After one and half year of intensive preparation, scoping, typhoons and rebel encounters we are pleased to announce that LaForeT Philippines completed its fieldwork in its 12 study landscapes in April 2018.

This success was only possible with the help of our country experts from the LaForeT partners:

• University of the Philippines Los Banos (Prof. Dr Juan Pulhin & Priscila Dolom, UPLB),
• Isabella State University (Assoc. Prof. Dr Cecillia Mangabat, ISU) and
• Visayas State University (Assoc. Prof. Dr. Renz Come and Assoc. Prof. Dr. Angel Baldos, VSU),
• and our regional field teams of up to twenty assistants that were working in our core study regions Leyte (Leyte and Southern Leyte Provinces) and Northern Luzon (Cagayan, Nueva Vizcaya, Quirino Provinces).

Altogether we conducted fieldwork in 60 Barangays (villages), conducted 36 key informant interviews, 48 focus group workshops, assessed 391 inventory plots (prim./sec. forest, agroforestry, plantations, grassland), interviewed 1228 households and recorded over 6000 ground control points for satellite data interpretation in the field.
We thank all partners, communities and people in the villages for active participation and look forward to the next challenge: scientific and integrated data evaluation, and the organisation of regional feedback workshops.

Left picture: The regional fieldwork team at Isabella State University in Northern Luzon with the LaForeT country coordinator Dr Melvin Lippe (far left) and the regional project coordinator Dr. Cecillia Mangabat (far right).

Right picture: Local charcoal making in the middle of a secondary forest in Barangay Patunungan, Sta Anna, Cagayan Province