BARMM joins climate, disaster plan for Mindanao
MINDANAO’S climate and disaster resilience and sustainable development goals will soon be enhanced with the collaboration of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and the Ministry of Environment, Natural Resources and Energy (MENRE) of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).
DENR Secretary Antonia Loyzaga and BARMM-MENRE Minister Akmad A. Brahim signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) during the recently-held DENR Multistakeholder Forum in Cagayan de Oro City, which aims to support their respective programs and projects based on the objectives and strategies defined in the Mindanao Climate Resilience Framework Plan and the output of the forum.
Loyzaga explained that the diversity in Mindanao requires a “systemic, consultative, and contextualized approach to environmental conservation and protection.”
“The DENR is committed to ensuring that consultation with communities and different sectors are at the basis of the fundamentals and groundworks that need to be done in order to become responsive to these various needs,” Loyzaga said.
Under the MOU, the DENR will provide technical assistance to MENRE-BARMM for the exploration, development, and utilization of natural resources under its territorial jurisdiction.
The assistance includes the mobilization of DENR bureaus, attached agencies, and regional offices in Mindanao to assist BARMM in exercising its authority over the ancestral domain and natural resources, classification of public lands, and ecological solid waste management and pollution control enshrined in the Bangsamoro Organic Law on Environment and Natural Resources.
The agreement will also ensure the inclusion of MENRE-BARMM in the National Greening Program and the participation of its employees and personnel in capacity development programs and training, such as the Land Management Training System, Forest Land Use Plan/Planning, and Protected Area Management Board.
“This partnership is a promising development in ensuring complete, nationwide protection and conservation of our environment and natural resources. We have to work together to nurture our nature; besides, we are all stewards of the environment,” Brahim said.
Both the DENR and MENRE-BARMM expressed optimism for a partnership built on shared knowledge and best practices for identifying strategies and priority actions, consolidating priority targets, and establishing a database management system to manage the data needed for planning, monitoring, and evaluation.
True to the administration’s agenda to promote a green and blue economy by establishing livable and sustainable communities, Loyzaga said the DENR is committed to fulfilling its mandate to preserve, protect, manage, restore, and regenerate the country’s environment and natural resources, and ensure that no community is left behind.
