Sustainable Forest Management Create Hundreds of Thousands of Jobs

The Philippine Wood Producers Association (PWPA) estimates that sustainable forest management can create hundreds of thousands of jobs. For primary manufacturing alone, around 236,500 full-time jobs per year can be generated. From the development and primary wood processing, there are more than 500,000 jobs. PWPA also sees more vacancies created in allied industries as an effect of the resurgence of the forestry sector.

“By ensuring that we are balancing the needs of our people and the viability of our forests, we can reach a more prosperous and sustainable future for the entire country,” says Charlie H. Liu, President of the PWPA.

If we look at the data, the country has 15.81 million hectares of forestland and 63.6 percent of these are categorized as established timberland.

PWPA said that an estimated 5.02 man-days are needed for every cubic meter of falcata logs produced and harvested. Moreover, an additional 2.37 man-days are needed per cubic meter for wood processing. This means that a 100,000-hectare plantation

producing 20,000,000 cubic meters of falcata logs in a year will require 100.4 million man-days from plantation development to harvesting and hauling, which translates to about 321,800 full-time jobs created for a year.

Provinces in Visayas and Mindanao are already producing livelihoods through log, lumber, veneer, and plywood production. The provinces of Agusan del Sur, Surigao del Sur, Biliran, Bukidnon, Zamboanga del Norte, Misamis Occidental, Cotabato, among others can be taken as early success stories in sustainable forest management.

The development of communities in the aforementioned areas is a good indicator of the overall resilience of the local forestry industry.

Sustainable forest management plays an important role in building communities that depend on wood production as their primary source of income. The United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) says that it addresses the significance of forest degradation and deforestation while increasing direct benefits to people and the environment.