Forestry and Forests in the Philippines — Lost Forests, How to Read the Numbers, and Where Things Stand in 2026

As of 2026-08-30 · Updated 2026-08-30 · Section: Economy, Industry & Business · 日本語版

0. How to use this resource

Few subjects have "numbers that differ depending on who you ask" as much as Philippine forests. Even for forest cover in the same year, figures of 6.9 million ha and 7.3 million ha both appear, because the very definitions differ among FAO's standard, NAMRIA's (National Mapping and Resource Information Authority) land-cover maps, and Global Forest Watch's tree-cover data. This article always attaches a year and a source to every figure, and distinguishes estimates, targets, and confirmed values from one another.

1. The big picture (as of August 2026)

注 Easily confused with his predecessor: Raphael Lotilla left DENR in February 2026 and is reported to have moved to become Ambassador to the Holy See (the Vatican). References to "Secretary Lotilla" in materials from 2025 or earlier are no longer accurate.

2. The trajectory of forest cover — which number to use

2-1. Commonly cited long-term trends

The narrative of "from roughly 70% in the early 20th century to roughly 23–24% today" is broadly accurate. However, the 70% figure is an estimate from around 1903, and the current figure ranges from 23.4% (NAMRIA 2020) to 24.5% (FAO standard, 2023) depending on the basis used.

2-2. Why the numbers disagree 注

注 The trap in claims that "forests are increasing": In the World Bank series, forest area appears to increase by roughly a constant amount each year since bottoming out in 2010, but this is likely an artifact of interpolation. Over the same period, Global Forest Watch continues to record tree-cover loss. A substantial share of any increase is plantation or agroforestry land rather than natural forest, so "recovering forest area" does not equal "recovering ecosystem."

注 The circulation of old figures: English Wikipedia's "Forestry in the Philippines" article contains the figure "6.5 million ha, 24%," but 6.5 million ha does not correspond to 24% of the roughly 30 million ha national territory (which would be approximately 7.2 million ha). A great many combinations of figures of unclear origin circulate online, so area and percentage should always be checked together against their source.

3. A history of logging — from the American period to the peak under martial law

3-1. Key points of PD 705 (1975)

• The 18% slope rule: public land with a slope of 18% or greater cannot be classified as "alienable and disposable" (Section 15). This is the primary source of confusion between "forest land" and "forest." Legally defined forest land can include bare ground, settlements, and farmland with not a single tree on it.
• TLA: a maximum term of 25 years, renewable once for another 25 (Section 38). Automatically terminates once harvestable timber is exhausted.
• Kaingin (slash-and-burn): unauthorized clearing of forest land carries a prison term of 2–4 years plus a fine of 8 times the standard forest charge, plus eviction and confiscation of equipment (Section 69). However, a provision exempts kaingin practitioners who had already settled before the law took effect from prosecution, provided they do not expand the cleared area and follow a conservation plan (Section 53).

注 "The Philippines protects steep slopes with its 18% rule" diverges from reality. A vast amount of land where classification and actual condition do not match exists, and this is at the root of the tenure issues discussed later.

4. The log-export ban and EO 23 (2011)

4-1. The 1992 "log export ban" — the state of verification

The widely circulated claim that "log exports were fully banned in 1992" could not be verified against the text of an underlying law in this research = unconfirmed. Checking the text of RA 7161 (1991) at lawphil.net, this law incorporated relevant provisions of the national internal revenue code into the Revised Forestry Code and raised forest charges to 25% of the FOB market price — no export-ban provision could be found in it.

注 In practice, the common account is that a series of executive orders and DENR circulars from 1986 onward progressively tightened log export restrictions, culminating in an effective total ban in the early 1990s, but the specific combination of "1992 / RA 7161" should not be asserted as fact until confirmed against a primary source. The Philippine newspaper Philstar published a timeline article, "Timeline: Logging bans from Cory to Rody," on 15 March 2018, which is a useful starting point for verification.

4-2. EO 23 (1 February 2011, signed by President Benigno Aquino III)

Content confirmed against the primary source (the text at lawphil.net):

4-3. Debates over effectiveness 注

• Mining was excluded: in November 2011, President Aquino exempted mining operations from the blanket log ban (Inquirer, 11 November 2011). Take care with the scope implied by the phrase "total ban."
• A domestic wood-supply squeeze: reports of "local wood supply fast running out" appeared soon after implementation (Philstar, 12 May 2011).
• A driver of corruption: research from PIDS (the Philippine Institute for Development Studies) found that "the total log ban invited corruption" (reported by Philstar, 9 March 2017) — the ban is understood to have pushed supply into illegal channels, generating corruption around permits and checkpoints.
• Enforcement actions have continued into 2026, showing that the moratorium has not fully stopped illegal logging (next section).

