Introduction

There has always been a keen interest in policy formulation and how forest and natural resources policies respond to the needs of the sector in terms of assessment and monitoring. Since 1987, more than 70 policies (departmental administrative orders, memorandum circulars, special orders) have been issued in the forestry sector alone. This does not include national legislation relating to the Clean Air Act, Indigenous People’s Rights Act, National Integrated Protected Areas Act, Mining Act and others. Legislation on sustainable forest management and a national land-use policy are under preparation. The Forestry Code of the Philippines (Presidential Decree 705) will be amended. The master plan for the Philippine environment and natural resources is being reviewed and some sections are being revised.

A policy is only as good as the information on which it is based. Good policies are able to respond to the needs of the sector and are able to adjust accordingly. That is why the aggregation of data from the field offices to the policy-making office is so vital in the formulation of responsive policies. There must be a conscious, deliberate and institutionalized link between data collection, the generation of information and policy formulation.

This study evaluated such a link including the flow of forest and natural resources data and information; the report is organized according to the objectives listed below. The subsequent sections contain a discussion of the objectives and the extent to which these were addressed within the constraints and limitations of the study.

The primary objective of the study was to prescribe the most cost-efficient and cost-effective methodology for data transfer and information flow. The specific objectives were to: