CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

Background of the Study

Trees water and peoples approach to reforestation involves more than

just protecting forests and planting trees. Reforestation programs focuses on

establishing and maintaining tree nurseries educating communities about the

positive development, both through conversation and the responsible

management of forest resources.

The existence of National Greening Program is certainly one of the most

important events in the history of mankind. One proof of it is that it protects and

preserves the natural resources. These things include water, land, soils, rocks,

forests, animals, fossil fuels and minerals. Therefore it is the responsibility of the

National Greening Program to protect the natural resources. Moreover, around

the world, lush tropical forests are being logged for timber and pulp, cleared to

grow food, and destroyed by the impact of climate change. Four fifths of the

forests that covered almost half on earths land surface eight thousand years

ago have been already irreplaceably degraded and destroyed.

In addition, forests cover 31% of the land area on our planet. They

produce vital oxygen and provide homes for people and wildlife. Many of the

worlds most threatened and endangered animals live in forests, and 1.6 billion

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people rely on benefits forests offer, including food, fresh water, clothing,

traditional medicine and shelter. Forest play a critical role in mitigating climate

change because they act as a carbon sink, soaking up carbon dioxide that

would otherwise be free in the atmosphere and contribute to on-going change

in climate pattern. Deforestation undermines this important carbon sink function.

It is estimated that 15% of all greenhouse gas emissions are the result of

deforestation. Deforestation is a particular concern in tropical rainforests

because these forests are home too much of the worlds biodiversity. In the

Amazon around 17% of the forest has been lost in the last 50 years, mostly due to

forest conversion for cattle ranching. Deforestation in this region is particularly

rampant near more populated areas, roads and rivers, but even remote areas

have been encroached upon when valuable mahogany, gold and oil are

discovered. Philippines is among the countries that are losing their forest cover

fast, ranking 4th in the worlds top 10 among threatened forest hotspots. Disasters

such as floods and landslides that results in loss of life and livelihood are the most

visible and devastating effects of forest destruction. The most unforgettable of

these is perhaps the Ormoc flood on November 05, 1991 which killed almost

8,000 people.

According to Remollino, (2004), the Philippines had lost at least 80% of its

original forest cover since the 16 century. In fact, forest cover decreased by

328,682 hectares, that is, from 7,168,400 hectares in 2003 to 6,839,718 hectares in

2010 (DENR). This translates an annual forest cover loss of 46,954 hectares. The

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Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United States (UN) in it is 2003

report, the state of the Word Forest, places the Philippines rate of deforestation

at 1.4% annually from 1990 to 2000 or 80,000 hectares. This situation had earned

the country the notoriety in Southeast Asia as the only country with the thinnest

forest cover. To reverse this trend, the Philippine government initiated the

National Greening Program (NGP) as a massive forest rehabilitation program

established through the issuance of Executive Order (EO) No. 26 signed by

President Benigno S. Aquino III on February 24, 2011. The primary mandate of the

development of the program comes with the associated tasks of national

struggle against poverty, food insecurity, environment instability and biodiversity

loss, and climate change problem.

As a convergence initiative among the Departments of Agriculture,

Agrarian Reform and DENR, half of the targeted trees to be planted under the

program would constitute forest tree species intended for timber production

and protection as well.

Also, areas eligible for rehabilitation under the program include all lands of

the public domain. Specifically, these include forestlands, mangrove and

protected areas, ancestral domains, civil and military reservation, urban

greening areas, inactive and abandoned mine sites and other suitable lands.

Moreover, environmentalist and government officials attempt to preserve

the forest to ensure that wildlife will continue to supply a sustainable future.

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Unfortunately, environmental education is not widespread. Environmental

Education is needed to make people think about the future and always to

present irreversible destruction of our forest. One of the activities of the National

Greening Program that can be utilized to help the preservation of our natural

resources is the Agroforestry. Thus people think of it as a small restriction on their

livelihood. Agroforestry is an activity that combines production on the same plot

of land, from annual agricultural activities and from delayed long-term

production by trees. This is obtained either by planting trees on agricultural land

or by cropping on forested land.

Furthermore, National Greening Program is also seen as a climate change

mitigation strategy as it seeks to enhance the countrys forest stock to absorb

carbon dioxide, which is largely blamed for global warming. It is also designed

to reduce poverty, providing alternative livelihood activities for marginalized

upland and lowland households relating to seedling production and care and

maintenance of newly-planted trees.

