Speaking before the US Senate in January 1900, Senator Alfred
J. Beveridge called for the continued US involvement in the
Philippines. One of his strongest arguments was: " …
The wood of the Philippines can supply the furniture of the
world for a century to come… And the wood… and other
products of the Philippines supply what we need and cannot
ourselves produce."
When the Spaniards began their 300-year colonization of the
Philippines, they were seduced by, among other things, its mountains
blanketed by unending forests. In 1575, with the population
then of only about 750,000, the forest cover was estimated to
have been 27.5 million hectares or almost 92 percent of the
total land area of the country.
During the Spanish regime, trees were cut mainly for building
ships which serviced Spain's galleon trade with Mexico and other
countries. Shipyards were established in various parts of the
country.
So enamored were the Spanish colonizers of the Philippines'
lush, tropical forests that one wrote: " At least 10 ships
can be built every year in these islands, and by taking care
of their many forests, even if a hundred ships were built now,
there would be enough timber left to construct every year the
10 that I have mentioned".
By 1800, the forest cover had been dramatically reduced by 1.4
million hectares. The deforestation rate was placed at 4,444
hectares annually. But from 1863 to 1900, the annual forest
reduction was 51,000 hectares due to increased demand for agricultural
lands and settlement areas.
In 1904, the first timber concession in the country was established.
The government, through its Bureau of Forestry, issued timber
licenses on whatever scales and duration it deemed a lumberman's
resources could match.
By 1934, only 17 million hectares of forest land remained. And
it continued to diminish towards the era of World War II.
Commercial logging thus became unabated. Until 1960's, the Philippines
was Asia's largest exporter of rainforest timber. From the US,
the Philippines' market moved to Japan, which began importing
timber from around the Pacific basin in the late 1920's when
its industrial economy boomed. By 1960's , Japan had become
the world's largest importer of tropical forest products. And
it was then the main importer of Philippine wood.
As Japan's construction boomed and worldwide demand for Philippine
timber increased, bigger and bigger forest areas were given
under commercial loggers' control. In 1971, about 11 million
hectares were in the hands of logging concessionaires.
The Philippines' deforestation rate, meanwhile, peaked during
those years. Beginning in the late 1960's, 300,000 hectares
were lost every year, as the number of concessions grew.
By the early 1970's however, the Philippines' log exports were
in permanent decline. Malaysia and Indonesia had then rapidly
ventured into the logging business. Within years, they captured
international markets, including Japan.
One trade magazine, once printed, referring to Indonesia, "
There seems to be no limit to its timber resources. Forests
stretch 120 million hectares, nearly two-thirds of its total
land area. Unlike selective logging in the Philippines, Indonesian
government allows loggers to cut anything above 600 meters at
sea level."
Today, the Philippines has only about 3 million hectares of
the original 27.5 million hectares . Of this, 1.79 million hectares
are non-productive, meaning they are mossy forests unable to
grow tress, while only 1.8 million hectares are old-growth or
virgin forests.
What indeed, a destruction of nature.
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