Silva Fennica 37(1) research articles Ethnicity and the Utilization of Non- Wood Forest Products: Findings from Three Philippine Villages Celeste Lacuna-Richman Lacuna-Richman, C. 2003. Ethnicity and the utilization of non-wood forest products: fi ndings from three Philippine villages. Silva Fennica 37(1): 129–148. The utilization and trade of non-wood forest products in three villages in the Philippines were compared in this study. Two villages were situated close to each other on the Island of Palawan. The Tagbanua, an indigenous people, inhabited one village; migrants from the Visayas Region of the Philippines populated the other. The third village is located on the Island of Leyte, in the Visayas Region, populated by native Visayan settlers. There was no signifi cant difference in the number of NWFPs utilized by the indigenous people and the migrants. However, there was a wide disparity in income between the two groups, with migrants earning more, partly due to the marketing of commercial NWFPs. This gap could be decreased by fairer trading practices that are dependent in part on better educational opportunities, land rights, legal assistance and access to markets for the Tag- banua. Specifi c socioeconomic characteristics, such as the presence of a hunter within the household and size of the family were found to have a positive correlation with the use of NWFPs in some study villages. Income and the food expenditure of the household were inversely related with the use of NWFPs in the native Visayan village. Keywords non-wood forest products (NWFPs), indigenous people, migrants, subsistence, market, Philippines Author’s address Faculty of Forestry, University of Joensuu, P.O. Box 111, FIN-80101 Joensuu, Finland E-mail [email protected].fi Received 9 April 2002 Accepted 18 December 2002 129 Silva Fennica 37(1) research articles 1 Introduction resources, since the economic system absorbs most of the functions that the ecological system 1.1 Indigenous People and Migrants has had previously for more subsistence-based societies. These functions include providing food, This study examines the relationship between shelter, medicine, and other necessities without non-wood forest product (NWFP) use and the the need for direct extraction or production of indigenous or migrant status of the users. In the desired goods. However, the negative effect the continuing discourse on political, economic, of this lack of friction is an economic develop- and social class, ethnicity is often included as ment that cannot possibly be sustained unless the an explanatory variable. This is particularly closer interactions between the economy and the true in some countries in Africa and the Asia- spatial and temporal limits of the ecosystem are Pacifi c region, where many indigenous groups restored. are still defi ning their standing within a political In the Philippines, most of the remaining for- and economic environment and where they are ests are located in the uplands and mountainous often a less powerful subclass in the hegemony areas. These areas are among the last bastions of (Howard 1989). Although the discussion on indigenous people, of which the Philippines has ethnicity frequently revolves around the legal approximately 127 groups (ESSC 1998). ‘Indig- rights of indigenous people and their disentitled enous’ and ‘ethnic’ within the Philippine context status in the larger economy (La Vina 1994), require some clarifi cation, because ethnic status there seems to be a tacit assumption that despite is not so much based on racial background, as it is their disadvantages, at some level, the needs of on the position of the group in a broader historical indigenous people are being met. This idea may context. Jocano (1998) suggests that it is based be based mostly on two observations. The fi rst on shared cultural similarities, and the level of is their continued existence as a distinct group integration into the larger society. Historically, within the larger population, which is not pos- the indigenous groups in the Philippines were sible if they are not able to sustain their way of of the same Malay-Polynesian background as life. The second is the environments in which people of the dominant lowland culture, but had indigenous groups usually live, which are often not been colonized by either the Spanish in the the least developed and accessible areas, likely 1500s or by the Americans at the turn of the last the last pieces of wilderness left. It is normally century. The confl icts and compromises related assumed that there is less competition for land to the use of natural resources are particularly and other natural resources in these areas from critical in the Philippines, because of the rapid the non-indigenous population. population increase, and heavy in-migration to The reality is much more complicated. As the uplands (World Resources Institute 1992). Devalle (1989) suggests, even the scientifi c study In many cases, the immigrants have very limited (of tribes) has succumbed to