of the Amazon, Central Africa and the Hima-layan foothills have taken on the moonscape look of North America and the Middle East, both of which once boasted verdant stands of trees."
Four basic causes of forest denudation have been cited. These are slash-and-burn agriculture (or kaingin), demand for wood for use as fuel, cattle grazing and commercial logging. In the Asia-Pacific region alone, a joint study by the United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) reveals that excessive commercial logging
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-and slash--and=burn agriculture denude 5,000,000 hectares of forests everyday. The same study projected a decrease in deforestation for Thailand, the Philippines, Brunei, and Laos, but only because forest lands have become inaccessible.
Although nearly two-thirds of the world's hardwood harvest come from Southeast Asia, logging has been so extensive that virtually all the lowland forests in Malaysia and the Philippines will be gone by 1990.
The Philippines, like most Third World countries, faces this world-wide problem. Of the archipelago's total land area of 30 million hectares, 15.5 or 53% make up the country's forest lands. The rest are alienable and disposable lands having an approximate arectof 14.5 million hectares. Seventy percent or 10.8 million hectares of the country's
forest lands are covered with timber stands while 30% or 4.7 million hectares are no longer covered with commercial timber and have yet
to be classified as to its final use. Based on the BFD Philippine Forestry statistics from 1972 to 1981, the conversion of forests lands into nonrforest uses occurs at a yearly average of about 379,000 hectares. As a result, actual forest were significantly reduced during this period by approximately 3.418 million hectares or about 2.3 times the size of Palawan. This is primarily attributed to increasing human demand for plantation, cultivated cropland, urban and other uses. Tree species are also abundant and diverse, with 3,800 known varieties.
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-Only about 300 of these species are presently used, mostly the popular dipterocarp trees. The rest are left untouched or simply left to rot particularly in logging operations. A number of flora species in the forest are, however, on the brink of extinction.
At present, 5 million hectares of rangelands are devoted to pasture grazing but are characterized as marginal in productivity, prone to soil erosion and fire and located in hinterlands. Most of these grasslands have been opened up as a result of shifting cultiva-tion and abusive land exploitacultiva-tion. The neglect and abuse of water-sheds in the country have resulted in silted dams and rivers, catas-trophic floods during rainy season and recession of water level in reservoirs.
Of the 42 proclaimed watershed reservations with a total area of 395,419 hectares, 15 are tagged as critical in terms of the degree of denudation and inadequate capability to support hydroelectric power and irrigation works.
The country has 57 national parks, covering a total of 381,233 hectares. However, only three national parks are given priority atten-tion due to lack of funds.
Wildlife resource in the Philippines is known for its diversity. 22 species are presently rare and endangered while a few others may already be extinct. This is attributed to destruction of wildlife habitat and excessive and indiscriminative hunting for trade, food, and recreation primarily abetted by inadequate enforcement of laws
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-In sum, the rapid and widespread depletion of the country's forest resources has been primarily caused by extensive and indiscriminate logging, Kaingin, forest fires, improper grazing and establishment of agricultural and human settlements.
Resources, however, cannot be isolated:.from its milieu, being inherently pare of che larger environment it is situated in. Thus, forest management problems and issues must be viewed in the light of other ecological, geographical, socio-cultural and institutional factors which directly or indirectly affect the resource and vice-versa,
2. Complexity- and interdependence of- ecosystem. There are, for instance, ecological laws or SYStems inherent in such a resource. The forest resource is only a part of the ecosystem. The complexity of the ecosystem in its death and renewal processess as well as the inter-relationships of animal and plant Species and some non-living matters compel the need to provide unique snd>individualized5treat-? ,
ment for these resources and,-atvtfte^8ame;st$^
to conserving them. Relative to this, .the interdependence of the
diffe-rent forest resources such as land,; fcunber^^tratei?^^ -X-.i-requires a balanced utilization of ttoeiforest^envirdnijjenti taad4i-; : ?g \ ;
tion, any degree of exploitation - of fbres'ts^^^i^r^^t^^for^fltr en*:5 _
vironment at varying impact levels, ranging frojttxt^ie moderate effect - '. of selective logging to the extremely destructive'clear-cutting*
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-3'. Geographical and infrastructure factors. Geography it another significant factort The island-system of the country,
where each island is ecologically independent of each other,
de-mands thar st ieasi 40 percent of the land area of each island should be under forest cover. The receding of the forest into remote
hinter-lands not accessible by dependable road networks also hampers the pace of forest management activities.
4. Socio-economic and cultural factors. Rapid population growth, inequities in land ownership and widespread rural poverty have combined to put tremendous pressure, on forest lands and resources to provide wood, fuel and food, and likewise to meet the increasing demand for land for human settlements.
Certain cultural norms and attitudes such as communal owner-ship of lands practice? by some, tribal communities and the perceived inexhaustibility of forest resources further serve to complicate the situation.
