Natural resources are vital elements of a nation. In the Philippines, our basic natural resources are looked upon as our exclusive heritage and we are called upon to preserve them for our posterity. Our constitution provides that we establish a government to conserve and develop the patrimony of our nation. Patrimony is wealth, which is concretized by our basic resources --- the land, water, forest, energy, mineral and others.
Consistent with the idea of conserving and preserving our natural resources for future generation, our laws on the subject are characterized with a marked tendency towards the rationalization of our land use and land capability as well as its sustainable development.
Goods and appropriate technologies are only part of the key to successful agroforestry development. Two (2) other areas that need to be understood by the agroforestry managers or workers are laws and policies that govern our socio-biophysical resources where agroforestry form part of it.
A whole range of international, national, provincial and local institutions dealing with resource mobilization influences what happens in the field. Laws and policies of the government on natural resources, its mobilization and institutional arrangement are vital inputs to the development of agroforestry program. Conflict of ownership and possession on public land use and the access to its many beneficial uses are vital issues in the upland where agroforestry are most oftentimes situated.
Understanding and resolving the issues on the use, rights and conservation of our natural resources are vital concerns that need to be undertaken by an agroforester, thus making this subject indispensable.
- Faculty: Liezel Obo
- Faculty: Jennifer Tangonan
- Non-editing teacher: Joel Mercado