Because of its name, the Department of Science and Technology’s Forest Products Research and Development Institute (DoST-FPRDI) – is sometimes misunderstood as being anti-environment. Some people think that the agency’s mandate promotes deforestation, the alleged culprit behind the devastating floods that hit the country in 2020.
It is not true, of course, that the Institute endorses deforestation. While it did study premium timber and catered to the needs of the forest-using industries during its earlier years, it began in the 1980s to study other related natural products. As the country’s wood supply began to dwindle due to reckless logging, the agency had to look for substitute raw materials for its clients in the housing, pulp and paper, handicrafts and furniture sectors.