It is thus in this larger context of a resource set against a unique milieu that forest denudation in the Philippines should be viewed.
In this light, the task of conserving whatever remains of the country's forest resources involve the confrontation of a host of task: regreening vast tracts of highly denuded forest lands vis-a-vis the high cost of reforestation and the slow growth process of trees;
filling in the dearth of fresh data to guide policy-making, program planning and implementation; containing widespread kaingin spawned
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-by rural poverty and lack of alternative methods to satisfy the need for wood; fuelwood, and food in the rural areas, instituting effec-tive controls over forest utilization to encourage seleceffec-tive logging, multiple-use of resources, waste recycling and market development of log exports, delineating clearly the functions and jurisdiction of the various agencies involved in forest development; and eliciting the participation of the private sector in the overall forest conservation effort.
5. Institutional factors. It is primarily the Bureau .of Forest Development, one of the three bureaus under the Ministry of Natural Re-sources, which is tasked with such responsibilities.
Under the Revised Forestry Code of the Philippines (Presidential Decree 705 dated May 19, 1975), it is mandated to conserve and develop the country's forest resources. These include exercising jurisdiction over all forest lands and regulating, maintaining and protecting existing forest resources.
Other governmental agencies and private organizations comprise the institutional machinery which are engaged in the pursuit of forest conservation.
The Presidential Committee on Wood Industries Development (PCWID),
a consultative body under the Office of the President, assists in the
formulation of policies and plans concerning the wood industry.
The Forest Research Institute (FORI) undertakes production and
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-The University of the Philippines at Los Banos (UPLB), Laguna conducts formal education in forestry and provides input to policy formulation.
Other agencies with forest-related activities are the National Irrigation Administration (NLA) which undertakes reforestation pro-jects within irrigation propro-jects, the National Power Corporation
which has jurisdiction over certain watersheds. Private organizations include the Manila Seedling Bank Foundation, Haribon Foundation and the Wildlife Foundation of the Philippines.
The birth of the Bureau of Forest Development from the 1972 merger of three forestry offices carried with it the stigma of the public images of these offices. It is an image that is still true today. BFD is characterized by high visibility, Manifestations of forest denudation include both visual and media forms. These include denuded mountains, soil erosion, silted lakes and riverbeds and cli-mactic changes such as catastrophic floods and droughts. Reports of illegal logging, kaingin, forest fires and other forms of forest destruction continue to be reported in the media. This points out for the need to report performance as part of public accountability.
A study of news releases on BFD in 1979 showed that media pub-licity was significantly negative or unfavorable, with public opinion rallying against such issues as lack of integrity and performance, especially in the areas of law enforcement, fce,g» illegal'logging, timber smuggling, continued logging, log export, etc.), reforestation
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-(survival rate, slow pace, critical watersheds, etc), licensing policies and procedures (red tape, graft and corruption, etc.) This results in low credibility of the BFD as an institution.
The inclusion of the citizenry in the responsibility of forest conservation and development through mandatory and voluntary measures since 1974, and publics experience of floods, droughts, brownouts and wa ter shortage partly caused by dwindling forest resources
have brought about growing concern for forest conservation. However, this growing concern was not translated into public participation in forestry programs such as the Citizens Tree Planting Program (PD 1153).
The Program
Objectives. Based on the above situational analysis, the objectives were formulated towards first increasing public knowledge on the policies, services and performance in forest conservation. It was necessary to establish the credibility of the institution prior to successfully gaining public support and participation in forest conservation. It is also premised on the fact that a government agency is obliged to report to its citizens and effective forest conservation requires citizen participation.
The objectives were formulated thus:
1. To increase public knowledge on the policies, services and and performance in forest conservation;
2. To gain public support and participation in forest conser-vation.
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-Time frame for the program was set 1981-86.
Target Audiences! With these objectives in mind, the target audiences were categorized into two. (a) the general public (b) institutional publics consisting of policymakers, forest users, and press and
employees. These institutional publics in turn were stratified further. Policymakers included those in government, industry and business whose cooperation was vital to forest conservation. Forest-users were largely two-types: the large-scale forest user such as timber licenses, pasture lessees, tree-farm lessees, and other permittees; small-scale forest users included kaingineros, rural communities around or near water-sheds, parks, wildlife sanctuaries, etc.
The members of the press was regarded as a special public owing to the significant role the mass media played in information dissemination.
Employees or personnel were also regarded as vital in the delivery of services to the public and so was made part of the institutional public.
Strategies. Achieving these objectives required taking into consideration non-communication variables. The dwindling state of the country's forest resources would not be arrested simply by communicating so to the people. Substantial structural changes should be initiated for communication to be truly effective. These were identified as follows:
1. increasing access of the rural poor to natural resources through integration of all socially oriented forest development programs,
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-enterprises, development of community forest reserves for the pre-ferential use of the rural poor, and acceleration of research and development on adaptive and intermediate technologies to create greater income opportunities.
