Let’s Set the Record Straight: Who’s Really Destroying Palawan’s Forests?

The Environmental Legal Assistance Center (ELAC) is calling out the misleading narrative that upland farmers and Indigenous Peoples (IPs) are the primary cause of deforestation in Palawan. This framing—promoted by the Palawan Council for Sustainable Development (PCSD)—ignores the real drivers of forest loss: large-scale mining, land conversion, and weak environmental governance.

In our official press statement, we urge the PCSD to:

Fully implement the SEP Law (RA 7611)
Recognize and support traditional sustainable farming practices
End the scapegoating and criminalization of Indigenous communities
Address extractive industries and poor enforcement of environmental policies

ELAC stands firmly with IPs and small upland farmers who have long protected our forests through sustainable, traditional practices. Blaming them for environmental degradation only distracts from the unregulated industries and failed policies that truly threaten our last ecological frontier.

Support the call for justice and forest protection by signing the petition :

Read ELAC’s full press statement here .

#SavePalawanForests #JusticeForIPs #StopScapegoating #ImplementSEPLaw #ELAC #EnvironmentalJustice #ProtectPalawan