Various agencies joined the National Certification Consultation Workshop on the proposed Philippine Forest Certification recently.
Held at the Balai ng Alumni, UP Diliman, Quezon City, the workshop served as a venue to refine the details of the proposed Philippine Forest Certification to meet international forest standards. At present, these standards are set by international accreditation agencies such as the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification, Forest Stewardship Council, and American Type Culture Collection.
Participating agencies include the Philippine Council for Agriculture, Aquatic and Natural Resources Research and Development (PCAARRD) and the Forest Products Research Development Institute (FPRDI), both under the Department of Science and Technology; Forest Management Bureau, Department of Environment and Natural Resources; Philippine Economic Zone Authority; and Forest Development Center, College of Forestry and Natural Resources, University of the Philippines Los Baños.
Other participating agencies from the private sector include the Philippine Wood Producers Association, Chamber of Furniture Industries of the Philippines, Industrial Development Corporation, Society of Filipino Foresters, Inc., Kapit Bisig Farmers Association, Inc., and the Mapaga, Sta. Maria, Aurora-Forest Land Occupants Multipurpose Cooperative.
Ms. Dalisay Cabral of the Forestry and Environment Research Division represented PCAARRD in the workshop.
Prior to the workshop a series of regional workshops were held in Regions 2,3,4 10 and 13, where draft standards were presented, discussed and revised to come up with national guidelines on forest certification compliant with international standards.
Government and private sectors including furniture manufacturing associations, academe, potential certifiers, and women and youth groups attended the previous workshops.
The Forest Management Bureau of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources is funding the project which is expected to be passed as an executive order.
The recent workshop in Diliman sought to present and refine the standards developed in regional workshops.
Mr. Raul Briz of the Forest Management Bureau explains that the initiative on forest certification is necessary to raise the competitiveness of Philippine wood-based products in the national and ASEAN wood markets especially in light of the ASEAN Economic Community blueprint for common market.
Briz added that forest certification is synonymous to sustainable forest management as it will provide the tool for control, evaluation, and monitoring of the country’s forest areas.
The proposed Philippine Forest Certification is one of the many R&D initiatives to which DOST-PCAARRD shows keen interest in keeping with its commitment under DOST’s Outcome One: to provide science-based know-how and tools that will enable the agricultural sector to raise productivity to world-class standards.
DOST’s avowal of public service will once more take center stage as it celebrates this year’s National Science and Technology Week on July 24-28 at SMX Mall of Asia, Pasay City with Philippines: A Science Nation Innovating for Global Competitiveness as its theme.