Overview of Philippine Water Sector

Good morning, everyone.
Her Excellency, Ambassador Laure Beaufils of the United Kingdom,
Members of the Diplomatic Corps,
Our colleagues in Government,
Senior Deputy Executive Secretary Hubert Guevarra,
Our Undersecretary Rowena Guevarra from the Department of Energy
And of course, Partners in the Development Sector,
Ladies and Gentlemen, good morning.

Barely nine months ago in the last week of April 2023, the President gave the DENR the task of fixing key issues in the water sector. These issues stemmed from the many water-related functions being performed by over 20 government agencies.

The first step for the DENR’s newly created Water Resources Management Office, or the WRMO, was to map out and quantify all our water resources. This was done even as we established the coordination between the efforts of government agencies with the authority to secure, supply, manage, and distribute water.

We also discovered that we needed to review and change existing policies that prevented us in developing our water resources, especially in light of the impacts of climate change and the inextricable linkages between the preservation of our green and blue forests, our biodiversity and water security. Water security that will ensure safe and sanitary water for all as part of inclusive development, is in fact, one of the pillars of our National Adaptation Plan. This plan was recently presented to the President and to our colleagues in the Cabinet. The President’s immediate instructions were clear, to make sure the benefit of the NAP reaches our communities.

It is also in this light that I wish to especially cite the critical support from the Government of the United Kingdom in generating the first ever National Adaptation Plan for the country. There are only fifty three (53) countries in the world that have a National Adaptation Plan, and the Philippines is now one of them.
For the purpose of this brief message I can share that the NAP scenarios project that the cost of inaction on adaptation, may result in as much as Php1.4 Trillion loss between now and 2030 – the cost of inaction on adaptation.

Today’s event highlights that while the Philippines is rich in natural resources, there are both challenges and opportunities in the ways we must responsibly and sustainably manage them for our generation and those to come. This journey is not just a whole of government one but a whole of society one.

For the DENR, we are here because the agencies of Government under this administration have jointly set their sights on the achievement of the Philippine Development Goals and the Philippine Water Supply and Sanitation Plan. This is especially important in light of the number of areas that are left underserved and unserved, and the pressures on supply and integrated water resource management that have increased due to occurring El Niño.

Given the WRMO’s mandate, we have been actively collaborating with the National Irrigation Administration, the Department of Finance, the DILG, the NWRB, the LWUA, and of course, with the support of the Office of the President through the Office of the Senior Deputy Executive Secretary in order to strategically bring the opportunities for safe and sustainable water supply to communities, farms and industries.

This event showcases the work of all the partners in identifying opportunities for sustainable and climate resilient delivery of water where it is strategically and critically needed. Your presence today, the monthly fora related to water that the DENR attends, and the positive feedback I receive regarding the water program tell us that we are on the right track.

This is the first tranche of potential water projects that we have identified under our new general strategy at the DENR of utilizing the country’s natural resources to effect immediate but also long-lasting economic and social change and benefits to our communities. It is outlined in a program that we are finalizing called the National Natural Resource Development Transparency Strategy or the NNRDTS. And I apologize for a new acronym that we might have to memorize. As it is being crafted, we see that this will be the start of a development strategy anchored on the climate and disaster resilient, sustainable and effective, long-term utilization of the country’s rich natural resources for inclusive development.

This strategy has been developed through the use of both ground-based and remotely sensed data which is processed to produce layers of information in our national natural resource geospatial database. This effort supports our natural capital accounting system and allows us to validate and verify what cannot, or is not, reported from the ground through the use of space-based technologies.

While we started last year with water, the same strategy will be applied to other resources. We will be presenting areas for partnership with government for the co-development of first, our forestlands, and then our minerals and our coastal areas before the end of the year.

A million hectares of currently barren forestlands have been identified, first, to restore the ecological balance and the delivery of ecological services such as the recharging of our aquifers and flood management. There will be opportunities for carbon sequestration, to resurrect our timber industry, jumpstart bamboo production and other accelerated investments in community-based livelihoods from forest products such as coffee and cacao.

In terms of minerals, the Philippines can play a global role in the supply and value chain of transition critical minerals that support the shift to renewable energy. Our copper deposits are among the largest in the world and these are vital to conduction and many related electrical processes such as the production of turbines and solar panels. We are also second in the world for nickel production, a mineral required to transition the whole world to low carbon technologies – especially when it is processed in-country, as is the current direction. In order to ensure the environments and communities are served and protected by this natural resources management, we are placing the necessary regulations and building-up our monitoring capacities to balance both resource development and environmental protection.

And finally, our vast mangroves, sea grass beds and coral reefs hold numerous benefits for our communities. We are working towards accounting this resource by starting the establishment of six marine research stations around the country this year.

Our objectives are straightforward – to unlock and sustainably utilize our natural resources from ridge to reef for inclusive social and economic development. This development must directly impact the quality of life of our communities today while preserving the resources needed by generations yet to come.

The key, as we have discovered in the water sector, and which we are striving to achieve with the other resources I mentioned, is that the DENR- Water Resources Management Office (WRMO) found like-minded partners in the National Irrigation Administration (NIA), the Department of Finance (DOF), the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), the NWRB, the LWUA and of course, the Office of the Senior Deputy Executive Secretary Hubert Guevarra.

We are extremely grateful to now also be working with the Department of Finance ________ and the Office of the Special Assistant to the President for Investment and Economic Affairs on this strategic journey.

On this note, I will introduce to you later through the presentation of Undersecretary Carlos Primo David what we are doing at the DENR in order to identify the resources of the sector. And we trust that you will join us in the journey towards a safe and secure sustainable water future for all. Thank you very much. ###