MODULE 4. LAND AND FOREST RESOURCES
Forests play key roles in the WATER
Reference 1: Module 4 Document
SDG 15
 aims to protect, restore and promote
sustainable use of terrestrial
ecosystems, sustainably manage
forests, combat desertification, and halt
and reverse land degradation and halt
biodiversity loss.
Forests
 Around 1.6 billion people depend on
forests for their livelihood. This includes
some 70 million indigenous people
 Forests are home to more than 80
percent of all terrestrial species of
animals, plants and insects
Desertification
 2.6 billion people depend directly on
agriculture, but 52 per cent of the land
used for agriculture is moderately or
severely affected by soil degradation
 As of 2008, land degradation affected
1.5 billion people globally
 Arable land loss is estimated at 30 to 35
times the historical rate
 Due to drought and desertification each
year 12 million hectares are lost (23
hectares per minute), where 20 million
tons of grain could have been grown
 74 per cent of the poor are directly
affected by land degradation globally
Highlights of the 2016 State of the Forests by
FAO
1. Meeting the world’s increasing demand
for food and other land-based products
will require HIGHLY PRODUCTIVE
LANDSCAPES that are managed
sustainably.
2.
CYCLE, SOIL CONSERVATION, CARBON
SEQUESTRATION, and HABITAT
PROTECTION, including for pollinators.
Their sustainable management is crucial
for sustainable agriculture and food
security.
3. Agriculture remains the most significant
driver of global deforestation, and there
is an urgent need to promote more
POSITIVE INTERACTIONS between
agriculture and forestry.
4. The 17 Sustainable Development Goals
(SDGs) agreed by countries in 2015 are
“INTEGRATED AND INDIVISIBLE”.
Progress towards sustainable
agriculture, food security and
sustainable forest management, core
elements of the SDGs, should be made
simultaneously.
5. IMPROVED COORDINATION is required
between policies on forests, agriculture,
food, land use, and rural development.
Equally important are clear legal
frameworks governing land-use change,
including secure land-tenure systems
that recognize traditional customary
rights to use land and forest products.
6. Where large-scale commercial
agriculture is the principal driver of
land-use change, effective REGULATION
OF CHANGE, with appropriate social
and environmental safeguards, is
needed. Private governance initiatives,
such as voluntary certification schemes
and commitments to zero
deforestation, also have a positive
impact.
7. Where local subsistence agriculture is
the principal driver of land-use change,
wider POVERTY ALLEVIATION and
RURAL DEVELOPMENT measures should
be implemented alongside actions to
 improve local agricultural, agroforestry  Several improvements were noted in
and other landuse practices. the management of the country’s ENR,
8. INTEGRATED LAND-USE PLANNING particularly in the reduction of open
provides a strategic framework for and denuded forest lands in the country
balancing land uses at the national, as well as the effective management of
subnational and landscape scales. This key terrestrial and marine protected
should include meaningful stakeholder areas.
participation to ensure the legitimacy of  Policies Implemented:
land- use plans and obtain stakeholder o Executive Order No. 23 on the
buy-in for their implementation and Moratorium on Logging in
monitoring. Natural Forest
9. Food security can be achieved through o Executive Order No. 26 on the
AGRICULTURAL INTENSIFICATION and Implementation of the National
other measures such as social Greening Program
protection, rather than through o National Integrated Protected
expansion of agricultural areas at the Area System Act
expense of forests. o Wildlife Resources Conservation
Sustainable Land Management and Protection Act
 Not all LGUs have mainstreamed CCA
 a knowledge-based procedure that and DRR measures in their
helps integrate land, water, comprehensive land use and
biodiversity, and environmental development plans (CLUP and CDP) due
management to meet rising food and to:
fiber requirements while sustaining o lack of capacity to use the
ecosystem services and livelihoods available geospatial
 the use of land resources, including soil, information;
water, animals and plants for the o unavailability of appropriately-
production of goods to meet changing scaled probabilistic multi-
human needs, while simultaneously hazard maps; and
ensuring the long-term productive o (c) coarse spatial resolutions of
potential of these resources and available maps.
ensuring their environmental functions o available funds are used
SLM Landscape Approach primarily for relief and recovery
activities and not for adaptation
 (1) participatory forest management; and mitigation measures.
 (2) cross-slope barriers;
 (3) conservation agriculture; and  Strategies:
 (4) homegardens o Complete delineation of final
forest limits including
Reference 2: PDP 2017 – 2022
production and high value
Forest and Land Use Situations in the conservation areas as
Philippines protection forest.
o Reverse the loss of forest cover
through sustained rehabilitation
 of degraded forestlands
including critical watersheds
and strengthened protection of
remaining natural forests.
o Effectively manage Protected
Areas (PA).
o Strengthen law enforcement
against illegal trade of wildlife
species.
o Strengthen sustainable
management through the
issuance of appropriate tenure
and management arrangement
o Improve land administration
and management.
o Strengthen research and
development on forest,
watershed and biodiversity.
Reference 3: SLM Landscape Approach
 thinking at the landscape scale does not
simply mean thinking over wider areas…
linkages and interactions should exist
between landscape units leading to
functional heterogeneity…
Reasons for the transition from participatory
watershed development (and related
methodologies) to a landscape approach
1. The landscape approach addresses
potential trade-offs between
production and conservation. It
implicitly (or explicitly) implies that
ecosystems must be protected for the
services they deliver, and these must
not be sacrificed for short-term
production gains
2. Raising sights to the landscape level
implies an approach that takes
cognizance of the need for scaling-up of
ventures, while simultaneously avoiding
narrow definitions of how big the
landscape unit needs to be.
3. it aims to reconcile and integrate the
different elements of a landscape—the
resources and the production systems,
as well as the various resource users
and their demands on the landscape.
10 Principles for a Landscape Approach
1. Continual learning and adaptive
management: landscape processes are
dynamic;
2. Common concern entry point: shared
negotiations based on trust;
3. Multiple scales: outcomes at one scale are
influenced by outcomes at other scales;
4. Multifunctionality: landscapes have multiple
uses and purposes;
5. Multiple stakeholders: engagement of all
stakeholders required;
6. Negotiated and transparent change logic:
transparency is basis of trust;
7. Clarification of rights and responsibilities:
rules needed to assist conflict resolution;
8. Participatory and user-friendly monitoring:
information from various sources;
9. Resilience: active recognition of threats and
vulnerabilities; and
10. Strengthened stakeholder capacity: learning
processes of the landscape approach.
SLM Technologies and Tools
1. Participatory Forest Management
 secure tenure rights (by local
communities) are necessary to protect
local populations and to increase
resilience to threats from both climate
change and mitigation efforts.
 Under the REDD+ scheme, “forest
managers are compensated by
developed countries and businesses for
the global benefits derived when forests
reduce atmospheric concentrations of
carbon dioxide that lead to global
warming” (ADB 2010b).