Following the successful debut of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) Multistakeholder Forum in Manila last year, the agency is once again bringing together over 250 participants from national and local governments, academic and scientific institutions, civil society, and the private sector for the forum’s second edition in the Visayas.

The Visayas Multistakeholder Forum is set to take place in Iloilo City from January 18 to 19.

A brainchild of Environment Secretary Antonia Loyzaga, the forum series seeks to enable inclusive dialogue across all of the DENR’s stakeholders for gathering of inputs on potential strategies and priority actions of the agency.

The DENR, under Loyzaga’s leadership, champions whole-of-society and transdisciplinary approaches toward evidence-informed policy and action for the protection, preservation, conservation enhancement, and regeneration of the country’s ecosystems.

During the two-day forum, representatives from international development organizations, local government, private sector, and other development partners will head plenary sessions to tackle their vision and goals for an environmentally-resilient Philippines.

Parallel breakout sessions will also be held to allow leaders from the different sectors to discuss environmental protection and natural resource management, among others.

The DENR looks forward to identifying each of the sector’s unique and shared obstacles, accelerating cooperation, and gathering information on priorities for possible inclusion on its policy agenda and multi-year Roadmap for Programs, Activities and Projects (PAPs).

Through shared knowledge and experiences with its stakeholders, the DENR aims to launch its priority actions and plans that will in turn accelerate its mission of mobilizing Filipinos in protecting, conserving, and managing the environment and natural resources.

The forum is also an avenue for the different stakeholders to foster and strengthen its partnership with the DENR, and to work together in crafting and implementing policies and programs toward climate and disaster resilience and sustainable development.

The outcome of the forum, including actionable recommendations and commitments from the stakeholders, will serve as critical inputs to the DENR’s policy and legislative reform agenda for environment and natural resources (ENR), inventory of shared ENR programs and shared PAPs, and Resiliency Framework for ENR.

The Resiliency Framework for ENR that will be produced out of this forum will serve as the foundation for science-based, data-driven, and socially, politically and culturally-sensitive ENR policies. ###