Meagre pay, little support: Budget cuts for Philippines’ forest guards put conservation commitment under question

Furloughed by the region’s forest management bureau in 2020 due to budget cuts, Alejandro now works for the Antique-based nongovernment organisation Philippine Initiative for Conservation of Environment and the People (PhilinCon). The group, supported by the Bristol Zoological Society’s Darwin Initiative, seeks community-led mitigations against illegal hunting in the region.

The mountainous and biodiversity-rich green spine of Panay Island, Central Panay Mountain Range hosts the largest surviving primary forest cover in the archipelago’s Western Visayas region. Alejandro says that illegal logging and hunting remain rampant in the expansive 12,000-hectare critical area they monitor within the natural park.

The key biodiversity area is a hotspot for the poaching and trafficking of the critically endangered rufous-headed hornbill, or dulungan – the rarest of the Philippines’ endemic hornbill species, sought out for its distinct red beak. The ranger adds that the park has also recently seen a spike in illegal logging linked to the illicit trade of agarwood – a fragrant resinous tree species vital in the production of Oudh, a raw fragrance ingredient used for perfumery and incense. 

First-class agarwood can fetch up to P750,000 per kilogram (US$13,000) on the black market. Alejandro also recounts how a wildlife trafficker was recently apprehended in neighbouring Boracay Island for trying to sell an adult dulungan for P5,000 (US$89) to a foreign national.

Alejandro, who grew up in Hamtic, a province in Antique, shares that run-ins with armed poachers are inevitable in their line of work as forest rangers. For ten consecutive years, the Philippines ranked among the most dangerous nations for environmental defenders, according to watchdog Global Witness.

Yet despite the risks, Alejandro and his fellow forest guards have had to push on, supported only by the conviction that they have a responsibility to the conservation of their home province’s natural resources. They receive meagre salaries and little supporting resources, and are short-handed due to low ranger numbers. Very few rangers are now employed by the region’s environment agency and local government unit.

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Patrolling and implementing enforcement in protected areas entails a lot of costs. This responsibility shouldn’t solely fall on NGOs. This [should be] the job of the government. They should set aside funding for this.

Dr Rebecca Barrios, executive director, PhilinCon-The Darwin Project

“We are putting our lives at risk with no insurance and very little funding and benefits, because our forests will continue to be exploited and die if no one keeps watch,” Alejandro told Eco-Business in his native language Karay-a.

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources’ (DENR) environmental protection and enforcement task force contracts just 2,500 forest rangers across the Philippines. With the agency overseeing 248 protected areas covering some 7.4 million hectares of forestland nationwide, a single ranger may need to cover between 4,000 to 7,000 hectares of forestland – an area that could sprawl across at least 13,000 football fields.

The implementation of the Philippines’ Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan requires at least P24 billion (US$423 million) annually to cover the costs of park management, personnel, equipment, research and other operational expenses. However, the current level of public spending on biodiversity leaves a staggering 80 per cent financing gap, according to United Nations figures.

The Central Panay Mountain Range key biodiversity area is a hotspot for the poaching and trafficking of the critically endangered rufous-headed hornbill, or dulungan - the rarest of the Philippines’ endemic hornbill species, sought out for its distinct red beak. Image: Javie Barcinal

Acknowledging the gap, non-governmental organisation have had to step up to help shoulder the burden of conservation efforts in the archipelago. This is especially apparent in the Philippines’ central Panay Island where initiatives like PhilinCon, Haribon Foundation and Talarak Foundation lead the protection of the Central Panay Mountain Range, sustained by support from biodiversity organisations outside the country including BirdLife International and the Bristol Zoological Society.

“The Northwest Panay Peninsula Natural Park and Central Panay Mountain Range is riddled with hotspots for illegal poaching and hunting. Let’s not wait until all our natural resources and all our endangered species are depleted [before we take action],” said PhilinCon-The Darwin Project executive director Dr Rebecca Barrios.

“Patrolling and implementing enforcement in protected areas entails a lot of costs. This responsibility shouldn’t solely fall on NGOs. This [should be] the job of the government. They should set aside funding for this,” she continued.

