Farmer Tree Planting Barriers to Sustainable Forest Management - Smallholder Tree Growing for Rural Development and Environmental Services - page 416

20.2.1 Consequences for Legal Status and Land Tenure

for Smallholders

The term 'forest' has meanings far beyond the presence or absence of trees, and
often refers to the legal status of land, an implicit or automatic claim of ownership
or full control by the state, or a domain where specific land use rights exist. This
applies to the tropics as well as to the temperate zone, and is related to various
schemes to regulate agricultural production.
Because agroforestry is intermediate between agriculture and forestry, it often
faces challenges with this sector-based (and sector-biased) regulatory framework.
This is not restricted to Asia. In Europe until recently experiments with new forms
of agroforestry were prohibited because they created land use forms not covered by
existing regulations (Lawson et al. 2004; Dupraz et al. 2004). In the USA discus-
sion between 'forest service' and 'natural resource conservation service' over the
boundaries of their domain focus on 10 percent versus 25 percent tree cover
(http://www.pwrc.usgs.gov/brd/DefComments.htm).
In the Philippines, the legal status of “forest” lands has its roots in the so-called
Regalian Doctrine of the colonial era which vested ownership and control of all
natural resources including timber or forest lands to the state (Sajise 1998; Pulhin
2002). Timber or forest lands are defined as those with 18 percent slope and above
irrespective of whether these lands have forest cover (Presidential Decree 705
1974). In reality, only about 6 million hectares of the total “forest lands” are for-
ested (FMB 2005). The other 10 million hectares are under some form of cultiva-
tion or covered with grasslands. It is estimated that up to 20 million people, mostly
farmers, are informal settlers in these public lands. Institutionally, forest lands are
under the control and management of the Department of Environment and Natural
Resources (DENR) whose main focus is forest management, production and pro-
tection. In the past, the DENR tended to view all farming activities as destructive
of forest resources. The relationship between the DENR staff and farmers was fre-
quently adversarial. More recently, there is increasing recognition that farming
systems such as agroforestry can protect “forest” lands from degradation and help
restore environmental services such as water and climate regulation (Lasco and
Pulhin 2006). The DENR's evolving acceptance of these advantages is demon-
strated by greater participation by local farmers and other stakeholders in commu-
nity-based forest management (CBFM) projects. The most recent data available
from the DENR indicates that 690,691 households are involved in the implementa-
tion of the CBFM program covering almost 6 million hectares (FMB 2004).
In spite of this development, much confusion exists because of overlap of land
use classification maps by the DENR and those used by the Department of
Agriculture (DA) and Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR). The latter depart-
ments claim that so-called Forest Land or Protected Forest Areas under the DENR
classification are in fact (partly) Alienable and Disposable Lands which can be used
for agriculture and private ownership.