Sanchez: Negative and positive incentives

I CALL it dumbo economics to let the market freely work its magic on the economy. Because there's no such thing. Without the hand of the State, the "magic" finds itself morphing into a hex.

Take the case of a popular-and largely illegal-forest product. The province is famous for being inasal country, from high to low end restaurants, not to mention in residential areas. But that requires a steady supply of charcoal, normally produced from native hardwood species.

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If we allow the free market on a roll, we'll wake one day to find no more charcoals because are no more forest trees left. No environment, no more food businesses. No hay nada más!

That of course is not necessarily our future. The citizens can do their share as well as their government to protect the business climate and our forest ecology.

The future need not look grim. The government has been scoring big against illegal loggers. The PNP recently seized a truckload of undocumented charcoal along the Hinobaan highway. The de-karga was loaded with 500 sacks of charcoal worth P40,000, reportedly from Bayawan, Negros Oriental.

Of course, credit for these major gains in law enforcement goes to Governor Alfredo Marañon Jr. for reviving Task Force Ilahas. TFI is coordinating the various police units to intensify the campaign against forest destruction. The TFI proved its mettle with law enforcement.

TFI scored anew with the seizure of 34,000 board feet of lumber and timber from banned tree species worth P1.4 million, in the hinterlands of Barangay Damutan, Hinobaan.

I also have to commend PENRO Jesse Vego on his plans to deputize Army soldiers as Environment and Natural Resources Officers to stop unabated timber poaching activities in the province.

The PENRO trained 179 soldiers of the 62nd Infantry Battalion, Task Group South West and 303rd Infantry Brigade, based on a Memorandum of Agreement signed with Colonel Maximo Caro. The soldiers gained basic knowledge in the implementation of forestry laws, rules and regulations, in preparation for their deputization as ENROs.

Forest poachers now know this government means business. They cannot violate environmental laws with impunity. Instead of earning points, they can count the days in prison. That's an incentive if negative: to stop poaching.

On the other hand, what are positive incentives to stop timber poaching? After all, desperate situations call for desperate measures. A person is hard to deter from poaching if even at the risk of his personal freedom he can feed his family.

Forests are more than just timber. There are also non-timber resources. What can the government do to tap these resources? What agencies to tap for developing new livelihoods? How about skills development for weaving cogon or pandan products or bamboo craft? How about market linkages?

I've been to different government agencies and even among NGOs. Save for the Broad Initiatives for Negros Development and the Non-Timber Forest Product-Task Force, I have yet to see how other agencies and institutions provide would-be poachers in hinterland communities with alternative livelihoods.

How about food security for mountain communities? Agroforestry development? It's been years since I encountered anyone promoting this system. Agro-tourism or other forms of ecological tourism? State-led development should balance the needs of the economy and the environment.

The approach should be a sort of carrot-and-stick. Too many stick approaches will, down the road, be ineffective if poachers are pinned against the wall.

But if they see it makes more sense to produce legally-harvested products and supported by the government, that could make a lot of sense for the economy and the ecology.

Please email comments to bqsanc@yahoo.com