PHILIPPINES

| Last updated July 14, 2014

The once spectacular primary forests of the Philippines are now a relic of a bygone era. What little primary forest does remain exists on the island of Palawan, the last sanctuary for the Palawan eagle.

Between 1990 and 2005 the Philippines lost a third of its forest cover, according to FAO estimates, but the country's deforestation is down since its peak in the 1980s and 1990s.

Widespread logging was responsible for much of the historical forest loss in the Philippines. Despite government bans on timber harvesting following severe flooding in the late 1980s and early 1990s, illegal logging continues today.

After temporarily lifting the log export ban in the late 1990s, the government has increasingly tried to crack down on timber smuggling and forest degradation. Additional threats to Philippine forests come from legal and illegal mining operations — which also cause pollution and have been linked to violent conflict — agricultural fires, collection of fuelwood, and rural population expansion. In recent years, deforestation has been increasingly blamed for soil erosion, river siltation, flooding, and drought; environmental awareness is now rising in the country.

Environmentalists in the Philippines now fear that plantation agriculture, especially oil palm, could emerge as the newest threat to remaining forests.

The continuing disappearance of Filipino wildlands is of great to concern to ecologists due to the high levels of endemic species. Of the 1,196 known species of amphibians, birds, mammals and reptiles in the country, nearly 46 percent are endemic. Among plants, the number is around 40 percent. Only about 5 percent of the Philippines land area is under some form of protection.

A closer look at the forests of the Philippines

Estimates of current forest cover in the Philippines are highly variable between sources. According to the national Forest Management Bureau, forest cover in the Philippines declined from 21 million hectares, or 70% of the its land area, in 1900 to about 6.5 million hectares by 2007. This data is very similar that to the U.N. FAO, which is usually based on government data. Both the government and the FAO show an increase in overall forest cover since 1990.

In contrast, data first published in 2013 by Matt Hansen and colleagues paints a much different picture, estimating 2012 forest cover at nearly 20 million hectares, using a 10 percent tree cover definition of forest. Hansen puts dense forests — areas with more than 50 percent tree cover — at 17.4 million hectares, or nearly three-fifths of the archipelago's land cover.

Hansen et al 2013

Hansen et al 2013

However annual loss data between the various sources is similar. FAO estimated that forest cover in the Philippines declined by an average of about 54,750 hectares per year between 1990 and 2010. Hansen puts the figure at about 51,400 ha per year between 2001 and 2012, increasingly slightly over the period. At 3.2 percent, MIMAROPA or the area formerly known as part of the Southern Tagalog Islands — including the provinces of Mindoro, Marinduque, Romblon and Palawan, had the highest rate of loss between 2000 and 2012, accounting for 42 percent of all forest loss in the Philippines during the period.