2. sustaining the capability of forest resources for self-renewal by optimizing wealth from renewable and non-renewable re-sources and by spreading the benefits to the greatest member of people at the longest time possible through continuous forest inven-tory, development of new and efficient resource disposition and allo-cation strategies, rehabilitation of depleted forest areas, mainte-nance of adequate forest reserves, and protection of endangered species of flora and fauna.
3. instituting administrative reforms that will minimize bureau-cratic red tape and assure simplified and efficient regulatory proce-dures .
4. attention to other non-communication variables such as infras-tructure inputs (roads, bridges, water facilities) and social services to the community, particularly in social forestry projects.
The communication strategies were identified as follows: 1. Popular participation - local participation in planning and execution of development activities, deemphasizing central planning at the institutional level, stressing the need for a diagnostic stage in which the users "symptomatic needs are analyzed and interpreted,"
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-non-directive external help, importance of the use of internal
resources and the belief that "user-initiated change is the strongest," participation of target beneficiaries in program planning resulting in development program responsive to farmer's needs.
2. Uniform development message: formulation of a consistent and central institutional message that would shift from regulatory to deve-lopmental the communication thrust of the Bureau.
3. Interpersonal • communication; greater harnessing o-f group communi-cation in view of the interpersonalistic, populous Filipino Society
and its being a labor-intensive strategy vis-a-vis the capital-inten-sive mass media orientation; identification of opinion leaders among the disadvantaged segment of the total audience, and concentration of development efforts on them, the use of change agents who are selected from among the disadvantaged to work for development agencies in con-tacting their homophilous peers.
4. Appropriate media: utilization of appropriate, low-cost media whose content are relevant to the target audience.
5. Organizational restructuring: ' integration of all communication activities in one office to be duplicated in the field, particularly at the dist rict leveL.
6. Conduct of research: to ascertain public opinion, effectiveness of communication programs, its communication problems and the impact of current social and economic changes in public relationships.
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-I. Implementing Projects/Activites
The manner of implementation was oriented towards objectives, in a management-by-objectives approach in order to be able to later evaluate whether the objectives were achieved or not. The broad commu-nication strategies were used as guide, implementing activities also were strictly aligned towards the target audiences.
Thus, towards the objective of increasing public knowledge in forest conservation, the following were identified as the implementing activities.
1. Conduct of Public Information Campaign utilizing the mass media in conveying, interpreting and clarifying vital information to the public such as its policies, services, developments and performance in forest conservation with the central message: "Were doing our best, but we need your help." Content and timing were synchronized with other fores-try institutions for maximum impact.
2. Arbor Week Celebration to enlist public participation. 3. Organization of a National Forestry Communication Committee
composed of the primary forestry institutions to pool forestry information for greater publicity impact; and integrate the contributions of other institutions and support in meeting forestry communication needs. Linkages with conservation-oriented organizations were maintained,
notable of which is the creation of Wildlife Foundation of the Philippines. 4. Maintenance of working relations with the press on various aspects of forest conservation and tap them as effective channels for communicating
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-forestry information.
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5. Investigation of new research to include public
misconcep-•x.
tions, media content, analysis and post-survey on effectiveness of the campaign as an evaluation measure.
In pursuit of the second objective of gaining public support and participation in forest conservation activities:
1. For policymakers: organization of a Policy makers Relations Committee to facilitate closer coordination among agencies concerned in the implementation of development projects;, special communications like Anr.ua 1 Reports, regular <i?_rect loaii of new policies, forest situa-tion*-::" reports, etc.; «• i«iien~e anudy on the characterise'.-.a or various policymakers.
2. For forest users classified as large—scale: creation of Forest ueers Relations Co^urit'cee to facilitate dialogue and regular inflow of representative opinion from the various publics so that policies and operations may be kept compatible with diverse needs and vows of various institutional publics; Ciciaen's Action Center to provide construction device for the direct expression of public complaints and sentiments, including franking priveiege for those who will write the bFD; and direct hotline system LO central office: special communication directed or, filling information gaps o£ target au.'iieac^s such as rules and regulations on BFDk Licensing procedures;
regular newsletter, etc.
For forest-users classified as small-scale, organization of an association of small-scale forest users (mostly, kaingineros) to help
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-target program beneficiaries clarify their forest problems, organize
their resources and make th> se outside the community aware of their needs; adoption of a community-based program using the problem-solving model as part of the bottoms-up planning process which emphasizes need for a diagnostic stage in which communties are stimulated into identifying what type of natural resource development is needed in their village, developing and executing their solutions to problems; training of extension agents geared towards encouraging self-development planv ning and execution in lieu of centralized planning, harnessing of
low-cost, appropriate media to disseminate innovations and technical forestry information such as holding of a regular program for forest-based communities, development of use of communication aids in extension work such as flip charts, comics, technical brochure series, etc. rese-arch into investigation appropriateness /effectiveness of communication materials; beneficiaries' level of knowledge, attitude, language and
their farming/harvesting technology,communication chamois through which forestry information reach farmers.
