Natural Resources

Jaime Q. Guihawan, MSc.

EnSc 203
Definition
• Any material which is required or used to sustain life or livelihood is
termed as source.
• Resources does not refer to a thing or a substance but to a function
which a thing or substance may perform or to an operation in which it
may take part.
• Life on this planet depends upon a large number of things and
services provided by the nature, which are known as Natural
Resources. Thus water, air, soil, minerals, coal, forests, crops and wild
life are all examples of natural resources.
 A natural resource is defined as a
form of energy and/or matter which
is essential for the functioning of
organisms, populations and
ecosystems.
Natural
Resources Natural resource is defined as a form
of energy and/or matter, which is
essential for the functioning of
organisms, populations and
ecosystems (Ramade, 1984).
Classification of natural resources

• According to Odum (1971), natural resources can be divided into two

categories:
• Renewable
• Non-renewable
Renewable resources

• resources that can be

replenished through rapid
natural cycles
 Renewable resources

• able to increase their abundance

through reproduction and
utilization of simple substances.
Examples of renewable resources
though they do not have life cycle
but can be recycled
Renewable
resources
• Solar energy although
having a finite life, as a
special case, is
considered as a
renewable resource in
as much as solar stocks
are inexhaustible on the
human scale.
Non-Renewable Resources
• resources that cannot be replenished
through natural processes
• available in limited amounts, which
cannot be increased
Categories of Non-
renewable resources:
• Re-cycleable
• These are non-renewable resources, which
can be collected after they are used and can
be recycled.
• These are mainly the non-energy mineral
resources, which occur in the earth’s crust
(e.g. ores of aluminium, copper, mercury etc.)
and deposits of fertilizer nutrients (e.g.
phosphate sock and potassium and minerals
used in their natural state (asbestos, clay,
mica etc.)
Categories of Non-
renewable resources:
• Non-recycleable
• These are non-
renewable resources,
which cannot be
recycled in any way.
Examples of these are
fossil fuels and
uranium.
 • Inexhaustible
Natural • Exhaustible
resources can be • Biotic
classified as:
• Abiotic
Major Natural Resources
Forest resources

• Forests not only

produce innumerable
material goods, but also
provide several
environmental services
which are essential for
life.
Non-energy forest products
LUMBER PAPER CARDBOARD

UTILITY
POLES

CELLULOSE CHEMICALS
 Energy from the forest
FIREWOOD WOOD PELLETS

CHARCOAL

METHANOL

BLACK SYNTHETIC
LIQUOR ETHANOL KEROSENE
 The Philippines’ forest cover has declined
from 17.8 million hectares or about 60%
of the land area in 1934 to about 7.17
million hectares or 24% in 2011(PFS,
Deforestation 2011).
and Forest
The loss of forest biomass and oxidation
Degradation of soil organic carbon through slash-and-
burn and subsequent land use releases
approximately 5.8 Gt CO2 annually into
the atmosphere (Nabuurs et al., 2007).
Deforestation
• Kyoto Protocol: “the direct human-induced conversion of forested land to
non-forested land”.
• FAO (2001) defines deforestation as “the conversion of forest to another
land-use or the long-term reduction of the tree canopy cover below the
minimum 10 percent threshold.
• According to Schoene et al. (2007), deforestation “includes areas of forest
converted to agriculture, pasture, water reservoirs and urban areas” but it
excludes areas where trees are harvested through logging and where the
“forest is expected to regenerate naturally or with the aid of silvicultural
measures”.
• Deforestation also includes areas where the “impact of disturbance, over-
utilization or changing environmental conditions affects the forest to an
extent that it cannot sustain a tree cover above the 10% threshold.”
Forest clearing

• is the complete
removal of existing
natural forest
vegetation and its
replacement by other
forms of land use.
Forest degradation

• is a temporary or
permanent reduction
in the percentage of
the crown cover of
existing natural forest
vegetation (Grainger
1993a).
Causes of
deforestation
and forest
degradation
Socio-demographic-cultural:
• Lack of recognition of real value and integral role of forests in
maintaining life support systems;
• Population growth, migration and the poverty created by deficient
land and resource allocation system as well as lack of alternative
livelihoods forces rural communities to clear forests and practice
unsustainable agriculture for subsistence and for income generation
• Lack of appropriate knowledge of forest biodiversity and ecosystem
management and an inadequate understanding of indigenous
knowledge among forest policy implementers
Economic

Consumerism and growth

leading to high demand for
natural resources including
timber
Policy
Governmental policies have created subsidies and other perverse incentives and
with lack of proper forest and land use policies and control measures, the intrinsic
value of forests was superseded by mining, agriculture, transportation, dams, etc.

