Bio 9

BIO 9

Long before scientists and environmentalists warned of Climate Change with an urgent plea for mitigation measures, our great forefathers in the northern highlands have adopted traditional forest management systems which are now considered most practical and doable mitigation activities against the global phenomenon.

Passed through generations involving families and clans, these old forest management systems are now being encouraged to be replicated by indigenous cultural communities in various parts of the Cordillera region while the government is encouraging for possible replication of these practices in other parts of the country.

Despite threats by human activities and large-scale developments in the northern highlands, indigenous communities were able to practice five traditional forest management systems which greatly contributed in preserving the grandeur of nature.

These traditional practices are called muyong in Ifugao; tayan or batangan in Mountain Province; lapat in Abra and Apayao; imong in Kalinga; and kidjuhan or kijuwan in Benguet.

Except for the lapat system that includes the bodies of water, the commonalities of these indigenous community-based forest management systems is that tribesmen adopt a forest, plant it with trees, enrich it further, and protect these woodslands to ensure their long-term sustainability.

The muyong system has been integrated in the Eco-Walk program that aims to preserve and protect Baguio’s most critical Busol watershed since 1992 but more efforts have to be done to convince more Cordillerans, especially those in urban areas to take a stand and act to mitigate the impacts of Climate Change.

If a random survey on Climate Change will be conducted today, only a few people would care to answer questions and you would expect poor results in terms of level of awareness on this global phenomenon.

In fact, when former Baguio mayor Reinaldo Bautista Jr. warned two years ago that this mountain resort and...