The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) has issued an administrative order (AO) ensuring raw materials used in producing wood charcoal are only derived from legal sources.
Jim Sampulna, DENR acting secretary, said AO 2022-05 responds to the urgent need for improved governance on wood-based fuel.
“It is seen to bring the wood charcoal sector into the formal economy and arrest degradation of forest lands due to illegal cutting of trees to supply increasing demand for wood charcoal brought about by the rising prices of liquefied petroleum gas and electricity,” Sampulna said of the AO.
Under the directive, a charcoal producer is required to secure a wood charcoal production permit (WCPP) which has a three-year effectivity, renewable for another three.
The AO allows individual charcoal producers to organize themselves into cooperatives and be issued with the WCPP in the cooperative’s name.
However, the AO limits the sources of the raw materials to forest lands covered with DENR issued documents particularly those with cutting permits; tree plantations covered with tenurial instruments; socialized and industrial forest management agreements; ancestral lands covered by certificate of ancestral domain title with cutting permits; wood processing plants with permits; private tree plantations covered by certificate of tree plantation ownership and private tree plantation registration; private or titled lands with valid cutting permits; and private yard wastes.
The AO said the use of all mangrove species for charcoal is prohibited.
The new DENR policy also encourages interested wood charcoal production applicants and holders of tenure or wood raw materials and its derivatives to source their wood charcoal raw materials only from planted trees for fuelwood production; harvesting wastes; pruning and derivatives; processing wastes; and all other accumulated raw materials waste and residues generated.
The AO also requires traders or middlemen engaged in the selling of wood charcoal to secure a wood charcoal transport permit, which will only be effective per shipment from point to point and shall be accompanied by the original copies of the permit and official receipts.
Data from the Philippine Statistics Authority, based on its 2010 census, majority of Filipinos still use wood as fuel for cooking.
That year, 44.1 percent or 8.9 million households use wood for cooking followed by liquefied petroleum gas with 36.9 percent, charcoal with 13.1 percent, kerosene with 3 percent, electricity with 2.6 percent and the remaining 0.1 percent from various other fuels.
