In view of the economic opportunities that African oil palm offers, both in domestic and foreign market, there have been proposals from various sectors to consider African oil palm additional crop for forestry plantation development. Existing forestry tenurial instruments, a such as but not limited to IFMA, SIFMA, CBFMA and other forest land uses agreements 5 P henceforth being opened for such development. However, in consideration of the exigent technical and ecological requirements of the subject species, appropriate and proper safeguards are necessary to protect the remaining forest lands, both production and protection areas. Hence, the following revised guidelines is hereby issued for the guidance, information and strict implementation of all concerned:

1. The establishment of African oil palm plantation may be allowed in open areas/brush land areas of forest lands with slope of not more than 50% (approximately 26 degrees) and are not part of the designated protected areas, including its buffer zones. In no case shall African oil palm plantation be allowed within Protected Areas covered by Republic Act (RA) No 7586 or the National Integrated Protected Area System (N1PAS) law;
   
   
2. Areas proposed for African oil palm plantation establishment have to be jointly certified by the Provincial Office of the Philippine Coconut Authority, Department of Agriculture (PCA-DA) and Provincial Office of DENR as suitable and available, respectively, for African oil palm plantation development;
   
   
3. African oil palm plantation to be established within areas covered by existing tenurial instruments, such as IFMA and SIFMA, shall be confined only to the ten percent (10%) areas to be devoted for agro-forestry purposes in accordance with the comprehensive development and management plan (CDMP) and upon approval of the DENR Secretary;
   
   
4. For CBFM areas, planting of African Oil Palm shall be allowed subject to the approved and/or amended Community Resource Management Framework/Annual Work Plan (CRMF/AWP), as the case may be, and following the criteria in No. 1 and certification in No. 2 above;
   
   
5. For other existing forestry tenuria! instruments, existing policies and guidelines governing such tenurial instruments shall be strictly followed in awarding areas for the establishment of African oil palm plantation;
   
   
6. In no case shall conversion of existing natural forest and forest plantation (within production and protection forest) be allowed for the establishment of African oil palm Plantation; and
   
   
7. Establishment of any African oil palm plantation in forestlands shall be subject to Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) process.

The DENR Regional offices concerned, in coordination with the PCA-DA Regional Office concerned, are hereby instructed to identify and submit to the Office of the Secretary through the Office of the Director, Forest Management Bureau, the list of potential areas for the above purpose with corresponding maps of appropriate scale, considering the above conditions, criteria, and safeguards.

This Memorandum Circular supersedes DENR Memorandum Circular No. 2003 is and takes effect immediately.

Adopted: 31 Aug. 2004

(SGD.) ELISEA G. GOZUN
Secretary