Land and land resource allocation systems concentrated under the domain of a few
and block the access of indigenous and local peoples to their territories and
resources

International financial and aid institutions and private capital investors, through
their role in structural adjustment programs, contribute to policies that lead to
deforestation and forest degradation
 Governance
Corrupt political and government
systems including lack of
decentralization, participation and
transparency in government decision-
making lead to arbitrary decisions on
natural resources management
Recommendations
Market forces

• consumer awareness
education
• sustainable
agriculture
• rationalization of
industrial practices
• sustainable forest
management
 • eliminate inappropriate subsidies
Economic policies • assess export credits
• support community-based
economies
Legal measures

• enact laws
recognizing rights of
local communities in
forest management
• effective enforcement
of legal measures to
prevent corruption
Institutional

• participation and transparency in

forest land use
• management and decision making
• institutional strengthening
• decentralize forest governance
Policy
• eliminate contradictory
policies
• national forest policy to
define forest estates and land
use
• effectively implement
national forest policies
Social
• land reform
• building environmental
awareness and of forest
functions
• provide technical and
financial support to local
communities for forest
management
History of Deforestation in the Philippines
• Before the Spanish colonization of the country, at least 92 percent of
the Philippines was covered by rain forest.
• When the Spanish arrived in the 16th century, many scattered coastal
areas had already been cleared for agriculture and villages.
• After the Spanish colonial rule, lush rainforest still covered about 68
percent of the Philippines. Cebu experienced rapid deforestation.
• As early as 1916, the need for reforestation was already felt in Cebu,
thus, the establishment of the first reforestation project.
 History of Deforestation in the Philippines
• The logging industry during the Marcos regime was on a rampage
with Timber Licensing Agreements (TLAs) and other timber permit
holders controlling over 10 million ha of forests. From 1965 to 1986,
the Philippines lost 7 million ha of forests (Pamintuan, 2011).
• Beginning the early 1990s, the government became stricter in the
disposition of public forest areas. This was the period when logging in
old-growth forest was banned that also prohibits logging in all
protected areas (RA 7586 or NIPAS ACT of 1991), and when export of
logs from natural forests and ordinary lumber was also banned (DAO
No. 5, 1990) and where only kiln-dried S4S (surfaced four sides)
lumber can be exported.
• Mitigating climate change
through avoided
deforestation was discussed
as early as 1997 but it was
only in 2005, when the
concept of reducing
emissions from
deforestation was brought
up to the international
climate policy discussion
under the Conference of
Parties (COP) 11 of the
United Nations Framework
Convention on Climate
Change (UNFCCC) in
Montreal.
This resulted in a decision of the UNFCCC parties as part of the Bali Action
Plan which called for “policy approaches and positive incentives on issues
relating to reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation
in developing countries; and the role of conservation, sustainable
management of forests and enhancement of forest carbon stocks in
developing countries”
REDD+: a brief introduction
 Strategies for climate change
▪ Mitigation and adaptation: Different objectives

Adaptation:
Mitigation: Tomoderate harm
Toreduce emissions or exploit beneficial
or enhance sinks opportunities
 GhG concentrations

Climate change

Impacts

Responses

MITIGATION ADAPTATION

Ecosystem-Based Mitigation Ecosystem-Based Adaptation

▪ Global ecosystem service: ▪ Local ecosystem services:

Carbon sequestration. Water regulation, provision of goods...
▪ Instruments: CDM,REDD. ▪ Instruments: EBA.
 Linkages between forests and
adaptation are twofold
▪ Adaptation for forests
• CC affect forests
• Adaptation measures needed for forests
New challenges -> understanding impacts, adapting management

▪ Forests for adaptation

• Forest ecosystems contribute to social adaptation
• They provide ecosystem services that contribute to risk
management, and reduce the vulnerability of local communities and
of the broader society
New challenges -> forests in adaptation of sectors outside of the forest sector

(Locatelli et al., 2010)

 Forest Ecosystem-Based Mitigation:
Examples
Increasing carbon in ecosystems
e.g., Afforestation & Reforestation(CDM)
Carbon in
ecosystem
With reforestation

Baseline

Avoiding loss of carbon from ecosystems

e.g., Avoided Deforestation (REDD+)
Carbon in ecosystem

Conservation

Baseline (deforestation)
t
What is REDD+?

