Biodiversity Conservation Network
14. Forest Fruits from Central Luzon
Location: Kalahan Reserve, Nueva Vizcaya, Philippines Partners: Kalahan Education Foundation (KEF)
Nueva Vizcaya State Institute of Technology (NVSIT)
University of the Philippines, Los Baños
Upland NGO Assistance CommunityBCN Funding: $321,190 Partner Contribution: $94,936 Grant Period: March 1, 1994 - February 28, 1997
What's at Stake?
The primary and secondary forests in the Kalahan Reserve in Nueva Vizcaya, support diverse plant and animal species as well as 550 Ikalahan families who live within the Reserve. The resources of the Reserve, which include nearly 15,000 hectares of ancestral land, are managed by the indigenous people under an agreement with the Philippine Government. Compared to other localities these resources are well managed. Nevertheless, there are still threats from road building and over-harvesting of certain non-timber forest products.
To address these threats, the Kalahan Education Foundation (KEF), a local people's organization formed by the Ikalahan Tribe, is implementing an integrated program of Community Forest Management and non-timber forest product extraction (NTFP) extraction. Enterprise activities include the production of jams and jellies from forest fruits, cultivation of orchids and mushrooms and the manufacture of furniture. In addition, the local communities are undertaking Timber Stand Improvement in the secondary forests. KEF is thus diversifying the community's economic base by adding value to the resources and developing alternative markets for their products.
The project site is formally recognized by the Government of the Philippines and the project has played an important part in developing government policies for local management of such resources.
The KEF and the Ikalahan people are developing systems for monitoring and evaluating the status of the resources within the reserve and ways to assess the impact of the economic activities on their resources over time.
1997 Accomplishments
Newspaper stories and some television news coverage has continued to improve sales of the Mountain Fresh products. A new pineapple jam made from local fruit was initiated, but production was low so KEF did not market it. A new recipe for "Pink Lemonade" should be ready to market in the last quarter of 1997 and a series of low sugar products are in production as well.
The communities have integrated the harvesting of wild fruits into their social systems by developing informal consolidators and delivery systems. The number of families involved continues to increase but monitoring the number is difficult because the presence of the consolidator limits the direct contact of the Processing Center with the harvesters.
Some changes in personnel have increased productivity. The staff working on the mushroom project changed, resulting in great improvement in the output. The oyster mushrooms are produced regularly. Shitaki production, which is based on alder wood culled from the secondary forests, has begun, although it is not yet ready for harvest.
The personnel in the Floriculture Project (e.g., raising orchids) also changed and the work was divided between the laboratory and the field. We brought in Ebit, a woman with many years of experience in the food processing center, which exercises strict sterility and quality control, to take charge of the laboratory, with very good results. The community awareness to the dangers of harvesting wild orchids and the importance of sustaining the resource has also been greatly increased.
Monitoring and analysis of the impact of the extractive activities for the forest fruits was completed. It appears that the greatest amount being extracted from any raw material is 10%, of forest production which will have no negative impact on sustainability.
The inventory of standing wood in the secondary forests has also been completed. The staff is now working out systems to improve the forests and quantify the amount of lumber that can be utilized without damage to any part of the environment.
The communities have also become more aware of the value of the sanctuaries in maintaining a healthy environment including natural pest management. The food web seminar, a participatory approach to teaching ecology, is becoming an ever more popular and effective tool in improving awareness to the value of biodiversity.
Success Stories
We have found that food web seminars are an excellent way to facilitate community understanding of how their local ecosystems function. In each community, the food web seminar comes up with a unique observation. In one, they observed the need to protect the rat snakes in order to reduce the rats, which have become horrible pests in the food production fields. Our pastor was hiking with some young people shortly after one seminar where this observation was made and they saw a rat snake crossing the trail. Because of their fear of green vipers, the villagers previously had a habit of killing any and all snakes that they saw. This time, no attempt whatsoever was made to kill the snake.
When the Kalahan Reserve was established 22 years ago, the elders set aside 800 hectares to protect the watersheds. A short time later they agreed that the watersheds would also be sanctuaries for indigenous wildlife. During the biodiversity analysis in the Kalahan Reserve sponsored by the BCN, KEF staff discovered at least 30 species of birds and ten species of other animals, mostly bats and reptiles, that are either on the CITES or the IUCN list of endangered species. Through the food web seminars the people have seen that many of those species are important to pest management in the area because many of the birds are predators. They also discovered that several of the bats were responsible for seed distribution and germination of the trees that are important to the watersheds, so they voluntarily enlarged the sanctuary to 2,000 hectares and are working to improve the nesting sites and food supplies for the important dispersal species.
Challenges
The study of indigenous fauna in the area is far from finished and every new analysis reveals more interesting discoveries. The KEF staff has discovered a small stand of Pistacia chinensis, a very valuable tree that is seriously endangered. They are now analyzing how they can improve the regeneration of that and several other trees and orchids within the Reserve.
The battle against the construction of a highway through the sanctuaries continues. A few misguided political leaders are pushing for it but the congressman and mayor have been helping us improve the sanctuary and promote the wildlife of the area. The momentum in favor of protection is building and will probably be enough to outweigh the pressures in favor of the highway.
Another KEF project, an aviary, is being constructed on the campus of the Kalahan Academy. Upon completion, the government officials in charge will strictly implement the law against the commerce in wild birds. The birds that they rescue or confiscate will be turned over to the aviary, which will serve as a rehabilitation center. Many of them will be re-released into the forests. The aviary will also serve as a training center for mountain people and others and a few species may be propagated within the aviary for commercial use to support the program. The aviary is not being supported by the BCN program but the motive behind it came out of the BCN inventory and extension work.
A very recent challenge has come from a vegetable processing company that has entered the area and promises to supply seeds, chemicals and technologies to the local farmers to produce vegetables; these they guarantee to purchase. They are requesting the farmers to use chemical fertilizers and pesticides, which could cause damage to the environment. The economic pressures are extremely strong on the farmers to join the program. This challenge is so recent, the KEF has not yet decided how to confront it.
One of the biggest challenges is to encourage the community and staff to continue the Timber Stand Improvement program within the secondary forests so that the culled timber from that program will provide an additional steady income for the population. The lead time for this program is much greater than the other programs but the expected benefits are also much greater.
Author: Pastor Rice is the Executive Officer of the Kalahan Educational Foundation, Inc. He has been working in the Philippines since 1956 and has lived in the mountain village of Imugan since 1965. He was born in Corvallis, Oregon, USA. He is a member of the Board of Directors of Association of Foundations (AF), Upland NGO Assistance Committee (UNAC), Philippine Association for Intercultural Development (PAFID), Upland Development Ventures (UDV) and consultant in the Philippine Council for Sustainable Development (PCSD). He is married to Esther Bernham and he has 5 children, 15 wards, 10 grandchildren.
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