ABSTRACT
This chapter introduces the Philippines, before highlighting its characteristics as a case country for the study of Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (PGRFA) management, with a view to the potentials for generalization to other developing countries. The Republic of the Philippines is an archipelago of 7,107 islands in tropical Southeast Asia, north of the equator. From 1995 to 1997 a Philippine Biodiversity Assessment Report was prepared, which led to the formulation of a comprehensive National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (NBSAP), approved in June 1997. In the meantime, Philippine Agenda 21 had been developed in a broad-based participatory process, formally put into effect by President Ramos through Memorandum Order 399 in September 1996. Projects based on the National Integrated Protected Areas System Act were the most important efforts at implementing the NBSAP, indicating that the Act represented a substantial foundation for the Strategy and Action Plan. An Indigenous People's Rights Act had been formulated and approved in 1997.
