DENR under fire for distributing ‘invasive’ mahogany seedlings despite its own warnings

The DENR gave Bacacay, Albay, 1,568 mahogany seedlings despite government research warning that the species can outcompete native trees in natural forests.

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) is once again under fire for its decision to provide more than a thousand mahogany seedlings to a community in Bacacay, Albay, despite years of government research warning about the species’ potential impact on local forests.

Bacacay Mayor Daniel “Nookie” Bombales posted on Facebook on August 14 that the DENR Bicol Regional Office and its Conservation and Development Division had provided the town with 2,205 kupang and 1,568 mahogany seedlings, which residents can request through the Municipal Environment and Natural Resources Office.

The issue lies with the second species, Swietenia macrophylla, or large-leaf mahogany, which has long been used for timber plantations and reforestation because of its rapid growth.

DENR’s own Philippine Biodiversity Strategy identifies large-leaf mahogany as an alien species that can outcompete indigenous dipterocarp and non-dipterocarp trees in natural forests because it produces and spreads seeds effectively.

Research from the University of the Philippines Los Baños has likewise documented mahogany as a potential bioinvasion threat in Mt. Makiling, where it has become a dominant or co-dominant species in several reforestation sites.

The DENR’s Philippine Guidebook on Plant Species Suitable for Urban Greening itself lists mahogany as better suited to plantations or production forests than to urban green spaces. Its own rainforestation strategy promotes the cultivation of other indigenous and endemic tree species to restore degraded forests and conserve biodiversity.

While it does not automatically mean every mahogany seedling will damage an ecosystem, many question where and how these 1,568 seedlings will be planted in Bacacay.

For an agency tasked with protecting Philippine biodiversity, many demand to know what ecological assessment guided the selection of mahogany for this particular community, and whether native species were considered instead.

radar Business has reached out to DENR Bicol for a statement, but had received no reply as of writing.

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