Hansen et al 2013

	Total forest area		Dense forest area		Forest gain		Forest loss		Total land area
	>10% tree cover (ha)	% total land cover	>50% tree cover (ha)	% total land cover	2001-2012 (ha)	% total forest cover	2001-2012 (ha)	% total forest cover	(ha)
Abra	285086	71.8%	244282	61.6%	947	0.3%	2504	0.9%	396880
Agusan del Norte	250875	86.1%	226179	77.6%	3903	1.6%	7242	2.9%	291360
Agusan del Sur	790820	92.4%	759500	88.7%	17280	2.2%	48442	6.1%	856309
Aklan	125945	76.5%	107109	65.1%	2040	1.6%	2144	1.7%	164547
Albay	183242	73.3%	157983	63.2%	2493	1.4%	6151	3.4%	250040
Antique	166118	60.9%	137679	50.5%	1217	0.7%	2262	1.4%	272634
Apayao	356542	91.2%	344467	88.1%	4356	1.2%	16446	4.6%	391019
Aurora	280263	92.4%	271596	89.5%	2378	0.8%	7308	2.6%	303394
Basilan	126283	93.7%	121967	90.5%	1916	1.5%	4605	3.6%	134806
Bataan	74613	57.3%	66745	51.2%	295	0.4%	1310	1.8%	130268
Batanes	12781	63.9%	10923	54.6%	376	2.9%	270	2.1%	20000
Batangas	160387	53.8%	140235	47.0%	2911	1.8%	4627	2.9%	298121
Benguet	206975	78.6%	177053	67.2%	1154	0.6%	2170	1.0%	263379
Biliran	45257	85.0%	41932	78.7%	450	1.0%	487	1.1%	53252
Bohol	225612	57.0%	177919	45.0%	4290	1.9%	3602	1.6%	395747
Bukidnon	544024	59.9%	438034	48.2%	5109	0.9%	10732	2.0%	908427
Bulacan	133881	54.7%	116659	47.7%	1030	0.8%	3517	2.6%	244786
Cagayan	549277	62.8%	503373	57.5%	5199	0.9%	24911	4.5%	875166
Camarines Norte	177764	84.8%	164580	78.5%	1771	1.0%	4367	2.5%	209651
Camarines Sur	370685	70.9%	327625	62.6%	4032	1.1%	8352	2.3%	523084
Camiguin	21644	89.0%	20061	82.5%	259	1.2%	149	0.7%	24306
Capiz	129218	49.4%	93088	35.6%	1996	1.5%	2993	2.3%	261350
Catanduanes	133345	91.4%	128941	88.4%	1759	1.3%	3153	2.4%	145846
Cavite	52313	42.2%	44783	36.1%	299	0.6%	996	1.9%	123930
Cebu	253016	52.1%	173531	35.7%	2933	1.2%	6749	2.7%	485686
Compostela Valley	375378	88.4%	349621	82.4%	8134	2.2%	17403	4.6%	424406
Davao del Norte	267847	76.9%	226594	65.1%	4896	1.8%	8264	3.1%	348314
Davao del Sur	423007	70.0%	354343	58.7%	7155	1.7%	8882	2.1%	604087
Davao Oriental	465020	91.1%	438976	86.0%	8676	1.9%	15162	3.3%	510372
Dinagat Islands	65322	82.1%	56466	70.9%	492	0.8%	1370	2.1%	79602
Eastern Samar	405607	95.3%	390730	91.8%	3663	0.9%	8195	2.0%	425780
Guimaras	26075	43.7%	20627	34.5%	436	1.7%	525	2.0%	59719
Ifugao	152443	61.1%	129064	51.7%	1179	0.8%	3475	2.3%	249561
Ilocos Norte	199064	59.0%	168713	50.0%	768	0.4%	1573	0.8%	337355
Ilocos Sur	148490	59.4%	124167	49.6%	448	0.3%	912	0.6%	250099
Iloilo	173644	37.1%	132091	28.2%	2865	1.6%	5558	3.2%	468481
Isabela	541969	53.1%	501274	49.1%	2897	0.5%	20806	3.8%	1020881
Kalinga	208399	72.0%	188900	65.2%	1452	0.7%	4399	2.1%	289554
La Union	83700	57.5%	67594	46.4%	241	0.3%	596	0.7%	145634
Laguna	123530	67.5%	114030	62.3%	1171	0.9%	5479	4.4%	183113
Lanao del Norte	225190	79.5%	199083	70.3%	1176	0.5%	3943	1.8%	283331
Lanao del Sur	294877	83.9%	271254	77.2%	964	0.3%	6949	2.4%	351576
Leyte	427230	77.0%	387171	69.8%	4748	1.1%	8132	1.9%	554774
Maguindanao	100281	40.8%	63298	25.7%	1297	1.3%	3553	3.5%	245889
Marinduque	75236	81.5%	69952	75.8%	1411	1.9%	1677	2.2%	92288
Masbate	172665	43.3%	135620	34.0%	2936	1.7%	4754	2.8%	398656
Metropolitan Manila	5878	10.8%	2347	4.3%	32	0.5%	66	1.1%	54454
Misamis Occidental	149098	78.8%	126568	66.9%	2364	1.6%	2814	1.9%	189232
Misamis Oriental	228189	68.6%	188948	56.8%	2272	1.0%	2879	1.3%	332435
Mountain Province	166950	78.5%	149425	70.2%	860	0.5%	3752	2.2%	212810
Negros Occidental	257313	33.0%	185838	23.9%	2460	1.0%	4391	1.7%	778940
Negros Oriental	224358	44.9%	168820	33.8%	2819	1.3%	5555	2.5%	499182
North Cotabato	319885	50.4%	245273	38.6%	3893	1.2%	9462	3.0%	634974
Northern Samar	306250	90.7%	292055	86.5%	3788	1.2%	7021	2.3%	337578
Nueva Ecija	174914	32.2%	143157	26.3%	1667	1.0%	3631	2.1%	543761
Nueva Vizcaya	276650	70.5%	235898	60.1%	2823	1.0%	7567	2.7%	392241
Occidental Mindoro	359721	61.0%	316382	53.6%	5994	1.7%	8208	2.3%	589963
Oriental Mindoro	305625	73.7%	270715	65.3%	7018	2.3%	9263	3.0%	414606
Palawan	1224507	85.0%	1148213	79.7%	28012	2.3%	64347	5.3%	1441271
Pampanga	45454	21.0%	28208	13.0%	446	1.0%	1090	2.4%	216395
Pangasinan	166160	32.2%	110701	21.5%	659	0.4%	1981	1.2%	515664
Quezon	719241	86.3%	680114	81.6%	11690	1.6%	30708	4.3%	833110
Quirino	242182	78.3%	223977	72.4%	1523	0.6%	9844	4.1%	309245
Rizal	80900	64.0%	70429	55.7%	1170	1.4%	2149	2.7%	126432
Romblon	105335	79.8%	96132	72.9%	1213	1.2%	3181	3.0%	131943
Samar	486864	89.8%	447249	82.5%	9346	1.9%	16047	3.3%	542184
Sarangani	232465	71.7%	191349	59.1%	2867	1.2%	7039	3.0%	324006
Shariff Kabunsuan	142126	62.2%	107264	47.0%	1097	0.8%	3942	2.8%	228381
Siquijor	16532	51.6%	11431	35.7%	489	3.0%	143	0.9%	32008
Sorsogon	160994	81.3%	147943	74.7%	1281	0.8%	2388	1.5%	197925
South Cotabato	249488	57.5%	203114	46.8%	4183	1.7%	7103	2.8%	433999
Southern Leyte	150785	89.7%	142566	84.8%	1246	0.8%	3007	2.0%	168034
Sultan Kudarat	274039	62.0%	234263	53.0%	4070	1.5%	10293	3.8%	441872
Sulu	131730	90.3%	122419	84.0%	2371	1.8%	2925	2.2%	145812
Surigao del Norte	167643	84.2%	151673	76.2%	1031	0.6%	2155	1.3%	199027
Surigao del Sur	396702	92.6%	380925	88.9%	7465	1.9%	18139	4.6%	428458
Tarlac	87583	29.1%	71543	23.7%	1287	1.5%	1766	2.0%	301321
Tawi-Tawi	104289	94.7%	100697	91.5%	2098	2.0%	5895	5.7%	110087
Zambales	197234	54.2%	159316	43.8%	681	0.3%	3406	1.7%	363598
Zamboanga del Norte	484838	76.0%	419478	65.8%	13187	2.7%	26041	5.4%	637981
Zamboanga del Sur	344226	65.5%	281327	53.5%	7678	2.2%	11572	3.4%	525809
Zamboanga Sibugay	202193	75.0%	174361	64.7%	4161	2.1%	10044	5.0%	269565
Philippines	19799282	67.7%	17415929	59.5%	272638	1.4%	616910	3.1%	29251764

