Rattan and Resin from the Tropical Forests of Palawan, Philippines

by World Wildlife Fund - Philippines

What's at Stake?

The island of Palawan is often described as the last natural frontier in the Philippines, as it contains some of the country's largest remaining areas of primary rain forest and some of its more intact and diverse coral reef systems. Palawan has an abundance of unique flora and fauna and accounts for a significant portion of the biological resources of the Philippines. Palawan is also home to a complex mosaic of indigenous peoples whose territories, natural resources, and cultures face growing threats from legal and illegal destructive logging and fishing practices, mining activities, and the rapid encroachment of immigrants from neighboring islands.

To counter these threats, the project team is developing new non-timber product (NTFP) enterprises and alternatives to the traditional marketing system. The project's short-term focus will be on rattan, almaciga resin and honey, but over time it will also explore the potential for marketing other NTFPs.

The success of community-based conservation and enterprise programs like the one on Palawan requires that the local communities first have control of their resources. Hence, we are working to obtain the most binding certification of ancestral land rights for the two pilot project sites -- the Certificate of Ancestral Domain Claim (CADC). This is a critical starting point to establish the credibility of local resource management in general.

	1997 Update
Successes and Challenges
"OK...So What?"

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