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History of deforestation
Massive deforestation and environmental destruction are a historical problem. The massive denudation of the Sierra Madre and other mountain ranges in the Philippines, as well as the destruction of river systems and aquatic resources are a result of rampant logging and mining operations from the very outset of the US imperialist plunder and rape of our country.
Within the 20th century, the Philippines lost around 90% of its forest cover. More than 13.2 million hectares of forest cover were lost due to the plunder of our forests during the last 50 years of the puppet republic. The rate of deforestation was steepest from 1945 until the end of the 1980s.
From the 1950s to the 1980s, the export of logs became one of the biggest dollar earners and one of the most lucrative sources of ill-gotten wealth for Malaca�ang and officials of government environment agencies. In 1975, logging companies protected by the Marcos dictatorship produced as much as 15.5 million cubic meters of timber, the highest annual output ever. From 1972 to 1988, as much as 8.57 million hectares of forested area and 3.8 million hectares of virgin forests were destroyed.
By the end of the 1980s, the rate of deforestation slowed down, simply because very little has been left of our forest cover. Total forest cover was just around one million hectares. By 1999, only 800,000 hectares of primary forest remained, two-thirds of which are already degraded. This has prompted widespread calls to ban logging and undertake reforestation efforts.
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 21 December 2004
English Edition
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Ang Bayan is the official news organ of the Communist Party of the Philippines issued by the CPP Central Committee. It provides news about the work of the Party as well as its analysis of and standpoint on current issues.
AB comes out fortnightly. It is published originally in Pilipino and translated into Bisaya, Ilokano, Waray, Hiligaynon and English.
Acrobat PDF files of AB are available online for downloading and offline reading printing. If you wish to receive copies of AB via email, click here. |
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