Around 90% of the Sierra Madre, which protects the Philippines from the worst of climate change, is gone.
The Sierra Madre range protects the main island of the Philippines from the worst of the stormsFrancisco Elle is haunted by the faces of children he could not save.
He once made a living chopping down these trees which had taken centuries to grow. Now in his 50s, he has turned from illegal logger to forest ranger after witnessing what he describes as "nature's revenge". "People say illegal logging is destroying nature, but God gave all this to us so we can use it," says Marc. He is in his mid-50s and makes a living illegally cutting down wood for housing and other construction projects.
"We wait until midnight because we are hiding from the soldiers and forest rangers. We will get paid a week after that."My message to people is to not get angry at us because we don't actually want to do this," Marc says. "We can only get our money for basic necessities from farming our land. Others can afford to get mad because they have other sources of livelihood but for us, we have none.
Under the rainforest canopy, Francisco vows to keep working to ensure "history will not repeat itself". A Global Witness report identified the Philippines as one of the most dangerous places in the world to be an environmental or land rights activist."Once, we called out to someone to tell them to stop cutting trees. They told us that they might kill us," Francisco says.
The Philippines is losing around 47,000 hectares of rainforest each year, according to the Forest Management Bureau of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources. That's an area around the size of 87,700 football fields. It is also thought to have the highest number of threatened species in the world.This vast mountain range is also rich in copper, gold, nickel, chromite and limestone.
Getting a true picture of the scale of mining projects along the Sierra Madre mountain range which spans 10 provinces is difficult. The BBC contacted local officials in each province to find out how many permits they had issued in the last five years. These countries are hoping richer nations will help. The Democratic Republic of the Congo, Indonesia and Brazil, home to 52% of the world's rainforests,The Philippines has turned to China to help fund a huge dam to meet the rising demand for water in Metro Manila, Rizal and Quezon. Officials argue the benefits of the project outweigh the disruption to the environment. But others fear it will further erode precious flora and fauna, and pave the way for other developments.
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