Over-Regulated and Under-Marketed: Smallholders and the Wood Economy in Isabela, The Philippines

Abstract

This study explores the relationships between smallholder wood economy, logging of the natural forest and regulatory policies that pertain to these. Major data come from interviews of informants and 42 treegrowing smallholders in the uplands of Isabela province. Three sub-markets appear to operate separately: one in tree-based fruit, one in fuelwood/charcoal and one in timber produced by the exotic Gmelina arborea tree. The latter market is of special interest because of its potential importance for the region and because it illustrates a case of outspoken negative interaction between markets and policies. The farmers are overburdened by regulations designed originally to protect the natural forest that is present in the same region. More is at stake than a simple illustration of a well-known dilemma however, since gmelina is well distinguishable from the natural forest species and technical difficulties cannot explain the present imbalance between the underdeveloped legal smallholder market and the well-organized trade in illegal timber, occurring under the wings of the same regulatory agency. The paper discusses the options for a fundamental policy rectification which would lay a basis for a free and fair gmelina timber market that would make wood procurement of the region more sustainable and equitable.