Good morning. I would like to thank the international ecotourism travel mart for the kind invitation for the DENR to join this year’s first green travel mart.

The Philippines’ tourism sector can act as a driver for environmental and cultural protection, economic progress, and social development. However, it faces numerous challenges caused by climate change, extreme weather events, and slow and rapid onset hazards. These considerably affect tourism, particularly nature-based/ecotourism.

A thriving ecotourism sector is dependent on a health and vibrant natural environment, it relies on the resilience of ecosystems, strong governance, and well-developed infrastructure. To achieve resilient and sustainable ecotourism, it is essential to work closely with local communities and stakeholders, involve them in the decision-making process, and ensure the promotion of responsible practices such as waste reduction, water and energy conservation, and biodiversity and ecosystems protection.

Equity is central to ecotourism. Development assistance for communities to help them leverage the economic value of their natural assets should be strengthened. Ecotourism can be a powerful tool for conservation, community development, and education, but it requires careful planning and management to ensure that it benefits both the environment and the local communities.

Sustainable tourism has been the overarching principle in recent years. It is ensuring that no social or environmental damage will be done – that an area stays as we found it. However, conversations have shifted towards regenerative tourism or leaving a place better than it was before. It goes beyond the environment and looks at the social and economic development of communities, preservation of local cultures, and protection of biodiversity. It is the understanding that everything is connected and the interactions between every stakeholder throughout the tourism value chain have impacts on each other and our ecosystems.

There is therefore a need to unlock investments in regenerative tourism by enhancing or scaling up bankable and nature-positive ecotourism programs.

Ecotourism development is one of the programs being implemented in protected areas under the National Integrated Protected Areas System (NIPAS). Supported by the National Ecotourism Strategy and Action Plan (NESAP), Ecotourism promotes sustainable tourism and responsible travel to natural areas through national and localized guidelines and standards, advocates educational conservation, and contributes to the economic and social development of local communities.

The National Ecotourism Strategy and Action Plan (NESAP) is a roadmap of the action plans and strategies for sustainable management of destinations, education and awareness, involvement of local communities, development of tourism products, and improvement of tourism infrastructure, services, and human resource opportunities, it contains the following strategies.

Developing and marketing diversified and competitive ecotourism products;
Creating conducive environment for ecotourism investments;
Maximizing economic benefits for the communities;
Promoting and developing a culture of ecotourism;
Strengthening institutional capacity’;
Developing and strengthening partnerships
Establishing mechanisms for sustainable financing; and
Monitoring outcomes and impacts.

This plan is currently being updated through a series of consultations with protected area managers, key stakeholders and concerned agencies, to incorporate strategies on disaster risk reduction and management, and to address the impacts of Covid-19. The updating of NESAP also intends to expand the scope from protected areas to ecotourism areas, and for them to participate not only in the development of ecotourism, but also in monitoring and conservation initiatives.

Ecotourism serves an opportunity to strengthen linkages, collaboration, and convergence with key stakeholders, and increase participation of local communities in biodiversity conservation. Nature-based solutions contribute to climate change mitigation and adaptation and disaster risk reduction and ensure that ecosystems and biodiversity resources are protected, given the link between Climate change and biodiversity conservation, limiting climate change is a essential complement to adding protected areas for conservation of biodiversity.

President Ferdinand Marcos said that the preservation of the environment is the preservation of life, we are stewards of one of the World’s megadiverse countries so we must, therefore ensure a balance between advancing human development and protecting our environment, natural resources, and biodiversity. We are committed to investing in urgent and transformative change to address the intersecting crises of environmental degradation, biodiversity LOSS, and climate change to achieve resilient and sustainable development.

To sustainably manage protected areas and biodiversity resources, the proper valuation of these must be developed. It is critical to recognize biodiversity’s actual and realized contribution to the economy and true cost of natural capital loss.

The DENR has already established a national natural resource geospatial database and a natural capital accounting system which will aid in the prioritization of investments and actions. We have also instituted a climate change tagging system in our national budget and crafted legislation on the protection of millions of hectares of forests, wetlands, caves, mangroves, and reefs. We have increased investments in science and technology to gain new insights and tools in the protection and restoration to gain new insights and tools in the protection and restoration of Philippine biodiversity. Improving technical capacity will also enable the successful review and assessment of national resources, including terrestrial, coastal, and marine ecosystems.

Our vision of achieving resilient and sustainable development, as well as living in harmony with nature, can only be realized through common values, concerted efforts, and sustained commitment of all. There must be a whole-of-society approach and we need to work across silos by investing in the restoration and regeneration of our country’s ecosystems and biodiversity.

To close my message today, I would like to recognize the contributions of everyone in this forum towards achieving our goal to attain SDGS 14 and 15. The DENR looks forward to working with you all in the restoration and regeneration of life on land and life below water to achieve a nature-positive world.

Thank you very much.