stereotype, denot- options not only in their original locale because ing aspects such as culture or various modes of of scarce agricultural land (Findley and De Jong production as part of a (human) taxonomy. The 1985), but also lack education and skills for result of categorization according to ethnic types employment in urban settings (Suzuki 1996, belies the realities that indigenous people deal Veloro 1996, Homer-Dixon, as cited in Huby with as part of the historical process. Some of 1998). Migrant encroachment on livelihood these realities include an increased dependence activities of the already severely disadvantaged on trade with the non-indigenous population indigenous people, such as NWFP extraction, rather than maintaining an essentially subsist- often occurs. Analyses of the factors affecting ence livelihood, and greater competition for the use of limited resources are needed to dispel forest resources with migrants into their area. erroneous beliefs of either sustainable or baneful Mark (1999) describes some of the historical user groups, especially if national policies are to effects of greater integration into the monetary some extent based on what may be stereotypes. economy. He proposes that the effects include less friction between common users of natural 130 Lacuna-Richman Ethnicity and the Utilization of Non-Wood Forest Products: Findings from Three Philippine Villages 1.2 Non-Wood Forest Products (FAO 2000; Gatmaytan 1997). However, there is evidence that even subsistence use of NWFPs Documentation of the importance of non-wood by indigenous people can lead to depletion unless forest products to the subsistence of forest dwellers there are also low population densities and secure (e. g. Appasamy 1993, Jensen and Balslev 1995) property rights for the extractors (Godoy et al and for rural income generation (e. g. Gunatilake 1993). Otherwise, confl ict between two or more et al 1993, LaFrankie 1994) in tropical countries groups dependent on the same dwindling natural is increasing. Studies regarding the different uses resource is often inevitable. Much of the confl ict of various plant and animal forest species to local is based on inequality in the ability and desire to populations, and valuation of NWFP potential per exploit the natural resources, another part of the hectare of forest, have also contributed greatly to problem is that of inequity in the distribution of the understanding of NWFPs role in economies benefi ts from such utilization (Huby 1998). Often and for forest conservation (Chopra 1993, Hall however, there are tenuous, informal but very and Bawa 1993). Godoy et al (1995) have done strict arrangements between the groups making an analysis of the effects of income levels on the use of the same resource (Aagesen 1998). Both kinds and quantities of non-wood forest product cooperation and competition for NWFP extraction extraction by various forest communities. They exists between indigenous people and migrants have concluded that although higher income can on the Island of Palawan, where the main part of be associated with a decline in the importance this study was conducted. of NWFPs within the household economy, it does not necessarily encourage specialization in the products foraged, nor does it necessarily 1.3 Objectives of the Study lessen the gross economic value of the NWFPs harvested. Wickramasinghe et al (1996) identi- The main objectives of this paper are fi rst, to fi ed some variables related to NWFP collection. describe as accurately as possible the local use Their primary fi ndings were that due partly to the of an important forest resource, in this case the labour availability in a household, family size was NWFP called bagtik or almaciga resin. This directly positively related to whether households NWFP is an exudate from the almaciga tree [Aga- collected commercial NWFPs or not, and that the this dammara (Lamb.) L. C., or Agathis philip- size of the agricultural land of a household, was pinensis Warb.] which is used for the manufacture inversely related to the quantities of NWFPs of varnish, paints and other industrial chemicals. collected. Yet, there are still many unanswered The second objective is to analyze the role of questions concerning the social and economic ethnicity in the management of forest resources, factors that affect the kind and level of NWFP which in the Philippines is one of the main criteria extraction. Some of these socioeconomic factors for certain types of forest stewardship arrange- include the indigenous status of the collectors. ments with the government. The last objective is This may affect aspects of NWFP extraction in to fi nd specifi c socioeconomic characteristics of various ways, such as familiarity with local plant NWFP users that correlate with their knowledge and animal species, and whether the quantities and use of NWFPs. harvested are mostly for subsistence use, for To accomplish these objectives, this paper market, or have reached the level that suggests is divided into two parts.