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Economic analysis of the poverty-forest dependence link and implications for the rural households in Cagayan Province, Philippines
Dissertation Abstract:
This study attempted to analyze the poverty-forest dependence link in the Cagayan Province, Philippines. FGT index and Gini coefficients were estimated in order to examine the income inequality and poverty situation among the forest-dependent households with and without forest income. To analyze the factors related to the households’ forest dependence, ordinary least squares regression analysis was conducted. To assess the influence of poverty on forest dependence, logit regression analysis was used.
In this study, forest dependence was expressed as the relative share of forest income to the total household income. On the average, poverty headcount or the number of households below the threshold level was greater if forest income was not accounted for. Those highly dependent on the forest have lower income, thus poorer than those less dependent which have much higher income. The significant factors that determine forest dependence are years of schooling of the household head, distance of the household from the clinic, size of the land owned by the household, machine value, distance of the household from the market, and distance of the household from the forest. All these factors have negative effect on forest dependence. Three variables were found to be positively and significantly related to the probability of being poor. These were distance of the household from clinic, overall forest dependency, and the Gonzaga dummy variable. Two variables were found to be negatively and significantly related to the probability of being poor, namely: distance of household from school and size of land holdings.
There is a need for a location and condition-specific policy. For this to be effective, it is recommended that only those with high dependence must first be targeted as immediate recipients or beneficiaries of programs such as skills and development training toward the development of high value finished and marketable forest products. Plantation forests for fast growing species appropriate for woodcraft or other substitutes such as bamboo can be established to mitigate the impact of resource extraction from the forests. Other livelihood programs should also be implemented in the areas to lessen the pressure on the forest resources.
