The Reforestation Value Chain for the Philippines - Smallholder Tree Growing for Rural Development and Environmental Services - page 182

Chapter 9
The Reforestation Value Chain
for the Philippines
R.D. Lasco
Abstract The Philippines has almost 100 years of reforestation experience.
In spite of this long history, reforestation efforts in the country have not reaped
much success. In this paper, we propose that a more holistic and sustainable
strategy be adopted for reforestation in the Philippines. We propose that a chain of
key activities that add value to the whole reforestation be identified right at the start.
This “reforestation value chain” (ReV Chain) can then be used as a guide for refor-
estation projects, from design to implementation to evaluation. Our main thesis is
that the success of a reforestation project should take into account each of the com-
ponents of the value chain right from the very beginning.
The ReV Chain has several implications. First, reforestation efforts that address
only part of the chain are likely to be unsustainable. In other words, each compo-
nent of the value chain should be well thought of from the outset of a reforestation
project. Second, policy makers and stakeholders will be better informed on where
in the chain they can contribute best.
Keywords Tree plantation, forest products, production chain, value-adding activities
9.1 Introduction
The Philippines has almost 100 years of reforestation experience. In spite of this
long history, reforestation efforts in the country have not reaped much success
(Pasicolan et al. 1997; Carandang et al. 2006). Glowing statistics on paper of vast
areas supposedly reforested hardly matches what is on the ground. It is therefore
timely to ask, how can we reverse this track record?