ENVIRONMENT stalwart Forest Foundation Philippines (FFP), funded by both the Philippine and the US governments, called for more social enterprises to engage in forest preservation with their winning ideas.
The group is encouraging for-a-cause businesses, either start-ups or those still at the concept stage, to join in their pitch session dubbed “Forest Fest PHL”, where enterprising thought leaders are gathered to craft targeted and innovative solutions to help protect and preserve the country’s forests, which are now among the most neglected resources nationwide.
“We hope a lot of social entrepreneurs will come forward with their ideas,” FFP Executive Director Jose Andres Canivel told the BusinessMirror at the sidelines of their news briefing in Makati on July 21. He said social entrepreneurs, advocacy groups and other related individuals will be given the chance to present their innovative concepts before a panel of judges.
FFP looks for participants with agricultural and ecological types of projects. Also, initiatives involving craftsmanship of indigenous people, as well as forestry- and climate change-related ideas are expected.
“Hopefully, we’ll have around 20 participants and then, we’ll pick a grand winner,” he said.
Experts from different sectors will also share their views and help mentor the participants to come up with the best idea. The winner will receive a grant prize of P450,000. But the forest-conservation movement assures the event won’t be a “one-shot” activity.
“The pitch fest is envisioned to be a long-term partnership. We would like not just to give the reward, but track their work and see how we can scale it up and expand it to our other focal areas, as well,” Canivel said. “[So] we won’t be working with just the winner, but with all participants. They may not win the prize this year, but we will continue to work with them.”
This one-day event is part of a bigger development spearheaded by FFP—a five-year program plan aimed at providing assistance to organizations that empower people to protect forests in four key areas: Sierra Madre and Palawan in Luzon, Samar and Leyte in the Visayas and Bukidnon and Misamis Oriental in Mindanao.
An estimated P480 million has been allocated for this undertaking to conserve these identified sites known for their ecological significance and importance to surrounding communities.
Canivel said this allocation should be enough to cover forest conservation in no less than 1 million hectares in the four focal areas cited. Including social enterprises in its conservation funding and planning was one of the fundamental lessons the foundation learned throughout the years, he said.
The FFP director said that, while community-centered livelihoods, such as organic honey and rice production, were successfully established in the past, their markets could not progress beyond the family or community level because of the lack of link to the market.
“Social enterprise is perhaps the gap that will help not just us, but the communities to become more economically resilient, that’s why we’re bringing [enterprises] in,” he said.
Meanwhile, the low number of social enterprises in the country proves to be both a challenge and an opportunity for the foundation, he said.
“We believe that, with the current crop of social entrepreneurs, that’s a good start. Plus I think one way of increasing the number of social entrepreneurs or those engaged in social enterprises is to start linking them up with communities,” Canivel said.
“If we encourage communities to go into agri-forestry and generate livelihood, I’m sure social entrepreneurs, either from the community or from the neighboring urban centers, like Puerto Princesa, will start to tap them, or will start working with them,” he said.
Forest Fest PHL is part of the bigger five-year program plan (2017-2021) of the FFP centered at providing grants to organizations that empower people to protect forests, especially in the focal areas. “By encouraging the youth through their passion points—social entrepreneurship, ecotourism, environmental conservation, and arts and culture—we hope to shape a generation of social entrepreneurs who will champion the cause of Mother Nature above everything else,” said Dr. Antonio G.M. La Viña, FFP chairman.
Despite being one of the most biodiverse nations in the world, the Philippines continues to lose a major part of its forestland due to rapid urbanization. “By the time the need to aggressively regenerate our forests was realized, deforestation has already reached an all-time high and efforts to promote reforestation were met by a variety of challenges,” Canivel said.
Established in 2002, the FFP aims to conserve and restore the country’s remaining forests by promoting and supporting projects that improve the conditions of Philippine forests.
From 2005 to 2016, the group funded around P400 million to P450 million for the conservation of around 1.4 million hectares of forest landscapes in Palawan, Northern Luzon, Davao, Bicol and Samar.
“The Philippines remains a vital player in the global forest-conservation advocacy by virtue of our being a global hot spot and mega-diversity area,” Canivel said.
As the nation’s ally for this, the US has been collaborating with the Philippine government for 15 years by working with the Department of Finance and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources to oversee the FFP.
“The United States has always been a staunch supporter and advocate of environmental conservation,” US Ambassador to the Philippines Sung Kim said. “Together with partners like the Philippines, we carry the responsibility to lead the global advocacy to make environment our No. 1 priority.”