The poet Joyce Kilmer exclaimed, “I think that I shall never see a poem as lovely as a tree.”

Trees are blessings. Aside from their beauty, they give great benefits to a community. Trees provide food and shelter. Trees clean the air and produce oxygen. Trees conserve energy and save water. Trees help prevent water pollution and soil erosion. Trees create habitats for wildlife. Trees create economic opportunities.

However, they are not an infinite resource. They can only continue to grow and care for a community for as long as the community cares for their growth.

The Matalom municipality in south-western Leyte is blessed with an abundance of natural resources including vast forests, And so the local government and the community came to realize the importance of an environmental focus to sustain this blessing.

People’s organizations (POs) from the various barangays came together to form the Federation of Matalom community-based resource management (CBRM). Six POs from coastal areas and four POs from the uplands work actively with the local government unit (LGU) on various programs.

Under the community-based forest management (CBFM) agreement facilitated by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), Matalom’s LGU and POs focus on agro forestry, tree plantation and mangrove rehabilitation.

Leader Antonio Pison says, “The main agenda of the federation is to guard the trees.” They have been working toward this cause since 2005 under a 25 year CBFM grant, which can be further extended when DENR sees good results from the community’s efforts.

The LGU drives the Operation Maintenance and Sustainability Plan (OMSP) whereby members from the community are asked to work for the cause. They are educated on the importance of environmental protection. Members are trained to carry out activities such as planting, pruning and cleaning. They are also asked to patrol the areas. The aim is to truly integrate the programs to the community’s activities.

On the other hand, the municipality also faces challenges such as natural disasters and man-caused forest burning. To address this, they started on disaster risk reduction training and initiated forest burning monitoring.

They are also battling with the decline and then sudden increase in membership in the programs depending on the availability of income-generating activities for the people. Citing a paper entitled “Tree-planting progress at four community forestry sites in Leyte: Some observations and lessons learned,” by Eduardo Mangaoang and Steve Harrison:

“Success in community forestry is highly dependent on provision of support to develop the people’s organization and access to finance for livelihood purposes during planting. Support from the LGU is critical if the community is to make progress with planting and not lose interest. Livelihood support is needed for the early years because farmers’ time and effort are diverted from the normal income generating activities.”

The OMSP started with people working on the basis of volunteerism but the program has since provided incentives to ensure sustainability. They are now looking after the people’s welfare through modest but reasonable compensation which the community members appreciate.

While it takes time and effort to organize, Matalom has seen good results so far. Pison testifies, “Ang mga tao sumasali sa programa. Maganda naman ang tubo ng kahoy. Ang mga mangrove ay kumapal na.” (People join the program. The trees have grown well. The mangroves have thickened.)

The PO federation and the LGU continue to pursue organizing activities together. But they know that they are on a journey. They need further resources and a true mindset change towards involvement for sustainability. The important thing is that they have taken the first steps and are committed. They know that caring for and protecting their environment is ultimately for their own community’s good.

Rachelle San Pedro was in awe of the natural beauty of Matalom. In this photo, she enjoys the white sands and clear blue waters of Canigao island. She hopes that the municipality’s efforts in sustaining healthy forests and clean waters continue, for the enjoyment and benefit of generations to come.