Forest resources an indisputably an intricate part of human existence. From the inception of human existence as a solitary creature through the emergence of sedentary and communal life, the human race has throughout depended on and related to forest resources in a rather complex way. Even the sophisticated modern human civilization has not successfully divorced its reliance from resources provided by nature and there is no likely possibility of doing so. Yet the depletion of resources is a cause for alarm and has attracted even more complex management considerations. The global development paradigm of people’s participation has yielded unprecedented resource management strategies and considerations.
In the Philippines, like many other countries, forest resource management system is not devoid of this complexity. This study narrows on forest management in Antipolo City, a local government unit with a good fit of complex issues relating to forest management. Ranging from locational factors, population dynamics, resource depletions, land use conflicts and property rights system, the forest management platform of Antipolo City is characterized by a number of challenges that are investigated in this study.
Accordingly, the study aimed at investigating the overall forest management situation in Antipolo, taking in perspective the incentive mechanisms and effect, the property regime and co-management practice. The study there upon draws up and present a context specific forest management roadmap for the study area. The study adopts a systematic process of reviewing relevant secondary documents, interviews as well as questionnaire survey and observation as a befitting methodology.
Relative to the overall incentive program in the study area, the study finds that the provision of supportive services to forest residents in the form training, seedlings or tenure rights is significant to promoting sustainable forest management.