ABSTRACT
Efforts in the Philippines to sustain its local food and other development requirements are affected by land degradation brought about by inadequate land use policies, inappropriate land use and farming technologies, inadequate extension systems, and global trading and economic partnerships. These factors shape the national policy and provide the foundation for agricultural growth that will sustain local food and environmental security. The effect of the introduction of joint regional and global agricultural trading policies on land degradation in the next millennium will further reduce the land available for agricultural products. This global scenario has exerted a significant influence on resource development policies in the Philippines, and on the use of its natural resources. The impacts of the Environmental Degradation Decision Chain in Philippine agriculture explain the perpetuation of land degradation problems. Various legislative measures have been formulated to address environmental threats to agriculture. These include the draft National Land Use Act of the Philippines; The Agricultural and Fisheries Modernization Act; The Presidential Proclamation 1071 (Balanced Fertilization Strategy); and the draft bills on the promotion of sustainable farming technology. Sound methodology for the assembly of resource data, networking between and among countries, policies, and expert papers on land degradation, provide direction to the government to formulate relevant natural resource conservation legislation.
