The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), in partnership with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), recently conducted a three-day training for DENR Speakers Bureau members responsible for the dissemination of information and promoting compliance with Republic Act (RA) 11898, or the Extended Producers Responsibility (EPR) Act of 2022.

More than 50 employees from the DENR Central Office and Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) underwent a rigorous training to help prepare them cascade accurate information about the EPR law to various stakeholders.

EPR law requires large companies to adopt and implement policies for the proper management of plastic packaging wastes. Last January, the DENR led by Secretary Antonia Loyzaga issued the Implementing Rules and Regulations of RA 11898 after it lapsed into law on July 23, 2022.

The EPR Speakers Bureau Training held from March 29 to 31 in Quezon City was the first of a series of trainings organized by the DENR to equip its concerned workers with the proper knowledge and skills to effectively spread information about the EPR law.

During the training, the participants gained comprehensive understanding of the EPR Act provisions, including the functions of every stakeholder and the vital role of EPR in sustainable development, circular economy, climate change and biodiversity.

Those who successfully completed the training will be in the frontline of information on the EPR law across the regions, and will serve as resource speakers on upcoming trainings for stakeholders from the private sector, local government units, and waste diversion organizations.

DENR Assistant Secretary for Field Operations - Luzon and Visayas and EMB Director in Concurrent Capacity Gilbert C. Gonzales expressed hope the members of the EPR Speakers Bureau will be able to effectively disseminate the important provisions and necessary activities and programs under the law in order to ensure that its objectives are achieved.

“We are very glad that finally we are able to start somehow the important activities that we need to undertake under the EPR implementation. One of these is this preparation and training of our future messengers of information related to EPR,” Gonzales said.

With effective enforcement, EPR is seen to significantly aid in the long-standing problem of solid waste management in the country and help sustain the National Plan of Action for the Prevention, Reduction, and Management of Marine Litter; restore biodiversity; and achieve climate goals.

According to UNDP Programme Analyst Gwyneth Anne Palmos, EPR and circular economy are mainly associated with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 12, which pertains to Responsible Consumption and Production as it primarily aims to achieve sustainable management and efficient use of natural resources.

“EPR and circular economy when implemented in an integrated, holistic and just manner, can help drive the achievement of all SDGs,” Palmos pointed out.

The EPR law establishes as an environmental policy approach and program, a mechanism that places upon producers the responsibility for the entire life cycle of plastic waste, especially its post-consumer or end-of-life stage.

The EPR practice focuses on the segregation of waste at source and collection; waste reduction, recovery, and recycling; development of environmentally-friendly products; and application of internationally-accepted principles on sustainable consumption and production.

By prioritizing resource efficiency and quality, EPR promotes the elimination of unnecessary packaging or ensuring necessary packaging is reusable, recyclable or compostable; and the circularity of these, keeping it in the economy and out of the environment.

Among the strategies to successfully implement EPR include redesigning existing packaging, sourcing biodegradable materials, restructuring its business models, extending life of products, policy advocacy campaigns, and stakeholder mobilization.

Shifting away from the practice of a linear economy or the take-make-dispose pattern, EPR is a vital enabler towards the wider scope of circular economy as it maximizes the use of materials and relocates ways from the end of the supply chain to the beginning.

The Speakers Bureau Training is part of a larger EPR campaign slated in May this year, which aims to obtain commitments on the compliance and implementation of EPR among obliged enterprises, collectives, and producers responsibility organizations (PROs), and to establish partnerships with key agencies in the public sector.

To date, 632 obliged enterprises, collectives and PROs, and volunteer organizations have submitted their EPR programs with the National Ecology Center. #

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Published: 12 April 2023

The Philippines and the United Kingdom will hold another round of dialogue to further strengthen their cooperation on priority climate change and environmental concerns, such as reducing greenhouse gas emissions, water security, biodiversity conservation, marine pollution, and sustainable and green climate finance.

Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) Secretary Antonia Loyzaga and UK Ambassador to the Philippines Laure Beaufils will lead on April 13 the 3rd PH-UK Climate Change and Environment (CCE) Dialogue, which is expected to take the partnership of the two nations to new heights by building on the gains from two important agreements forged in 2020 and 2022.

