By the year 2050 there will be a lot more people living on this planet then there are now. Estimates range anywhere from 6 to 13 billion people (Lutz 9). Where will these people live? How will they live? The answer is sustainable development. Sustainable development means different things to different people. But a clear definition can be- "Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs." (WCED) Sustainable development focuses on improving the quality of life for all of the Earth's citizens without increasing the use of natural resources beyond the capacity of the environment to supply them indefinitely. requires an understanding that inaction has consequences and that we must find innovative ways to change institutional structures and influence individual behavior.(WCED). It is about taking action, changing policy and practice at all levels, from the individual to the international. Sustainable development is being ignored in The Philippines, and is practiced in countries like Panama and Costa Rica. These Countries must learn from each other's failures and success to discover what sustainable development involves in their own country.
Sustainable development can be categorized into three divisions, economic, environmental, and social. If sustainability is to occur it should meet these three divisions. In the Philippines, none of these conditions are being met. The loss of forests in the country has been accelerated by deliberate government policies to open virgin forest lands.(Gillis 196) The first public land act in 1903 opened publicly owned virgin forests and encouraged homeless people who did not own land to settle there. By the end of World War II, the population of the region had grown rapidly and the cries for more land mounted. .
By the 50's and 60's came another policy that would have an even greater harmful effect on the forests, the "land for the landless" policy.