Section 3Sec./Art. 3

Definition of Terms. As used in this Act, the following terms are defined as follows:

1. "Palawan" refers to the Philippine province composed of islands and islets located 7deg47' and 12deg22' north latitude and 117deg00' and 119deg51' east longititude, generally bounded by the South China Sea to the northwest and by the Sulu Sea to the east;

2. "Sustainable development" means the improvement in the quality of life of the present and future generations through the complementation of development and environmental protection activities;

3. "Natural resources" refers to life-support systems such as the sea, coral reef, soil, lakes, rivers, streams, and forests as well as useful products found therein such as minerals, wildlife, trees and other plants, including the aesthetic attributes of scenic sites that are not man-made;

4. "Tribal land areas" refers to the areas comprising both land and sea that are traditionally occupied by the cultural minorities;

5. "Environmentally critical areas" refers to terrestrial, aquatic and marine areas that need special protection and conservation measures as they are ecologically fragile;

6. "Participatory processes" means the involvement of all the key sectors of development, from the grassroots to the policy-making bodies of the National Government, in providing the values and ideas from which strategic development and environmental protection action can come about;

7. "Conservation" refers to the wise use of natural resources that assures regeneration and replenishment for continuous benefit;

8. "Ecology" refers to the life-sustaining interrelationships and interactions of organisms with each other and with their physical surroundings;

9. "Commercial logging" refers to the cutting, felling or destruction of trees from old growth and residual forests for the purpose of selling or otherwise disposing of the cut or felled logs for profit;

10. "SEP" refers to the Strategic Environmental Plan discussed in Section 4 of this Act;

11. "ECAN" refers to the Environmentally Critical Areas Network as provided in Section 7 of this Act; and

12. "EMES" refers to the Environmental Monitoring and Evaluation System provided in Section 13 of this Act.

CHAPTER II

STRATEGIC ENVIRONMENTAL PLAN:

ADOPTION, PHILOSOPHY AND LEGAL EFFECTS