Today, it has been used as a major strategy to enjoin forest occupants to

become partners in rehabilitating degraded forestlands. As an alternative to the

destructive kaingin-making or slash-and-burn farming of most upland farmers,

agroforestry was expected to reduce soil erosion, improve soil quality,

vegetative cover, and cultivation of trees, land productivity and uplift the

farmers' level of living through sustained farm productivity.

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 Reforestation continues to be an important component of upland

development policies and projects implemented by both government and non-

government organizations. After more than two decades of being practiced by

upland farmers, it is worthwhile to determine whether reforestation as a policy

and program strategy to rehabilitate degraded forestlands has achieved its

goal.

Barangay Apaleng is approximately 18 kilometers from San Fernando City

and can be reached by using only four wheeled cars and motorcycles. It is also

implemented in Barangay Cadaclan that is approximately 5 kilometers from San

Fernando City, La Union. It can be reached by public vehicles and easier to

reach unlike in Barangay Apaleng. National Greening Program is implemented

on each said Barangay to preserve the natural resources, and satisfaction of

these needs would provide every individual to cooperate, seek for improvement

until it will be a daily routine to preserve the environment.

Theoretical Framework

As mentioned by COA (2013), the monitoring of NGP activities by the

DENR in 2012 in general was centered on the number of hectares and seedlings

planted. Seedlings planted by the National Greening Program by region, 2013

Source of data: NGP-DENR PN 2015-02 6 Policy Notes said that no inspections

were conducted to check the status of the planted seedlings. As a result, the

needed remedial actions like replanting and proper care and maintenance

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were not undertaken so as to achieve the desired survival rate of 85 percent.

The reason put forward by the report for the absence of monitoring of the

condition of the planted seedlings was lack of personnel.

According to Israel and Lintag, (2013), in a Philippine Institute for

Development Studies (PIDS) conducted to do a preliminary evaluation of the

NGP found that the program was viewed by participants on the ground as

performing positively in some areas. Specifically, it was perceived to have

actually raised the incomes and livelihood opportunities of the program

participants. In addition, it was seen to have contributed to the improved

environmental conditions in the planting sites. Despite these positive

perceptions, however, the NGP was viewed as only partially effective and

efficient in its implementation. The participants asserted that an important

problem in the initial implementation was the delay in the availability of the

mobilization fund and limited personnel. (Israel, D.C. and J.H. Lintag. 2013.

Assessment of the efficiency and effectiveness of the reforestation program of

the Department of Environment and Natural Resources. PIDS Discussion Paper

No. 2013-22. Makati City: Philippine Institute for Development Studies.)

Moreover, it is also concluded that much of the success of the NGP in

particular and future reforestation programs of the country in general would

depend on complex and sometimes intertwining factors. Other than the infusion

of sufficient financial and manpower resources, a reforestation program would

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have a better chance of attaining its objectives if its implementers can

sufficiently monitor and evaluate its activities and effectively implement solutions

to address the problems encountered.

Also the Executive Order no. 192, section 4, states that the Department of

Environment and Natural Resources shall be the primary government agency

responsible for the conservation, management, development and proper use of

the countrys environment and natural resources, specifically forest and grazing

lands, mineral resources, including those in reservation and watershed areas,

and lands of the public domain, as well as the licensing and regulation of all

natural resources as may be provided for by law in order to ensure equitable

sharing of the benefits derived therefrom for the welfare of the present and

future generations of Filipinos.

The Executive Order (EO) No. 26 s. 2011 or the National Greening

Program was implemented as a government priority program to reduce

poverty, promote food security, environmental stability and biodiversity

conservation, and enhance climate change mitigation and adaptation.

In addition, this mandates that the Department of Environment and

Natural Resources (DENR) Administrative Order No. 30, Sec. 4) Role of the Local

Government Units state that in coordination with the DENR and subject to the

provision of this Order, the Local Government Units shall adopt adequate

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measures to protect the environment and conserve land, mineral, marine, forest

and other resources with their territorial jurisdiction

Furthermore, Presidential Decree No. 3030, Penalizing timber smuggling or

illegal cutting of forest and forest reserves as qualified theft. State that in section

1: Any person whether natural or judicial, who directly removes or smuggles

timber or other forest product, either from the any of the public forest, forest

reserves and other kinds of public forest, whether under license or lease, or from

any privately owned forest land in violation of existing laws, rules and regulation

shall be guilty of crime qualified theft as defined and penalized under Article

308, 309, 310 of the Revise Penal Code.

