People in the storm-battered uplands of the Philippines are being overlooked in the response to Typhoon Yolanda, says an opinion piece in the Inquirer.

While aid is being poured into lowland areas and media attention focuses on the capitals, the losses of poor communities in the uplands have largely been ignored. These regions are important for their forest areas and the watersheds which irrigate lowland farms.

The article calls for assistance to be given to upland farmers in developing agroforestry systems that focus on high-value crops such as cashews. Technologies that have been developed elsewhere for sloping agricultural land could be incorporated into these agroforestry systems. However, this would require broad multi-stakeholder participation and management of tenure and social conflicts.

Read the full story: Ignored crisis