Latest News

Native Filipinos are hoping carbon credits will protect their forests

Native Filipinos are hoping carbon credits will protect their forests

Indigenous communities are aiming to reduce deforestation

Leaders sign a carbon credit deal protect forests

Illegal mining and logging are the main threats

By Mariejo Ramos

Some Indigenous leaders from the Western Archipelagic Province want to change this by getting investors to buy carbon credits to reduce deforestation.

Last month, two ancestral domains in Palawan's Mount Mantalingahan protected landscape of 97,000 acres signed an agreement with Conservation International (CI) and the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples to develop a carbon finance project within their region and reduce deforestation.

Panglima Silnay is the leader of the Pala'wan Indigenous Group. He hopes that the long-term conservation efforts can be managed by the members of the community without interference from businesses or individuals who want to exploit the resources.

Silnay, a Silnay representative, said that the Pala'wan Indigenous Peoples depend directly on nature to provide food and income. However, Silnay also warned of threats from illegal mining, logging and palm oil plantations, which destroy agriculture and threaten land, as well as climate risk and land grabs.

Conservation International reported that despite its protected status, Mount Mantalingahan has lost over 20% of its mangrove and upland forests in the past two decades due to illegal clearing.

The Legal Rights and Natural Resources Center, a local conservation group, says that indigenous Filipinos are the main protectors of forests. However, the global boom in energy transition minerals is increasing pressure on Indigenous lands.

INDIGENOUS OWNERSHIP

The Philippines recognizes Indigenous Filipinos' rights to natural resources on their land, but they struggle to obtain ancestral domain titles which acknowledge their ownership.

The new agreement stipulates that the two ancestral domains of Palawan will work together to create a project to measure and verify the amount planet-warming carbon stored and captured by conservation efforts.

Wilson Barbon said that the Philippines director of Conservation International stated that the project, the first carbon project in the country owned by Indigenous Peoples, would act as a catalyst for other programmes.

He said that the agreement recognized Palawan's Indigenous group as the rightful beneficiaries of the carbon captured by their forests.

Barbon stated that "we will only assist them in developing their carbon assets if they build their capacity to manage their own carbon projects on a long-term basis."

CARBON CREDITS

Carbon trading is still a work in progress and the Philippines has not yet formalised a system for issuing credits to businesses who emit carbon dioxide.

The issue of verifying which projects reduce greenhouse gases and how much is a major source of debate around the world. Some activists argue that credits are a way for polluters to continue polluting.

Barbon said, "We acknowledge that there are concerns." "Our position is to try and improve the system instead of shutting it down."

He hopes that the new Indigenous enterprise will set the standard in carbon credits projects that are strong on biodiversity and community engagement.

He said that the project "shows government an example of community-led initiative". It is difficult, but can be done. This can also force the government to create the framework for more community-led initiatives in the future.

Silnay took eight years to come up with an agreement on a project for carbon trading.

The community must maintain their forest for the next 25-years through forest protection, carbon inventories, land zoning, and other alternatives to destructive slash and burn farming.

The carbon credits generated will not generate revenue for the community until next year. However, they will be invested directly in conservation.

Conservation International will continue to pay the minimum wage for community members who participate in conservation activities.

Indigenous representatives will be responsible for managing the funds generated by the carbon project. The ancestral domain management office of the government will create an annual budget that outlines how carbon credits can spent.

Romel Ligo is a pastor who leads the Palawan Indigenous Community. He said that the project can help to resolve the divide among Indigenous leaders about how they should better protect their natural resources.

He said that some were lured in by private companies offering short-term work in exchange for the resources.

(source: Reuters)