Monitoring and evaluation procedures consisted of documenting print media publicity, regular reporting system, standard measure of performance per activity or expected output, etc.
Implementation
With regards to policy inputs, three basic policy themes were laid down (1) "Resources for the People" to promote equitable sharing of natural resources benefits, (2) "Resources for the Future" to ensure
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-its enjoyment by generation to come, and (3) "Regulation by objective" to institute administrative reforms for effective policy implementation. Aside from the integration of all socially-oriented forest development into the Social Forestry Program and distribution of forest land
stewardship certificates to a greater number of beneficiaries, the policy remained largely on paper.
The implementation of public information campaign successfully projected the developments in forest conservation. However, this was offset by deficiencies in policy and operations which were continued
to be reported in the press. Press relations, owing to the high visibility of the agency consumed greater time than initially planned. Good rapport with the press was established, facilitating information dissemination.
The Arbor Decade Celebration gradually built citizenry involvement in several endeavors such as in regreening of subdivisions in Metro Manila (Green Our City Movement), preserving the three major parks in the country (Conserve our Parks Movement) and informing the citizenry about the need
to conserve our forests (Inform the People Movement). A documentary on forest conservation was made available.to regional offices for showing in the provinces. The film later won the Catholic Mass Media Award and Silver Award at the Berlin Agricultural Film Festival.
The National Forestry Communication was bogged down after exploratory discussions due to petty administrative problems and lack of cooperation from some participating agencies.
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-Research activities were largely turned down due to budgetary constraints, with the exemption of an institutional logo study.
Channels of communication with policymakers were kept open through top level access; Annual Reports were regularly published and sent; audience study was limited to identification and function
delineation.
Dialogue with forest user associations was carried out on a regular basis until.it fizzled out two years later due to political in fighting.
The Citizens Action Center was installed but later was discontinued primarily because it was perceived by participating divisions as additional job, a feedback system on their performance, etc. Special communications such as primer on rules and regulations and licensing procedures were put out.
The implementation of activities oriented towards small-scale forest users consisted of holding of barangay meetings for consulta-tion purposes but not for self development planning; .the re-trai-ning of change agents in helping people grow in awareness and parti-cipation, existing ratio programs were tapped thru radio broadcasters associations, publication of comics and technical brochures were carried out.
Research activity was limited to census of kaingineros.
• The communication program for internal public was carried out through creation of a Personnel Welfare and Development Committee (PWDC)
t o p l a n and oversee the i m p l e m e n t a t i o n of a c o n t i n u i n g program of p e r -s o n n e l development, two-way communication w i t h a c c e -s -s t o management wa-s made a v a i l a b l e , i n c l u d i n g n e w s l e t t e r and need assessment s u r v e y ; and
BFD Employee Handbook.
A n a l y s i s
Over-all, the communication program was comprehensive, addressed the relevant target audiences, emphasized the importance of non-commu-nication variables for the success of the program and adhered to the concept of development as a widely participatory process of gaining economic and social benefits, including equality, freedom and other valued activities for the majority of the people. In addition,
the existing visibility of forest conservation was harnessed towards gaining public support and participation.
However, the communication program was launched at a time when political will at the highest level was bankrupt and leadership by example was non-existent. Government programs generally suffered from lack of credibility. On one hand, the people were being asked to plant trees; on the other, the government allowed indiscriminate extensive logging by a priveleged few. The enforcement of forestry laws applied only to those who cannot buy their way out of legal difficulty.
Political commitment must be shown in policy and policy must be practiced.
Such lack of political will also'encompassed extension agents whodid not show a sense of mission about their task and who were not selected from among the disadvantaged and were not as effective in working if they were homophilous with their peers.
Another weakness is the newness of the communication function at that time, making internal acceptance another problem to work at. In addition, the program needed its own plan to sell itself. A plan to sell the plan is often forgotten in the planning process.
Harnessing of creative talent vital to popular acceptance of messages was perceived but administrative procedures made hiring of agencies difficult.
Thus ,in the context of the larger environment, it is not surprising that a good program did not make so much of a difference. It only reflected the larger milieu of the day: a lack of a consensus of a philosophy of development or a national ideology (.or perhaps, the wrong concept of it), lack of national communication policies to guide implementation efforts, prevalence of center-to-periphery flow of information and in planning development programs, irrelevant con-tent of mass madia and absence of press freedom.
However, with the restoration of freedom and democracy, the initial gains wrought by the program will not be lost if it will be continued.
