The  well-being of both local communities and wider societies relies on the wholeness  of  the world’s  forest ecosystems. Therefore, forest  and  natural  resources  management must be precautionary.  It must avoid potentially harmful or degrading effects to an ecosystem,  even in the absence of scientific certainty of such harm,   while  integrating  a range of social, cultural, and  economic  activities  supported  by scientific methods  and  programs  of     research and  development,  marketing,  and  communications.    

            The rate of deforestation in  the  Philippines   is  among  the highest in the world.  Over the past 50 years,  almost two-thirds of the country's forests have been lost, including nearly all  virgin forests. The forest cover is now only 17 percent,  far below  the  estimated 60 percent required for ecological sustainability.  Erosion, flooding, reduced water quality, loss of soil fertility,  reduced  development  opportunities and  widespread abject poverty can all be at  least partially attributed to ruinous care of the land.  Our  poor  forests, by  force of  natural  adaptivity,    are   trying  to  survive  by   growing  tall  cogon  grasses  to  replace its  lost   trees.  But these  giant  cogon  grasses  cannot  hold  the  soil  nor  store  rainwaters  nor  provide  support   to  our  ecosystem. The  disastrous  flash  floods  in the  South   proved  that  not  even  coconut   trees,   which  were  used  to  replace  forest  trees,   were  helpful  in  holding  flood   waters.         

            The  government,  aware  that the health and well-being of forest ecosystems and human communities are interdependent;  has  established  CBFMs  or  Community Based Forest Management  Systems.  CBFM is the  generic  global   term for  the  program  geared  towards  the conservation of the remnant forests of the world --and  the restoration of vast areas of degraded forests.  The  work must be undertaken from two different standpoints. One, by eliminating the direct and underlying causes of deforestation and the other, by returning responsibility for forest management to the communities who inhabit them, considering that they are the ones primarily concerned in the conservation of this global resource.   By optimizing the potential economic benefits through the development of alternative incomes, encroachment into natural forest by the communities for slash-and-burn subsistence farming  or  rampant  logging   will be minimized.

            Sound ecosystem management should recognize the legitimate contribution of many systems of knowledge/disciplines  (i.e. aboriginal, traditional, local, technological, and scientific).   It is important that all communities have sufficient access to a variety of systems of knowledge to support their   management  decisions  on  forest and  other  natural  resources.  The failure of industrial-forestry science to bring about practices that protect forest ecosystems and communities highlights the need to respect and integrate indigenous, local,  and  multi-disciplinary  systems of knowledge. An appropriate system of up-to-date,  integrated knowledge  should  continue to adapt and evolve with research and changing situations on the ground, and hence will lead to and support management practices that are similarly adaptive and consistent.