Our colleagues in government and partners in the development sector, in the academe, in the CSO community, thank you very much and good morning once again. The seeds of Project TRANSFORM really began at the National Resilience Council.

This was a concept that was developed over time, a set of principles and values over time, led by the former ambassador, the late ambassador, Roberto Romulo, together with companies like Professor Ernesto Garilao, Mr. Ed Chua of the Makati Business Club, and of course, then-Usec. Austere Panadero. All of these minds came together to actually conceive of ways to deal with complexity and risk to the environment and communities.

But the concept for TRANSFORM really crystallized after the first multi-stakeholder conference in October of 2022, which was attended by our President no less, as well as members of the cabinet, in which we tried to envision a way to move forward given the challenges of our time, including, of course, climate change, and the need to provide for water, food, energy security, as well as health, public health, and of course, literacy and nutrition concerns.

So with that in mind, after the first consultation, the Zuellig Family Foundation, First Philippine Holdings Group, the Peace and Equity Foundation, PBSP, and others came together to conceive of this, working very closely with Usec. Malu Erni, on trying to put a structure to how we might approach environment and natural resource management that is science-based, but also looking towards the resilience of communities given the challenges of climate change and other types of hazards.

After the first stakeholder consultation, we took this particular consultation to the Visayas and Mindanao region as well. What came across was very clear. Climate change and disasters threaten the very ecosystems that support our communities and our economy. Food, water, energy, public health, livelihoods all depend on the integrity of our ecosystems and the quality of our working and natural environment.

Each LGU had a different exposure and vulnerability relating to their own local context. However, they were commonly challenged in the form of how they might manage their water resources, their forest resources, their soils, their coastal and marine environments. What became clear from these consultations was that the Philippines, given the climate vulnerability of our country and the different types of natural and other hazards, was in a race to resilience and that resilience should lead, actually, to inclusive, equitable and sustainable development.

What it called for is, in a sense, what we have asked to put together as part of the strategies moving forward in the Department of Environment and Natural Resources. What it called for was alignment. What it called for was coherence.

What it also called for was collaboration and the value of synergy in working together across different disciplines, across different scales, across different sectors, and lastly, realizing the value and the importance of working at the very local level where this was the first line of defense. Project TRANSFORM, therefore, puts local government engagement at the center of its work. The critical role of local stakeholders in environmental protection and climate action cannot be minimized.

This means we must prioritize the development of individual and institutional capacities of LGUs for evidence-informed decision-making, and we must invest in increasing capacity for implementation of policies, plans and programs. TRANSFORM provides a strategic coordination mechanism among stakeholders and highlights the importance of locally-led and locally-driven solutions as well as a participatory approach for achieving environmental sustainability and resilience. In the first stakeholder consultation, our President said, the environment and the country’s resilience and adaptation to the new normals of climate change are on top of the national agenda.

In recent years, the Philippine government has emphasized the critical importance of local governance today and on community-based action that responds to actual needs on the ground. The impacts, therefore, of Project TRANSFORM will ultimately contribute to: the preservation of ecosystem integrity to support food, water, energy security as well as public health; secondly, the enhancement of human well-being; and third, the achievement of what we call development continuity, one that is free from disruptions due to the different hazards and ultimately possibly disasters that will hit our country and the achievement of inclusive economic growth.

These can only be attained by strengthening local multi-stakeholder collaboration, community- driven innovation, and knowledge development and sharing. It can also be attained by investing in a visionary and competent leadership committed to extracting and developing capacities for local governance in the implementation of environmental protection, anti-pollution programs, disaster risk reduction programs. And thirdly, we do need to have active LGU and community engagement.

The implementation of the program is organized under five pillars which you will hear about later on. Human development, infrastructure, environment, local economy and human security. Ultimately, the quality of our environment and this is why the DENR is invested in this particular program will determine our ability to manage all these other pillars.

The first phase of implementation of TRANSFORM has been focused on identifying actionable interventions per LGU and ensuring that these are fit for purpose, for their context and for coordinating across the different institutions to implement our efforts. These include recognizing the intersection of vulnerabilities across gender, income status, literacy, age and other factors , and recognizing the interdependencies of our systems, of our infrastructures that can cascade

the risk and potentially fail our communities. These include: water systems, road transport, telecommunications and the like.

Project TRANSFORM has supported our partner LGUs in integrating climate change and resilience into local planning, programming and implementation to achieve broader development goals. Any intervention that has been developed must be practical, inclusive and context driven to ensure maximum benefit for our communities.

These interventions were developed based on a thorough needs assessment, vulnerability and capacity analysis, and stakeholder assessment as well. This approach was taken to ensure whatever interventions were programmed were based on science and actual needs locally. And that the challenges are addressed not just for the immediate but they are addressed strategically.

Let us then take advantage of this forum and try to scale up and include as many of ourselves as possible. Local governments are particularly welcome and we hope to be able to reach about 15 in total by the end of this year. Hopefully this will include our local governments along the Verde Island Passage for which we have been working very consistently to include as a protected area.
As you know the DENR and the DOE have recently entered into an agreement with the principal industrial partners in the Verde Island Passage including First Gen, San Miguel, the Aboitiz Group, as well as the Metro Pacific Group. We know that engaging the private sector in understanding the needs of conservation, understanding the needs of environmental protection, understanding the needs of livelihoods for local communities is essential in moving our work forward. And this has been combined with the science that is available and that we are developing because of our investments now in new marine scientific research stations that will be placed all over the country, and one will be in the Verde Island Passage as well.

So let me close by saying that we are in a surge now towards 2030. Many of you know that this is a golden year, 2030, in terms of the Paris Agreement and our being able to limit the temperatures of our world to 1.5 degrees among pre-industrial levels. We also have to report on the SDGs.

We have to report on the Disaster Risk Reduction Framework of Sendai, and we also have goals in terms of biodiversity. This is a very critical year and I’m optimistic that everyone here can envision their road and pathway ahead, hopefully with the DENR as your partner. I believe today that we can only work on this together and as I said earlier, it takes alignment, it takes coherence, national and local, and between local governments as well, it takes collaboration and the synergies will create those values.

So as we begin to see whether we can align with each other and cooperate with each other, I’m extremely grateful for the participation here today of civil society, of our academic partners, our people’s organizations, including the youth exemplified by Annika who was here earlier, whose future we are all here to protect.

Before I close, I’d like to invite everyone to join us, especially on October 14-18 of this year. The Philippines is hosting the Asia-Pacific Ministerial Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction. We are hosting this together with the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction or the UNDRR. This is an opportunity for us to showcase to the world how TRANSFORM and all our efforts in terms of environmental protection, biodiversity conservation and the care for our natural systems are part of our work to achieve the SDGs and the inclusive development and resilient development that we all deserve. I thank you very much Local Government Chief Executives for being here and for listening to us.

My special thanks to Secretary Benhur Abalos and ably represented by Asec. Lillian. Secretary Benhur and I have worked consistently and closely together and I wish to share that beyond DILG, we are also working very closely with the DOE, with the DOF, with the DPWH in trying to achieve what we call convergence governance here in this administration.

Thank you once again and I hope that you will find this morning’s forum and early afternoon’s forum useful to you and we look forward to planning a resilient and inclusive future with you together.

Maraming Salamat po!