Philippine Senate Approves Debate on Log Ban Bill
8/31/99
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Title: Philippine Senate Approves Debate on Log Ban Bill
Source: Xinhua
Status: Copyright 1999, contact source for permission to reprint
Date: August 31, 1999
MANILA (Aug. 31) XINHUA - The Philippine Senate has approved for
floor debate a bill seeking to impose a total ban on commercial
logging in a bid to allow the country's forest resources to
regenerate, the Philippine News Agency reported Tuesday.
The approval came after the Senate Environment and Natural Resources
Committee filed a report on Monday to back the bill which calls for a
ban on commercial logging for the next 30 years.
The bill, also known as the proposed Sustainable Management of Forest
Resources Act, bans the commercial cutting of trees in all types of
forests in the Philippines.
With the country losing 150,000 hectares of forest cover each year,
the bill's sponsor Loren Legarda warned that "by the turn of the
century, the country would have no old-growth forest left."
"This means we shall have no protection from the ravages of flooding,
siltation, erosion, loss of biodiversity and greenhouse gases," she
added.