5. Illegal logging — enforcement actions in 2026

A structural weakness: with only about 2,200 forest rangers against an estimated need of about 15,000 (Eco-Business, 1 July 2026), budget constraints mean each ranger covers approximately 7,000 ha (Rappler, 10 September 2025). 注 This gap between the strictness of the legal framework and enforcement capacity is the single most important thing to understand about Philippine forest governance.

On 30 March 2026, DENR and JICA announced the introduction of a real-time forest alert system (GMA). A Record of Discussions (R/D) for a related technical cooperation project with JICA was also signed on 17 March 2026.

注 Tree-cutting is also contested in urban areas. Violations involving the felling of 700 trees were confirmed at the Monterrazas de Cebu development (PNA, 13 November 2025), and DENR filed criminal charges against the developer (Inquirer, 10 December 2025).

6. The National Greening Program (NGP) and its aftermath

6-1. Program overview

DENR reports having planted 62 million trees across 99,000 ha between 2022 and 2025, and says it received recognition from FAO for the effort (10 December 2025, under then-Secretary Lotilla). A cumulative NGP milestone of 178,425 ha was reported for the Eastern Visayas region (Inquirer, 15 April 2026).

6-2. Criticism of the results — COA audits and investigative reporting

Key findings of the 2025 joint investigation ("Forest Fraud"/"National Greenwashing Program"):

• Scope covered: 1.8 billion seedlings, over 130,000 sites, more than 2 million ha.
• For every 25 ha of NGP-targeted land, a major deforestation event occurred on 1 ha — meaning forest was being lost before or during planting.
• Over a third of "protection" sites intended to restore native forest show zero canopy cover in current satellite imagery.
• Among "production" sites, only just over half have secure land tenure. 60% are single-species monocultures. Roughly 40% combine the worst of both — insecure tenure and monoculture.
• A design flaw: residents typically receive not a 25-year tenancy but only 3-year access rights, undermining any incentive for long-term investment.
• Methodology: analysis of Global Forest Change (2000–2023) data via Google Earth Engine, scraping over 150,000 site locations from government portals, and interviews with program designers and beneficiaries.

注 Always distinguish the "number of seedlings planted" from the "number that survived." Philippine reforestation coverage is almost invariably framed around planting figures — inputs — while survival rates — outcomes — are rarely published. Even back in 2018, a DENR Secretary was quoted as saying the department was "looking for ways to improve NGP seedling survival rates" (PNA, 12 December 2018).

7. Mangroves — decline and regeneration

7-1. The state of the numbers 注

Figures such as "roughly 450,000 ha in the early 20th century, down to roughly 120,000 ha in the 1990s" circulate widely for national mangrove area, but this research could not verify them against a primary source = unconfirmed. If used, the source must be specified. The following could be confirmed:

注 The claim "the Philippines is the Nth-largest mangrove-holding country in the world" is often seen, but it is unclear which metric (area, species count, endemism) the ranking refers to, and this research could not verify it = unconfirmed. It should not be used carelessly.

7-2. Regeneration cases and challenges

• Cancabato Bay, Tacloban City: mangrove cover was approximately 1.9 ha before Typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda) in 2013, and had recovered and expanded to approximately 3.6 ha by 2023. Around 30,000 seedlings were planted across roughly 4 ha between 2015 and 2018 with support from residents, NGOs, and both the Philippine and Japanese governments, with Rhizophora apiculata and R. mucronata becoming established (research: Yasuhito Takagi, Institute of Science Tokyo, Journal of Environmental Management, 2025; Mongabay, 4 December 2025). The current threat is the $81 million Tacloban City Causeway project, a 2.56 km road embankment.
• Las Piñas–Parañaque Wetland Park (LPPWP): approximately 182 ha. Declared a critical habitat by presidential proclamation in 2007, listed as a Ramsar site (the country's 6th) in 2013, and placed under national protected-area status under E-NIPAS in 2018. Senate Bill No. 1536 (establishing a 3 km buffer zone) passed in January 2025 (Mongabay, 8 October 2025). 注 Many resources still use the older acronym, "LPPCHEA."
• In 2012, a record 1,009,029 mangrove seedlings were planted in one hour in Camarines Sur province. 注 However, this kind of record-setting mass-planting event is a classic case where survival rates go unverified.
• 2026 has seen a cluster of policy developments: the Philippine Mangrove Conference 2026 (April); DENR's reconsideration of "earth-balling" (root-ball transplant) directives tied to infrastructure projects (GMA, 24 March 2026); a push for blue carbon (UPLB, 12 May 2026); and 98 ha of regeneration in Quezon province (Inquirer, 4 July 2026).

8. The protected-area system — NIPAS and E-NIPAS

Key points of E-NIPAS (RA 11038) (confirmed against the text at lawphil.net):

• Newly designates 94 protected areas by law (spanning Regions 1 through 13).
• Categories: strict nature reserves, natural parks, natural monuments, wildlife sanctuaries, protected landscapes and seascapes, resource reserves, and natural biotic areas.
• PAMB (Protected Area Management Board): chaired by the DENR regional director, composed of government, indigenous-peoples representatives, NGOs, academia, and the private sector. Day-to-day operations are handled by the PAMO (headed by the PASU).
• Penalties: for minor offenses, ₱200,000–₱1,000,000 or 1–6 years; for major offenses, ₱1,000,000–₱5,000,000 or 6–12 years. Administrative fines up to ₱5,000,000. Equipment is subject to confiscation.
• IPAF (Integrated Protected Areas Fund): 75% of revenue retained locally, 25% remitted to the national treasury.
• Protection for tenured migrants, strengthened indigenous consent and governance, mandatory EIA and PAMB clearance, and limited allowance for renewable energy development (subject to a restoration bond).

注 "30% forest cover by 2030" is a misreading. A September 2025 BusinessMirror report headlined "DENR keeps 30% forest cover goal for 2030," but the body of the article quotes Assistant Secretary Noralene Uy referring to the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework's "30×30" target (conserving 30% of terrestrial, freshwater, coastal, and marine areas). This is a distinct concept from a national target of "30% forest cover" and the two should not be conflated.

2026 developments: a legislators' site visit tied to the Sierra Madre protection bill (PNA, 21 May 2026); Mt. Apo awaiting UNESCO Global Geopark designation (PNA, 21 May 2026); and the Sibuyan Island protected-area management board voicing serious concern over a mining application (Inquirer, 30 July 2026).

9. Kaingin (slash-and-burn) and indigenous practices

• Kaingin is defined under Section 3(p) of PD 705 as "a portion of forest land devoted to shifting or permanent cultivation by burning," and unauthorized practice is a criminal offense (Section 69). However, limited protection exists for practitioners who had already been engaged in it before the law took effect (Section 53).
• IPRA (the Indigenous Peoples' Rights Act, RA 8371, 1997) recognizes indigenous peoples' management authority over ancestral domains, and EO 23 also explicitly exempts customary indigenous use. Within the legal system, kaingin can be treated as either a "crime" or a "right" 注, depending on the circumstances.
• Ancestral domains cover an estimated 13–14 million ha, of which 5.3 million ha is forest land. Ancestral domains cover roughly 85% of the country's Key Biodiversity Areas (KBAs) (per PAFID [Philippine Association for Inter-Cultural Development] 2017 analysis cross-referencing NCIP CADT data with DENR-FMB forest data, as featured in a GEF newsroom article).
• 注 Issuance of land titles (CADT/CALT) is significantly behind schedule: as of 2023, only around 500 (33%) of a targeted 1,531 titles had been issued. When protected-area designations, reforestation projects, and investment contracts move forward before tenure is settled, conflict with residents becomes more likely.
• 注 The simplification that "kaingin is the chief cause of deforestation" is dangerous. In reality, commercial logging, mining, infrastructure, migration pressure from the lowlands, and weak governance combine to drive it (Inquirer, 3 June 2026, "Deforestation worst where governance is weak").

10. Deforestation and floods/landslides — the 2004 turning point

In November–December 2004, four tropical cyclones struck eastern Luzon in succession.

At the time, a surge of logs swept into communities along with flash floods, fueling criticism that illegal logging had worsened the disaster, and political pressure built toward suspending and reviewing logging permits. 注 However, this research could not confirm the claim, sometimes made, that "a nationwide logging ban was issued immediately after the 2004 flooding" against a primary source = unconfirmed. The formal, nationwide moratorium on natural forest logging was codified only with EO 23 in 2011 (EO 23 itself was in turn prompted by flooding in Mindanao and elsewhere in January 2011). When drawing up a timeline, take care not to conflate these two events.

