Economic Valuation of Bamboo Forest in Baracatan,Toril, Davao City

I.RATIONALE

The Philippine archipelago, composed of 7,100 islands, is located between latitudes

5oN and 21oN and longitudes 116oE and 127oE. It is bordered by the Luzon strait to the
north the Pacific Ocean to the east, the Celebes Sea toward the south, the Sulu and South
China Seas toward the west (FAO, 1995 and World Resources Institute, 1994). It has a
total land area of 30 million ha, 53 percent (15.88 m. ha) of which is forest land (Philippine
Forestry Statistics 1996). There are approximately 83 million Filipinos (Philippine
Statistical Yearbook, 2005). Two thirds of the population lives in rural areas. The total
labor force in 1993 was 26.8 million (13.0 million in urban areas, and 13.8 million in rural
areas) with 10 percent unemployed (de Los Angeles and Ygrubay, 1992). Landless
individuals are bound to relocate to the precarious uplands where they convert
timberlands to ranches through cut and consume development and the most eminent
outcome is forest degradation. In 1994, it was assessed that deforestation happens at a
pace of 100,000 ha per year (http://anythingaboutbamboo.blogspot.com/2010/11/philippine-
national-report-on-bamboo.html).This could be especially valid in the interest for
characteristic assets, for example, wood. Fast extraction of these assets will drain the
forest which may cause supply deficiency. This scenario can be even more devastating
as climate change comes in attention. To successfully reverse the current trend of forest
degradation, experts continuously search for alternative materials that can be use aside
from wood. One of these materials is bamboo. This could be particularly true in the
demand for natural resources such as wood. Rapid extraction of these resources will
reduce the forest which may cause supply shortage.

Bamboo was considered as a minor forest product until its recent emergence as an
important non-timber resource that can substitute wood in many applications. There is
now increasing attention given to bamboo for its economic and environmental benefits
(Zhou et al. 2005). In the Philippines, bamboos are intertwined with our environment,
economy, and culture. Bamboos have played a significant role since our forefathers. From
construction, furniture and handicraft manufacture, food, cooking, etc., bamboos have
been popularly used by many communities. In different parts of the country, many
individuals, groups, and communities depend on bamboos for their livelihood such as
production of furniture, basket weaving, novelty items, bamboo carving, and many more.
However, many communities are losing their natural bamboo stands, due to excessive
harvesting and lack of knowledge in terms of bamboo plantation establishment (Roxas C.
2012.).

A bamboo plant consists of a root system and several culms (because bamboo is a grass,
its ‘stem’ is called culm). Different from trees, the width of the culm is already determined
during its sprouting, and does not increase in diameter afterwards. Bamboos can be
typified according to their root system into two types: sympodial (pachymorph, common
called ‘clumper’) and monopodial (leptomorph, commonly called ‘runner’ (de Vos, 2010).

Bamboo isn't an indigenous material surely understood to structural engineers. Lack

of dependable specialized data lead this local material as foreign and unviable. In today’s
society, acknowledgment of bamboo as regular development materials is becoming
because of its common qualities and great mechanical properties. As a matter of fact,
some regions in the world continue to use bamboo structures up to this day (Xiao et. al.,
2008)
https://www.academia.edu/9716806/BAMBOO-.

Roxas C. 2012. Handbook on erect bamboo species found in the Philippines. ERDB, DENR, College, Laguna.