By Cai U. Ordinario
State think tank Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS) has recommended the grant of tax incentives to private-sector proponents to entice them to undertake greening projects.
In a Policy Note, PIDS Senior Research Fellow Danilo Israel said these incentives can be in the form of tax deductions, “soft loans and other forms of de facto payments.”
“In the long term, the possibility of paying private tree planters for the environmental services that their trees provide can be considered. These payments may come in the form of reduced taxes, provision of soft loans and other forms of de facto payments,” Israel said. “Using tree-planted areas as commercial nature parks, for instance, can boost profitability and local employment.”
Israel said private greening proponents were able to plant the most hectares between 2001 and 2010, as well as in the National Greening Program (NGP) of 2011 and 2013.
The study stated that total nongovernment reforestation reached 103,272 hectares, with private reforestation contributing 72,465 hectares, or about two-thirds of the total.
“Thus, clearly, with other programs contributing little or none to reforestation, private reforestation has been the main driver of nongovernment reforestation in the Philippines,” Israel said.
However, Israel added that nongovernment tree-planting efforts have been declining due to various problems.
From 2001 to 2010, nongovernment reforestation covered 55,825 hectares and contributed only 19.99 percent of total reforestation in the Philippines.
Israel added that during the NGP years from 2011 to 2013, the contribution of private greening projects decreased even further to just 6.94 percent of total reforestation.
The PIDS senior fellow said the private sector is saddled by erratic policies, making investments in tree planting risky and are left out in the NGP even if the government needs their help.
Further, Israel said these problems also include contested land claims and private lands suitable for tree planting left idle by their owners for various reasons, such as price speculation.
There are also production issues and problems such as fluctuating costs of inputs, poaching, diseases and natural calamities that topple down trees.
Last year Israel and PIDS Senior Research Fellow Maria Diyina Gem Arbo authored a study, titled “The National Greening Program: Hope for our balding forests.”
The data showed that, while the program aimed to plant 600 million seedlings between 2011 to 2013, the NGP was only able to plant 397.76 million during the period.
The authors said the target was missed by 10,378,879 seedlings in 2011; 74,403,270 seedlings in 2012; and 117,451,138 seedlings in 2013.
Further, the study stated that past evaluation reports by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), as cited by the Commission on Audit (COA) in 2013, stated that there were no inspections made on the status of the planted seedlings under the program.
The COA, the PIDS study said, lamented that the evaluation of the DENR on the NGP were focused solely on the number of hectares and seedlings planted.
Based on these reports, the COA—as cited by the PIDS study—said that while the desired survival rate of the seedlings is 85 percent, the actual survival rate of sampled seedlings in 2012 was only 61 percent.