The Philippine’s National Greening Program (NGP), which aims to plant 1.5 billion trees on about 1.5 million hectares of government-owned land by 2016, is in full swing but lack of monitoring and on-going care of seedlings could undermine efforts.

The Business Mirror reports that across the country, forestry graduates will be supervising reforestation and establishing nurseries. But will there be enough of them to cover the enormous area being replanted?

The region of Cordillera is an exception. Here, around 85 per cent of the 1.4 million hectares of classified forests and watersheds are within ancestral domains or indigenous peoples’ territories. In Cordillera, it is the communities who are sustaining the forests. Now, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources is establishing “guidelines and procedures for the recognition, documentation, registration and confirmation of all sustainable traditional and indigenous forest resource management systems and practices by the indigenous cultural communities.”

For these communities, the forests are sources of water and medicinal plants as well as habitat for wildlife. The local people practice foot patrols and manage forest fires. They have strict traditional rules that govern their farming techniques and the cutting of trees. Many communities maintain woodlots which reduce their impact on the forest.

Read the full story: Traditional way offers hope for Cordillera forests