Reforestation

The Bugkalot have protected their lands and their forests from the plague of illegal logging that has denuded and destroyed much of the Philippines’ forest cover and the Bugkalot Ancestral Domain which is a national treasure.  However, there are significant areas of thin and denuded cover resulting from natural events and traditional ‘slash and burn’ agriculture practices.  The reforestation of such areas with industrial tree crops like coffee provides for livelihood opportunities for the Bugkalot forest-dwellers, the environmental rehabilitation of sparse and denuded forest lands and the protection of critical watersheds.