Government efforts

The main governmental organizations that have been working to combat the biodiversity crisis in the Philippines have been highlighted below:

1) Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR)

The DENR is the primary government agency in the Philippines responsible for the conservation, management, development, and proper use of the country’s environment and natural resources. They pass laws and policies regarding the sustainable development and maintenance of the environment and develop certain programs that can greater hep to maintain the balance of the ecosystem in the country.

One such program put in place by the DENR is the National Greening Program which is an extensive forest rehabilitation program that aims to grow 1.5 billion trees in 1.5 million hectares nationwide within a period of six years, from 2011 to 2016. It is also hoped that through this program, the effects of climate change that the country is currently experiencing will also decrease.

As of 2011, a total of 89.6 million seedlings have been planted in 128,558 hectares nationwide in the Philippines.

Source for the above information: DENR-Philippines

2) WEPA (Water Environment Partnership in Asia)

WEPA, in cooperation with 13 countries in Asia, one of them being the Philippines aims to promote good governance in water environment management by providing necessary, relevant information and knowledge, through a series of databases.

One of the programs jointly organized by the WEPA and the DENR was the Manila Bay Coastal Clean Up in 2004. Around 3705 volunteers participated in cleaning up the garbage along Manila Bay. About 4490 sacks of garbage were collected and this was one of the largest volunteer-led clean up of the marine and coastal areas in the entire world. Source for the above information: WEPA

Though governmental efforts have been ongoing and continuously working to combat against the environmental crisis in the Philippines, most of their efforts such as the laws and policies they pass are not enough in aiding the cataclysmic environmental situation the country is facing. Some of the reasons why they are inefficient are the rising rate of poverty in the nation, insufficient financial resources and laws that are not stringent enough to help the environment. These reasons are further explored on the ‘Underlying Causes’ page of this blog.