From the Field In the Philippines, a tribal leader guards a forest stronghold

It was nearly midday when we reached the summit, but the sun had not yet touched the observation deck. The sea of green stretching across 3,700 hectares of the Higaonon tribe’s ancestral land in the Philippines’ Northern Mindanao region offered calm and quiet—until a short squeaky ngeek-ngeek echoed through the vast landscape. 

The all-black female Mindanao hornbill (Penelopides affinis), just a few meters above us, was doing its routine check. “Now we know it’s time for lunch,” quipped Datu Lumiliwan Ramil Ansihagan, one of the community’s tribal leaders. 

Locally known as kalaws, these nature’s timekeepers are critical barometers of forest health. Where their staccato calls are heard four to six times a day signal a healthy and thriving ecosystem as hornbills feed on fruits and seeds, and food animals like lizards and beetles in well-developed primary and secondary forests. 

The lush remaining forest in the indigenous groups’ ancestral domain in Sitio Talangisog in Gingoog City, nearly 1,300 kilometers south of the capital Manila, is a renowned flight corridor for the endemic Mindanao hornbill and the IUCN Red List’s near threatened Writhed hornbill (Rhabdotorrhinus leucocephalus). Dubbed farmers of the forests, they are critical for the natural regeneration and maintenance of forested lands, dispersing seeds more efficiently than other avian counterparts by traveling far and wide to search for fruit-bearing trees.  

“I used to take photographs of the different kinds of birds visiting our neighborhood,” recalled Datu Ramil, noting that the influx of various bird species prompted his advocacy for forest restoration in 2018. Kalaws are also often found roosting on a decades-old gigantic tree standing just right outside the datu’s backyard. “Those photos I shared online reached groups of wildlife enthusiasts who then showed interest in coming to our area and opening opportunities for ecotourism.” 

Datu Ramil upholds his generation’s lineage of alimaong, an esteemed guardian who is responsible for maintaining peace and order in his community.  

With this tribal duty, his routine involved roaming around the sitio to check his members’ welfare. But beyond community service, Datu Ramil responded to the call to protect the wildlife by safeguarding their remaining forest. 

“By serving as tour guides, our wildlife provided us with incomes,” shared the leader. “Only then I fully understood the value of keeping the birds and other wildlife species free from poaching. But it all must start with protecting and developing our forests, especially with native trees.” 

Datu was alluding to the community’s historical reliance on poaching and hunting wildlife, particularly hornbills, for sustenance, as well as the continued practice of kaingin (slash-and-burn) for agriculture and agro-forestry crops. But under his leadership as alimaong, illegal activities have been significantly curtailed after imposing a strict ban, recognizing that habitat loss due to forest conversion to agriculture remains the single biggest threat to wildlife diversity. 

While respecting his indigenous roots, Datu Ramil embraced new methods for evaluating, sourcing, and managing diverse native tree seeds, according to For. Enrique Tolentino, vice chair of APFORGEN and professor at UPLB-CFNR. The latter’s team led a four-day workshop with farmer group leaders and forest restoration implementers, which sought to reinforce indigenous knowledge and demonstrate efficient seed and seedling production techniques such as micropropagation and cloning. 

“One of the pillar principles of FLR is the employment of local knowledge, particularly indigenous knowledge,” said Professor Tolentino on involving the likes of Datu Ramil in the campaign for forest restoration. “The rich knowledge that the Indigenous Peoples possess are very essential in identifying the ecosystems in a degraded landscape that needs to be restored, the choice of native tree species that could be planted, including their propagule sources and even method of propagation and tree management.” 

Featuring hands-on sessions at the Mindanao Forest Tree Seed Center (MFTSC) headquarters in Bislig City, the event capacitated participants with the latest techniques in seed propagation and cultivation. As part of the program, Datu Ramil also received essential nursery equipment including seedling bags, netting, UV plastic for wildlings stored in the recovery chamber, and insecticides. 

Supporting local nurseries near the seed source forests is vital to accelerating restoration campaigns in a country that continues to absorb the impacts of its dwindling forests. In the Philippines, the forest cover is down to about 26%, where only about 11% is primary forest rich with native species, said Alliance scientist Dr. Riina Jalonen, who is also the convener of APFORGEN. 

The rate of persistent forest conversion and unsustainable land use, which in turn drives the continued decline of few and quality remaining seed sources across the country, slows down efforts to restore degraded landscapes as such heavily relies on access to quality and site-adapted seeds. 

“Scattered trees and small forest fragments that are commonly used as seed sources lack the genetic diversity necessary for establishing adaptive, resilient forest ecosystems. This makes forests on ancestral domain lands, such as those under the custody of the Higaonon tribe, invaluable treasure troves for both conservation and restoration,” Dr. Jalonen explained.