Restoring the country’s ecosystems is key to addressing climate and biodiversity challenges and building community resilience in the face of extreme weather.
About 74 percent of the population faces climate-related threats, and the Philippines holds the highest natural disaster risk globally, with a 2024 World Risk Index score of 46.91 percent.
Responding to this risk, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), Forest Foundation Philippines (FFP) and the Canadian government recently convened leaders and other stakeholders to build a shared understanding of high-integrity nature-based solutions (NbS).
At the PUNLA Multistakeholder Forum on Nature-based Solutions on September 9 to 10 in Quezon City, the discusdsions underscored how risks are especially acute for Indigenous and rural communities, where degraded ecosystems weaken food systems, water access and disaster resilience.
Dr. Dixon Gevaña, director of Forestry Development Center of the University of the Philippines Los Baños said NbS has emerged as a critical pathway to restore natural defenses and eventually strengthen social equity. “If we are to build lasting resilience, we must restore the ecosystems that sustain us while empowering the communities that depend on them,” he said.
Lawyer Ray Thomas Kabigting, Assistant Director of the DENR Forest Management Bureau, said collaboration across all sectors was essential to build a resilient and inclusive Philippines that can effectively respond to the nation’s most urgent climate and social challenges.”
Simon Snoxell, Head of Cooperation at the Embassy of Canada to the Philippines echoed the same statement. “This multi-sectoral collaboration builds on local solutions, showing how scaling community-driven efforts can strengthen resilience for both people and ecosystems nationwide,” he said.
Jake Brunner, head of the Lower Mekong Subregion of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), said that effective NbS must tackle societal challenges, work within ecosystems, and deliver measurable benefits for people and nature.
To embed NbS in national policies, the DENR has convened a multistakeholder Nature-based Solutions Support Network to collectively define priorities and actions towards institutionalization of high-integrity NbS initiatives within the agency.
With partners from the academe, civil society, local communities and development partners, beginning with the PUNLA: NbS Forum, the group aims to develop a shared understanding of NbS, enable actionable commitments and follow-up mechanisms to ensure sustained collaboration and implementation of NbS in the country.
Edwina Garchitorena, chair of the board of trustees of FFP, stressed that NbS bridges environmental and development goals, and that strong collaboration with partners is essential to institutionalizing them.