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Philippines Forest Figures

Forest Cover

Total forest area: 7,162,000 ha
% of land area: 24%

Primary forest cover: 829,000 ha
% of land area: 2.8%
% total forest area: 11.6%

Deforestation Rates, 2000-2005

Annual change in forest cover: -157,400 ha
Annual deforestation rate: -2.1%
Change in defor. rate since '90s: -20.2%
Total forest loss since 1990: -3,412,000 ha
Total forest loss since 1990:-32.3%

Primary or "Old-growth" forests
Annual loss of primary forests: n/a
Annual deforestation rate: n/a
Change in deforestation rate since '90s: n/a
Primary forest loss since 1990: n/a
Primary forest loss since 1990:0.0%

Forest Classification

Public: 89.5%
Private: 10.5%
Other: n/a
Use
Production: 75%
Protection: 11%
Conservation: 12%
Social services: n/a
Multiple purpose: n/a
None or unknown: 2

Forest Area Breakdown

Total area: 7,162,000 ha
Primary: 829,000 ha
Modified natural: 5,713,000 ha
Semi-natural: n/a
Production plantation: 304,000 ha
Production plantation: 316,000 ha

Plantations

Plantations, 2005: 620,000 ha
% of total forest cover: 8.7%
Annual change rate (00-05): -46,400,000 ha

Carbon storage

Above-ground biomass: 1,566 M t
Below-ground biomass: 376 M t

Area annually affected by

Fire: 6,000 ha
Insects: n/a
Diseases: 1,000 ha

Number of tree species in IUCN red list

Number of native tree species: 3,000
Critically endangered: 46
Endangered: 35
Vulnerable: 134

Wood removal 2005

Industrial roundwood: 403,000 m³ o.b.
Wood fuel: 138,000 m³ o.b.

Value of forest products, 2005

Industrial roundwood: $60,272,000
Wood fuel: $722,000
Non-wood forest products (NWFPs): n/a
Total Value: $60,994,000

More forest statistics for Philippines

Suggested reading - Books

CIA-World Factbook Profile
FAO-Forestry Profile