Philippines: Deforestation

Massive deforestation and the need to rehabilitate the country’s degraded forests in the face of climate change tops the list of many environmental challenges faced by the Aquino administration, environmental activists said.

“Philippine forest cover has plunged to as low as 6.6 percent, and the country’s deforestation rate is now the highest in East Asia and Southeast Asia regions at 1.4 percent annually,” Clemente Bautista, national coordinator of the environmental group Kalikasan-People’s Network for the Environment, said.

The group held a forum on the 2012 state of the Philippine environment dubbed “GREENeration” last week, wherein environmental advocates listed down the most pressing challenges faced by the government.

According to Bautista, mining-affected communities continue to experience land-grabbing, militarization and other human-rights violations stemming from Mr. Aquino’s policies protecting mining investments.

The other pressing issues that need to be addressed by the Aquino administration is massive biodiversity loss and coastal marine degradation in the Philippines.