Sealed during a dialogue held on Nov. 27, 2020, the first PH-UK CCE partnership deal served as a platform to facilitate discussion on shared priorities on climate change and environment between the two governments, with a joint focus on energy transition, nature-based solutions and green economic recovery.

In the second partnership agreement, signed at the culmination of the dialogue held on Feb. 10, 2022, the Philippines and UK agreed on a joint work plan that served as a guide in identifying priority areas of collaboration.

Specifically, these priority areas revolved around building resilience of the economy, ecosystems and communities in the context of climate change; establishing policies and regulatory frameworks towards clean energy and net zero pathways by 2050; sustainable finance and greening the financial system; and stronger collaboration and increase awareness of institutions and communities in tackling climate change.

The 3rd PH-UK Dialogue seeks to build on the gains made from the past agreements and will work on the preparation of an updated PH-UK CCE Action Work Plan 2023-2024 to be signed by Secretary Loyzaga and Ambassador Beaufils on behalf of the Philippine and UK governments, respectively.

Secretary Loyzaga will sign the renewed partnership agreement in her capacity as representative of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to the Climate Change Commission (CCC) and Chairperson of the Cabinet Cluster on Climate Change Adaptation, Mitigation and Disaster Risk Reduction.

Expected to take part in the dialogue are senior executive officials from concerned national government agencies, such as the CCC, the Department of Foreign Affairs, the Department of Science and Technology, the Department of Agriculture, the Department of the Interior and Local Government, the Department of Finance, the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development, and the Department of Energy.

Also invited are the officials from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, the Department of Budget and Management, the National Economic and Development Authority, the Public-Private Partnership Center, and the Securities and Exchange Commission. #
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Published: 10 April 2023

The Philippines, through the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), hosted a training workshop on climate finance access and mobilization for ASEAN Member States (AMS) at the Dusit Thani Hotel in Makati City from March 20 to 23.

Organized by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Secretariat, the workshop aimed to build the capacity and skills of the country representatives by providing them with information and tools in accessing and mobilizing climate finance to support their priority climate adaptation and mitigation needs.

It is a component of the Needs-based Finance (NBF) Project, which was established in response to the request by the parties to the UNFCCC to explore ways and means to assist developing nations in assessing their needs and priorities in a country-driven manner, including their technological needs, to translate climate finance needs into action.

“The needs-based framework should be designed with a regional perspective to engage regional and country actors to climate action,” DENR Undersecretary for Policy, Planning, and International Affairs Jonas R. Leones said in his welcome remarks at the workshop.

The workshop provided the platform to validate and refine the Climate Finance Access and Mobilization Strategy developed by the AMS that aims to provide the framework for AMS to improve access and benefit from climate finance mechanisms both internationally, regionally, and domestically. This strategy will provide the possible areas of collaboration among AMS.

During the 27th Conference of Parties to the UNFCCC in November 2022, the Philippine Delegation led by DENR Secretary and Climate Change Commission Chairperson-Designate Antonia Loyzaga emphasized the urgent need to scale up climate financing and make it more accessible to vulnerable countries.

The UNFCCC workshop was participated in by experts of the NBF Project; operating entities of the Financial Mechanisms of the UNFCCC, United Nations agencies and bilateral, regional, and other multilateral channels, direct access entities; and representatives from the 10 AMS, namely Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, and the Philippines.

The ASEAN Secretariat assisted the UNFCCC Secretariat in facilitating the workshop.#

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Published: 05 April 2023

The Philippines committed to accelerate action towards attaining universal, adequate, affordable and equitable access to safe drinking water and sanitation services during the 2023 United Nations (UN) Water Conference in New York City.

Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) Secretary Antonia Loyzaga, designated Head of the Philippine Delegation by President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr., said the Philippines is committed to enact the global water sector resilience agenda through engineering solutions that address physical risks, and the ecological, socioeconomic, and governance challenges.

“Today, we stand ready to commit to a global water sector resilience agenda that ensures reliable and equitable access to safe water, sanitation, improved health and gender equality,” Loyzaga said before the UN General Assembly on March 22.