注 A misconception about the Sierra Madre "typhoon wall": the Sierra Madre mountain range is widely believed to shield Luzon from typhoons, but the actual attenuation of wind and rain occurs mainly on the Cagayan Valley side; on the western slope, nearer Metro Manila, orographic lift can actually intensify rainfall (per Peralta et al., "Does the Sierra Madre Mountain Range in Luzon Act as a Barrier to Typhoons?" Philippine Journal of Science [DOST]). The range loses at least 1,400 ha annually to illegal logging, kaingin, and settlement. The country's largest protected area, Northern Sierra Madre Natural Park, is on UNESCO's World Heritage tentative list. Development pressure continues from projects such as the Kaliwa Dam (construction began 2022) and the Didipio mine.

11. Timber supply, demand, and import dependence

With natural-forest logging banned, domestic supply relies mainly on plantation species (falcata, eucalyptus, Acacia mangium, rubberwood, and others) and on imports.

注 This article does not present a confirmed figure for specific import volumes or values. Retrieve these from ITTO, FAOSTAT, or PSA with the year clearly specified. Numerous "X% import-dependent" figures of unclear origin circulate online.

Policy is aiming to close the supply gap through plantation forestry and private investment (see the next section).

12. REDD+ and carbon credits

注 The preconditions for carbon credits remain immature: (1) unresolved land tenure (CADT/tenure), (2) unproven additionality (some NGP sites show zero canopy cover), (3) the precision of forest monitoring, and (4) unfinished Article 6 rules — until these are resolved, the credibility of any credits already issued will remain in question. Distinguish a "roadmap announcement" from an actual "track record of credits issued and traded."

13. New trends in 2025–2026 — SFLMA and "investment in forests"

13-1. SFLMA (Sustainable Forest Land Management Agreement)

注 "₱38 trillion" is a DENR estimate of potential scale, not a realized figure, and it far exceeds the Philippines' own GDP (in the ₱20-trillion range). Given the scale of the unit (trillion), strong confirmation against a primary source is recommended. Government-announced "projected investment figures" often incorporate industry-association expectations and are not confirmed values.

13-2. Criticism

The environmental NGO Kalikasan People's Network for the Environment has criticized the program as "handing forests over to profit-seeking corporations." Its main arguments are: (1) infringement of indigenous ancestral domains and community forest rights; (2) monoculture plantations and greenwashing disguised as "reforestation"; (3) the exclusion of small, technically under-resourced community organizations; and (4) pressure on Lumad (indigenous) communities in Mindanao. Dixon Gevaña of the UP Los Baños College of Forestry and Natural Resources has called for an impact assessment to be carried out (Mongabay, 19 August 2025).

14. Points that are easy to get wrong (checklist)

15. Principal sources (agencies and outlets)

• Legislation: Executive Order No. 23 (2011); PD 705 (Revised Forestry Code, 1975); RA 7161 (1991); RA 7586 (NIPAS, 1992); RA 11038 (E-NIPAS, 2018); RA 8371 (IPRA, 1997) / lawphil.net
• Statistics: World Bank World Development Indicators (indicators AG.LND.FRST.ZS / .K2, FAO FRA-based, through 2023); NAMRIA land-cover maps; DENR-FMB's Philippine Forestry Statistics; PSA forestry statistics; Global Forest Watch; ITTO Annual Review Statistics (updated 20 August 2026)
• Investigative reporting: the joint PCIJ / Davao Today / Lighthouse Reports / Thibi / DW investigation (May 2025); Mongabay (19 August, 8 October, and 4 December 2025)
• Audits: COA (2015 and 2019 reporting)
• News media: Philippine News Agency, Inquirer.net, BusinessMirror, BusinessWorld, Daily Tribune, GMA Network, Rappler, Philstar, Eco-Business, InsiderPH, Cebu Daily News, CarbonCredits.com, Quantum Commodity Intelligence
• International bodies: FAO, UNDP (10 March 2026), JICA (March 2026)
• Academic: Yasuhito Takagi (Institute of Science Tokyo) et al., Journal of Environmental Management, 2025

日本語の詳細版: 分野「環境・資源」「フィリピンの林業と森林」（本サイト日本語版）。