President Benigno S. Aquino III on November 12, 2015 signed Executive

Order No. 193 expanding the coverage of the National Greening Program.

Under this Executive Order, forest development activities shall be harmonized

including development of forest plantations, forest parks, etc. to be undertaken

by the private sector, local government units and organized upland

communities.

It is also stated in National Greening Program, (2011), the said Executive

Order supports and complements earlier directives by President Aquino. These

include EO No.23 that bans logging in natural and residual forests, as well as

Proclamation No. 125, declaring 2011 as the National Year Forest in the

Philippines.This is a massive forest rehabilitation program of the government

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established by virtue of Executive Order No. 26 issued on Feb 24, 2011 by

President Benigno S. Aquino III. It seeks to grow 1.5 billion tees in 1.5 million

hectares nationwide within a period of six years, from 2011 to 2017.

Figure 1 present the research paradigm. The input includes the level of

implementation, achievement and degree of seriousness of National Greening

Program in selected barangays City of San Fernando, La Union. The process is

the total assessment of National Greening Program in selected barangays of

City of San Fernando, La Union. The output is the proposed measures to

enhance the implementation of National Greening Program in the selected

barangays of City of San Fernando, La Union.

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 INPUT PROCESS OUTPUT
1. Level of

implementation of

National Greening

Program in the selected

barangays City of San

Fernando, La Union Proposed measures to

Assessment of National
enhance the
2. Level of achievement
Greening Program in
implementation of
of National Greening
selected barangays of
National Greening
Program in the selected
City of San Fernando, La
Program in the
barangays of City of San
Union
selected barangays of
Fernando, La Union
City of San Fernando,

3. Degree of Seriousness La Union

of the problems

encountered in the

implementation of

National Greening

Program in the selected

barangays of City of San

Fernando, La Union.

Figure 1. Research Paradigm

Statement of the Problem

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 This study aimed to assess the National Greening Program Implementation

in the selected barangays of City of San Fernando La Union.

Specifically, this study sought to answer the following questions:

1. What is the level of assessment in the implementation of the National

Greening Program in the selected barangays of City of San Fernando, La

Union?

2. What is the level of achievement of National Greening Program in the

selected barangays of City of San Fernando, La Union?

3. What is the degree of seriousness of the problems encountered in the

implementation of National Greening Program in barangays of City of San

Fernando, La Union?

a. Serious

b. Very serious

4. What measures can be proposed to improve the implementation of

National Greening Program in selected barangays of City of San

Fernando, La Union?

a. Reforestation

Importance of the Study

This study benefits the following:

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 Local Government Unit. This study will serve as their baseline to improve

the National Greening program more effectively in the locality.

PNP Personnel. This study will help them in monitoring the implementation

of National Greening Program particularly in the City of San Fernando, La Union.

This will enable the PNP to include Greening Program not only their functions

and jurisdiction, but also their plans in safeguarding our remaining forest.

Community. This study will provide information about the importance and

benefits of the National Greening Program to the community of the City of San

Fernando, La Union as being stewards or caretakers of the Greening Program.

Researchers. This study will benefit the researchers as being the part of the

community to widen their knowledge about the National Greening Program

particularly in its implementation on the selected barangays in the City of San

Fernando, La Union.

Future Researchers. This study will serve as baseline information for future

research studies.

Definition of Terms

Agroforestry. This refers to an intensive land management and

combination of planting trees combined with crops and livestock.

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 Assessment. This is a process of gathering, analyzing, interpreting, and

using information about National Greening Program progress, effectiveness and

achievement in order to improve its implementation.

National Greening Program. it refers to a program that focuses on

preservation of natural resources especially in protecting trees and land

cultivation in the barangay of Apaleng and Cadaclan in the city of San

Fernando, La Union.

Philippine National Police (PNP). They are the lead government unit that

enforces laws and supervision and control of security agencies and assist in

implementation of National Greening Program.

Proposed Measures. This refers to an action plan to improve the

implementation of National Greening Program in the Barangay of Apaleng and

Cadaclan in the City of San Fernando, La Union.

Reforestation. It is a method of planting numerous trees to try and

recreate forest that has been previously damaged or strengthen the existing

ones.

Selected Barangay. This is a place where the research will be conducted in the

barangays of Apaleng and Cadaclan in the City of San Fernando, La Union.

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