She urged member States to ensure that the UN water resiliency agenda is integrated in the key agreements under the Sustainable Development Goals, Paris Agreement, Convention on Biological Diversity, and the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction to scale up commitments to adaptation finance for reliable and safe water supply management and use.

Loyzaga said the Philippines, through the collective efforts of national government agencies, is currently pursuing a strategic balance between supply and consumption of water for health, food, energy, and environmental security, and is adopting an all hazards and risk-informed integrated water resource management approach to inform national level plans and actions.

The DENR has established a national natural geospatial database to achieve cross-cutting development goals, de-risk investments, and improve water resource management down to the community level. This also underpins the Department’s natural capital accounting program that will provide a physical basis for the development and implementation of water-related social and infrastructure policies and programs.

President Marcos has also directed the creation of the Water Resource Management Office (WRMO) under the DENR, an apex body that will integrate the functions of all agencies with water-related mandates.

Loyzaga added that vertical integration is also being pursued to ensure the alignment of local government water-related policies and actions with the Philippine Development Plan.

“The water sector has the opportunity to lead change and deliver transformative solutions in our quest for climate-resilient and sustainable development. Let us all unleash this potential to ensure that no person, no community, and no ecosystem is left behind,” Loyzaga said.

The UN Water Conference, convened by the UN General Assembly from March 22 to 24, aims to accelerate collective action towards universal access to safe water and sanitation by 2030.

The Philippine Delegation to the 2023 UN Water Conference is composed of officials from the DENR, National Economic and Development Authority, Department of Foreign Affairs, Department of Finance, Department of Budget and Management, Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System, Local Water Utilities Administration, National Housing Authority, and Department of Health. #

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Published: 04 April 2023

The Philippine Delegation to the 58th Session of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) lauded the approval of the Synthesis Report (SYR) that will serve as a resource for policymakers in reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and adapt to human-caused climate change.

The all-women Philippine Delegation was led by Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) Undersecretary Analiza Rebuelta-Teh, with Manila Observatory Head of the Regional Climate Systems Laboratory Dr. Faye Abigail T. Cruz, and Climate Change Commission Commissioner Rachel Anne S. Herrera.

The report, approved by government representatives during a week-long session from March 13 to 19 in Interlaken, Switzerland, is an integrated and up-to-date analysis on climate change that includes an overview of the state of knowledge on the science of climate change based on the three Working Groups of the IPCC, and three Special Reports on the impacts of 1.5-degree Celsius global warming, and on climate change impacts to oceans, cryosphere, and land.

“The SYR serves as the fundamental basis for evidence-informed decisions and actions, and provides a clear and substantive analysis on climate science that would accelerate the pace of co-creating policies and designing and implementing programs for science-based actions,” Teh said.

During the sessions, the Philippine Delegation provided interventions on several sections of the SYR, highlighting the urgent need to pursue evidence-based adaptation planning especially among developing and most vulnerable countries.

This includes combining green-blue infrastructure which refers to infrastructure that use nature-based solutions to interconnect a network of natural areas, with gray infrastructure or human-engineered traditional approaches to address the risk of clouding in cities.

The delegation also underscored the value of emissions avoidance as a recognition of risk-based and outcomes-based approaches to curb GHG emissions with the use of best available non-GHG emitting technologies.

The Philippines also emphasized the need to address loss and damage that are expected to worsen due to the increasing global warming, for which financing will be crucial.

“The SYR, along with the Summary for Policymakers document, will provide the impetus for urgent climate action in the Philippine context. As knowledge gaps remain, these IPCC reports serve as critical reference points for our policymakers to heed the science on the gravity of climate change as a planetary health concern necessitating solutions in policy and programs at the global and domestic level,” Herrera added.

In closing, IPCC Chair Hoesung Lee said the report offers hope, as well as a warning that rapid and sustained emission reductions, and acceleration of adaptation actions are required in this decade to address climate change.

The IPCC, established in 1988, provides governments at all levels with scientific information they can use to develop climate policies. It is composed of climate scientists and experts from 195 member countries. #

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Published: 03 April 2023