The Conference has three themes that serve as a guide to the daily discussions on food, forests, and farmers in the Philippines. These shall be discussed in detail through parallel sessions on Day 2.
Theme 1: Financing Local Protection of Natural Resources and Enhancing Provisioning Services
The products that we obtain from ecosystems for basic human needs such as food, water, minerals, shelter, and fuel are known as provisioning or ecosystem/ecological services. Many of these services are traded in markets but in many rural households, they directly rely on these services for their livelihoods. In this case, the value given by the markets may not reflect the same importance and prices that the local communities are giving to the ecosystem services.
Theme 2: Increasing Productivity and Adding Value to Regulating and Supporting Services to Farmers
Regulating services are often invisible and mostly taken for granted. Maintaining quality air and soil, providing flood and disease control, or pollinating crops are some of the “regulating services” provided by ecosystems. While supporting services are the living spaces for plants or animals and maintaining the diversity of plants and animals
Theme 3 Improving Livelihoods to Foster Inclusive Economic Growth to Culture and Socio-EconomicServices
Cultural services are deeply interconnected with each other and often connected to provisioning and regulating services, i.e. small scale farmers are not only about food and income, but also about the farmers’ way of life.
