His Excellency Ferdinand Romualdez Marcos Junior,

Distinguished Speakers, honorable Guests and DENR partners, Good morning .

Our sincerest thanks for taking the time to join the first multistakeholder dialogue of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.

The President declared in his State of the Nation Speech that the preservation of the environment is the preservation of life.

Indeed, ecosystems are the life support of our nation. They are the source of water that sustains us, the forests that shelter us, the food systems that nourish us and the energy sources and minerals that move and power our lives.

The Department’s role is to build the lifelines to these resources on land, and in the air and sea , that will ensure inclusive, resilient and sustainable development. In order to do this, we will need to work with partners to develop integrated strategies for a science-based, risk- informed, ethical and equitable stewardship of our environments.

Given the abundance of our natural resources, however, the Philippines has topped the list of countries most at risk to disasters according to the World Risk Report of 2022. Among the critical elements considered that require greater attention, is the vulnerability of our environments, ecosystems and people.

Today marks the first in a series of stakeholder consultations across different sectors. Over these next few days, you will hear from many thought leaders, business personalities, investors, experts in practice, international development partners, advocates and academia. After this, the DENR will continue to listen through focused follow-up consultations with the different sectors and communities served by each bureau and our field operations .

It is our hope that our conversations, the planned national natural resources geospatial database, a new experts advisory council and an organizational review will ensure that our people, processes and products will result in synergies that will transform our department into one that is fit for its complex purpose.

One such synergy will begin today with the signing of an agreement with the Department of Labor and Employment that was conceptualized by Sec. Bienvenido Laguesma. This agreement will accelerate the creation of green jobs in the forest sector, where they are needed the most.

On our drawing board are the roadmap for water security, the scaling up and networking of capabilities for environmental observation, monitoring and analytics, the integrated development of mangrove forests in marine protected areas, and contributions to a climate resilient and sustainable tourism plan.

With your support and under our new leadership the DENR looks forward to charting the course towards achieving climate and disaster resilient , inclusive and green and blue recovery for our nation..

Thank you and I wish everyone a substantive and fruitful three days.