DENR institutionalizes partnership with civil society

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) has institutionalized the participation of civil society in environment and natural resources programs.

The partnership is covered by DENR Administrative Order 2001-16 which prescribes that the collaboration and partnership shall be in any of the following activities: project implementation, planning/policy formuation, research, community organizing, information, communication and education, law enforcement, monitoring and evaluation and training. The order recognizes the vital role of civil society in the protection, conservation, management and development of the environment and natural resources within the context of sustainable development.

In a recent workshop attended by Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Heherson Alvarez, some 70 representatives of the academe, non-government organizations and people‘s organizations raised several issues and concerns regarding quarrying, law enforcement, bio-prospecting/bio-piracy, community-based forest management and others.

They had specific recommendations on how to fine-tune the order and these were contained in action plans grouped according to the following categories: Clean Air Act; solid waste management; biodiversity; mining and geosciences; land related issues; proposed clean water resources act/rivers, oceans, streams, esteros and lakes; and sustainable forest management act.

The institutionalization of civil society’s participation in environmental activities was a long-awaited move of the DENR, according to Sister Ma. Aida Velaszuez, OSB. She said the workshop showed not only the readiness of the NGOs, POs, academe and community-based groups but also their eagerness to collaborate with DENR even as she found it necessary for the partners to clarify further one another’s perspective and positions.