Thank you for inviting me to address you on this important event. As a lay official from another branch of government, to be part of the launch of—let me use the shorter name—the Biodiversity Projects Partnerships, or BPP, is truly significant to your mainstreaming objectives.
But as a surrogate of the President, my presence here reflects the national, indeed the international, significance of this concern. “Biodiversity” and “conservation” are, to start with, almost strange and exotic notions to the man or woman on the street. Or indeed, to the person on the swidden farm or rice field.
But to “mainstream” these concepts “in local agricultural landscapes” bespeaks the need for new policy orientations. And even as important—the need for new narratives in terms of talking to our actual constituents, the men and women inhabiting what we call our “agricultural landscapes.”
Before we go into that, however, let me acknowledge the partners for this project: the funding agencies, namely, GEF, UNDP, among others; the implementing agency, the Protected Areas and Wildlife Bureau of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources; and the national and local governments, NGOs, local communities and indigenous peoples who will be involved.
The funding and implementing agencies have their work cut out for them—most crucially, I think, in first educating their co-workers in government and their constituencies in the local communities.
The Philippines, as you may have read, has been lately in the limelight. It has gained ground in the global market and is now ranked among the most competitive countries in the world. Based on the 2012 Global Competitiveness Index of the World Economic Forum, our competitiveness has been improving consistently since 2010.
We were also rated high in the Asia Business Sentiment Index by Thomson Reuters and INSEAD. For two quarters in a row, they listed the Philippines among those in Asia to have the most promising economic outlook.
Indeed, other statistics show that things are looking up for the country, and much can be credited to the president’s insistence on straight and honorable work in government as well as in sectors of society.
Still, as much as in economics, I believe that the test of all great nations is in how it takes care of its own portion of the planet. The other charts that the Philippines is now topping are in biodiversity. Based on the Philippine Biodiversity Study, the Philippines is one of the world’s 17 megadiversity countries, which host more than 70% of the world’s species.
As a global conservation hotspot, the Philippines is home to a superfluity of remarkable and unique species. We have the highest rate of species discovery in the world, with 16 new species of mammals discovered in the last 10 years. Indeed, the Philippines has the highest concentration of biodiversity on earth. It has the most envied, most admired natural resources. The world is in constant awe.
This record, however, is not one of achievement but of responsibility. Again, how we take care of these natural treasures and resources will mark us as a nation, will define our role in the ultimate survival of the planet.
It is here that the fundamental notion of human stewardship of creation will be tested. It is here that our survival skills must be updated so that as a species, we will no longer insist on our arrogant but ignorant notion of dominating nature but of co-existing with it. And that we are all connected to the very place we inhabit and everything we do, every action we take to add to, subtract from, or alter it will in the end serve to make or unmake it.
I am therefore really glad that finally, we have these Biodiversity Partnerships in place. Now we can set up a more effective policy and implementation platform that, for me, should not just put our country in good light in the global conservation movement. It must make us capable of being responsible for our biodiverse part of the planet.
Therefore, I support the main objectives of the project—in LGU, NGO, and national government partnerships; and in enhanced local capacities. Specifically, I support planning and managing economic growth that meet landscape-level biodiversity conservation and sustainability objectives, especially in critical biogeographic regions.
As a former local government official, I know perfectly well that LGUs play a key role in promoting sustainable development.
Through our Biodiversity Partnerships, we can truly define our roles, educate participants and constituents, discover and recommend best biodiversity-conscious and sustainable business practices, while not upsetting local livelihood, and finally eradicate doubt and cynicism that never help.
To be still more specific, the BPP will and must start this massive project by way of feasible pilot sites—selected areas covering at least 700,000 hectares across five critical biogeographic regions in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao.
And precisely due to the nature and magnitude of the project, responsibility in biodiversity shall remain collective, multi-level, multi-sectoral and multi-stakeholder.
BPP has high hopes—but must work—to strengthen commitments of key partners. These are the Department of Trade and Industry, the Department of Tourism and other government agencies, and the private sector. In concert, they must come up with biodiversity-friendly investment opportunities, products and services like eco-tourism, handicrafts, and food processing. So far, BPP has scored key partnerships that have the financial resources, capabilities and 100% commitment.
For our part, the Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board (HLURB), has partnered with PAWB–BPP to mainstream biodiversity into the Comprehensive Land Use Plans (CLUPs) of LGUs. With the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (or HUDCC) at the helm, HLURB and the LGUs will integrate such sector plans as forest land use, coastal land use, biodiversity, climate change and disaster risk concerns.
Our planners are dedicated to assist the LGUs to update their CLUPs. Hand in hand, PAWB-BPP and HLURB will equip the LGUs with the technical skills and tools to carry out their ecological stewardship.
Such tools include biodiversity overlays for land use plans to delineate corridors and buffer zones; fiscal and economic tools to promote biodiversity conservation; transfer payment; local tax incentives for biodiversity-friendly business development; and financing and market incentives.
The LGUs’ involvement is crucial as they are ultimately responsible for planning, budget, monitoring and evaluating their respective areas, which encompass at least 1.6 million hectares in five key biogeographic regions.
Finally, I am glad to note that BPP will apply these systems, policies, tools and capacities for landscape-level biodiversity conservation, and sustainable development at eight pilot sites in the country.
The capacities of community volunteers, LGUs, the toolkits and decision-making frameworks customized according to biodiversity threats, economic development patterns and socio-economic characteristics will all be put to the test. People will get their hands dirty and do the actual work.
But we are hopeful that all these will bear fruit.
As head of the HLURB, I know the importance of collaborative partnerships to make policies work. BPP enables us to recognize the critical importance of these methods and tools of partnership and mainstreaming.
Inspired by GEF’s previous successes like the Conservation of Priority Protected Areas in the Philippines, National Integrated Protected Areas Project, and the ongoing UNDP-GEF Samar Island Biodiversity Project, BPP certainly has big shoes to fill.
We need not belabor the gravity of biodiversity and global survival itself. And what it means for our future and that of our children. We can only work with and help ensure BPP’s success.
Thank you and mabuhay tayong lahat!