Budget cuts

The Philippines’ landscape and biodiversity protection allocation has fallen sharply from P10.4 billion in 2022 (US$184 million) to just P8.8 billion in 2024 (US$155 million), as shown by data from the Department of Budget and Management. The funding is expected to be further slashed to just P8.5 billion next year (US$150 million) – accounting for a mere 0.1 per cent of the P6.352-trillion (US$112 billion) proposed national budget for 2025.

Overall, the allocation set aside for national environmental protection has plummeted from P24.4 billion (US$430 million) in 2022 to P22.1 billion (US$390 million) in 2025. Nearly a third of the Philippines’ national budget will go into infrastructure spending next year, rising by 4.3 per cent from P1.755 trillion (US$3.1 billion) in 2024 to P1.853 trillion (US$3.3 billlion) in 2025.

During a Senate hearing earlier this year, DENR secretary Maria Antonia Yulo-Loyzaga acknowledged her agency’s “resource limitations” and “limited enforcement capacity”. 

Asia’s wealth of natural capital generates 30 per cent of its gross domestic product (GDP), yet the region has disproportionately underfunded the protection of these important assets.

Adequate nature restoration across Southeast Asia needs US$200 billion annually, according to the Imperial College Business School. This, however, is not met. 

“It will take dedicated personnel, a lot of cooperation, and a lot of time and money to preserve the natural resources that the Philippines has,” said Matthew Ward, executive director of conservation organisation Talarak Foundation. “While the Philippines is a ‘mega-diverse’ country, it is also a hotspot for wildlife trade and illegal logging.”

Talarak Foundation is dedicated to protecting populations of regionally endemic species through conservation education and research, with its ongoing initiatives supported and funded by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, Mandai Nature and Disney Conservation Fund, among others.

“We are very fortunate that we have a set of international zoo partners who are all committed to supporting our conservation work and wild animal conservation at our nature reserve. However, these funds are not sustainable as they are often reliant on annual reports and requests, and require the zoos to be in a good economic period themselves,” Ward explained.

“The country has a lot of biodiversity and natural resources, but a lot of it is under threat. [Amid] climate change threats, habitat loss threats, poaching and other human influence threats, the national government needs to set aside more funding for protecting the wildlife of the Philippines,” he continued.

The Philippines’ ecosystem services alone are valued at about P2.3 trillion (US$ 40 billion) with some 40 per cent of all Filipinos depend on forests, rivers and oceans for their sustenance, survival and well-being.

Natural parks

The Philippines was among the nations that signed the historic Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework at COP15 in 2022. The agreement’s central ambition sets out to protect at least 30 per cent of the globe’s land and oceans by 2030, among other targets. 

Countries party to the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) are set to reconvene in Colombia later this month. However, less than two weeks before the 2024 UN Biodiversity Conference, the Philippines has yet to submit its updated commitments and conservation action strategy. These pledges are submitted to the CBD in the form of National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans (NBSAPs).

Troublingly, the Philippines hasn’t released a revised NBSAP since 2015 amid a shortfall in funding for the management of the country’s natural parks. 

“There has been a big push to establish natural parks and official government-protected areas. They can work. Having a national park helps to protect a large area of land, but declaring a national park doesn’t mean that poachers stop hunting animals. It doesn’t mean that loggers will stop going in and cutting down trees,” said conservationist Ward.

“Making a natural park is just a step forward,” he said, adding that there needs to be rangers employed to enforce the boundaries of the park and to maintain its biodiversity.

According to a University of Oxford report, Asia has underperformed on key conservation targets and is on track to fall short of the goal, set in the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, to protect 30 per cent of land area by 2030. 

Aside from nature restoration, meeting the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework could have economic impacts. A McKinsey report found that meeting the 30x30 goal could generate up to 650,000 new jobs in conservation management and support 30 million jobs in eco-tourism and sustainable fisheries.

The mountainous and biodiversity-rich green spine of Panay Island, the Central Panay Mountain Range hosts the largest surviving primary forest cover in the archipelago’s Western Visayas region. Image: Javie Barcinal

This story has been produced through support from USAID SIBOL, in partnership with AYEJ, under the Green Beat Plus biodiversity journalism training programme.