Forest ecosystem services are critical to building climate resilience in the Philippines. With two-thirds of the poor living in rural areas and relying heavily on natural resources for their livelihoods and subsistence, healthy forests are a natural, lowcost adaptation strategy against the impacts of climate change and a vital asset to income and wealth generation. This study sheds new light on two important aspects of climate change and forest ecosystems. It looks at how forest ecosystems help enhance people’s resilience to climate impacts, and how forest ecosystems support livelihood development for the poor. Findings of the study are expected to provide technical guidance for the NGP and will complement ongoing efforts by the Philippine
government. By providing evidence of the potential benefits of forests for enhancing community resilience and by accounting for the benefits of forests in supporting local livelihoods, the study recommends that ecosystem service modeling and valuation, forest use analysis and scenarios be incorporated into forest land use planning and forest management. An ecosystem accounting approach is well suited as the framework for such work, which also requires hydrological modeling to pinpoint the specific forest areas of high importance to water regulation.