• … policy approaches and positive incentives for activities relating to

reducing emissions from deforestation and forest
degradation; and the role of conservation, sustainable managem
of forests and enhancement of forest carbon stocks in developing
countries
• UNFCCC Decision 2/CP.13–11
The core idea of REDD
REDD+ architecture
 A brief REDD history
▪ Early 1990s: Deforestation 1/5 of GHG emissions
▪ 2001 - COP7: Avoided deforestation too difficult to include in CDM (+ no additionality).
Only A/R
▪ 2005 - COP11: 2 year consultation period for RED ; 2006 –Stern report
▪ 2007 - COP13: RED(D) included in Bali Action Plan; Norway’s Climate-Forest
initiative, NOK 15 billions
▪ 2008+: FCPF (World Bank), UNREDD, other initiatives
▪ 2009 - COP15: some progress for REDD+, interim financing
▪ 2010: COP 16 confirms earlier decisions on REDD+; safeguards and ref.levels; REDD+
partnership
▪ 2011: COP 17: REDD part of commitment for all parties? Financing to be explored. Pilots
and national policy reforms
▪ 2012: COP 18 and SBSTA - not much new, a lot of bracket text for safeguards, MRV etc.
- verification problem
▪ 2013: COP 19 Warsaw framework, results based finance, guidance – safeguards issue
will need further guidance
▪ 2014: SBSTA and COP 20 – Safeguards guidance, JMA
▪ 2015: COP 21 and SBSTA concluded REDD+ negotiations ->
national implementation arenas
▪ 2016: Green Climate Fund and REDD+ results based payments, transparency
 Paris Agreement, forests and REDD+

▪ First time forests are explicitly mentioned

(Art 5.1)
▪ Encourages action for results based
payments (e.g. REDD+) (Art 5.2)
→ keeping forests and trees standing and
sustainably managed will be crucial for global
efforts to reach the 1.5 temperature goal
→ especially in forest-rich countries avoided
deforestation can provide major emission
reductions contributions and REDD+ is explicitly
mentioned in many (I)NDCs
 The phased approach
(adopted from Meridian Report 2009, UNFCCC)
Phase 1: Phase 2 Phase 3
Readiness PAM implementation Results
Activities - Institutional - Governance, regulatory and - Improved forest
strengthenin economic reforms (including management
g Land use planning, Law - Improved commodity
- Technical enforcement, Moratoria) chains
capacity building - Forest sector reforms - ….
- .. - Removal of perverse subsidies
- …

Performance - Assessment - Policies enacted - Quantified emission

completed - Measures enforced reductions, removal
- Consultations - Proxies identified and and enhancements
conducted monitored for changesin (tCO2-e)
- Capacity emissions - Quantified co-benefits
increase - ….. - ….
d
- …
Financing Immediately Predictable amounts overa Large-scale funding
available (readiness defined period, including (note-shift from market
funds) countries’ own upfront to publicfunds)
11investments
 Performance in REDD+
▪ Over past decades move towards output/outcome orientation based
on incentives, cash-on-delivery approaches
▪ Some problems of ‘’traditional aid’ :
- High transaction costs due to donor requirements; National ownership; “The
accountability problem”, in which countries are held accountable to the donors
instead of their citizens; low incentive to perform (‘ritual dance’ between
donor/receiver)
▪ REDD+ to incentivize quantifiable results: Payments for
performance
→Should allow for ownership over reform, integration of context, and
for turning tables from aid receiver to service provider

▪ REDD+ shifted away from market-based to public fund-based,

performance element remains
→ Risks of ‘aidification’ of REDD+, but lessons available (Angelsen
2016)
 Key trends
Objectives: CO2 Co-benefits

Policies: PES Broad PAMs Forest policies

Scale: National Local/projects

Funding: Rich pay poor REDD+ countries

Funding: Market Public (aid)

 Challenges in national REDD+

Among others ...

▪ Coordination across sectors and administrative levels (in

decentralized systems)

▪ Tenure, financing systems, benefit sharing and

participation

▪ MRV systems and capacity

▪ Scope, scale, permanence, leakage

▪ Sovereignty and ownership over process and reform(s)

▪ Capacity and political will to address the drivers of forest

carbon change (driven oftentimes by interests of powerful
elites), access/availibility to data on sectorial
contributions to DD, and identifying an effective policy
mix