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Estimates place forest cover in the Philippines in the year 1900 at 21 million hectares, covering 70 % of the total land area

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This loss of cultural communities is closely linked to the loss of biodiversity. Tropical forests are rich in herbs, woody plants, birds, insects, and animal life. Destroying the forests means destroying the myriad creatures and flora on which the indigenous communities depend. Forest loss also means loss of forest products such as, rattan, resins, and gums, a source of livelihood for indigenous people.

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The Philippines government instantly tried to take action, but was unfortunately met by different struggles and failed to establish a solid solution. However, attempts like the selective logging system in the 1960s was published to save the forest, but was good only on paper.

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The 1960s and 1970s saw a boom in the logging industry, with the industry reaching its peak during the era of President Ferdinand Marcos

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In June 1977, President Ferdinand Marcos signed a law requiring the planting of one tree every month for five consecutive years by every citizen of the Philippines. The law, however, was repealed by President Corazon Aquino in July 1987, with the sole reason that the planting of trees "can be achieved without the compulsion and the penalties for non-compliance therewith as set forth in the Decree"

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Deforestation remained very high during the Corazon Aquino and Fidel V. Ramos administrations despite tree-planting efforts due to corruption and inefficiency in the government agencies involved.

It shrank further to 6.4 million hectares just after the People Power Revolution in 1986. Rehabilitation efforts had been in place since the 1910s, but the country’s forest cover never recovered.

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The community-based forest management system was published

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By 1999, forests covered 5.5 million hectares; only 800,000 hectares of this was primary forest.

The destruction of the Philippine forest was the subject of a recent study (1999), Decline of the Philippine Forest, by the Institute of Environmental Science for Social Change (ESSC).

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A 2010 land cover mapping by the National Mapping and Resource Information Authority (NAMRIA) revealed that the total forest cover of the Philippines is 6,839,718 hectares (68,397.18 km²) or 23% of the country's total area of 30,000,000 hectares

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President Benigno Aquino III established the National Greening Program in 2011

The program aims to increase the country's forest cover in 1.5 million hectares (15,000 km²) of land with 1.5 billion trees from 2011 to 2016

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Forest management and protection are an important part of the Philippines’ strategy to reduce its carbon emissions by 70 percent by 2030, a commitment made for the new global agreement on climate change reached in Paris (Dec. 2015)

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The Southeast Asian country aims to reduce its emissions from deforestation and slash-and-burn farming largely through a scheme called REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation), in which developing countries are compensated for protecting their forests.

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The Philippine government aims to meet its reforestation targets by cooperating with various sectors of society. Private sector plantations will focus on timber production. Government plantations will rehabilitate degraded forest areas and protect watersheds.