Department of Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Ramon J. P. Paje called on the business sector to join the government’s greening program in the recent 37th Philippine Business Conference and Expo held at the Manila Hotel.
“The DENR welcomes and seeks partnerships with the private sector, particularly in the National Greening Program which no less than President Aquino has launched as a priority project not only to reforest the country’s denuded and degraded forest areas but also meant to reduce poverty, promote food security and biodiversity conservation, and mitigate the impacts of climate change,” Paje said.
He acknowledged the continuing effort of leading businesses towards good environmental citizenship as part of their corporate social responsibility programs or an integral part of their business operations. He cited in particular the establishment of the Philippine Business for the Environment in 1992 as a milestone in the long line of efforts of the private sector to become more pro-environment. However, he admitted that getting the small and medium scale enterprises to comply with environmental standards remain a challenge.
“The challenge that confronts us now is how to get the rest of the business sector, down to small, medium and micro-scale enterprises, to also become fully compliant with environmental standards,” he stressed.
According to him, the environmental policies that are in force today in the form of laws, rules and regulations, and executive issuances are among the best in the world. However, he said that while some businesses regard complying with these regulations are costly, the “costs of not complying with them are infinitely greater to the society as a whole” especially in light of the global problem on climate change, which he said, also affect the business sector by devastating its markets and suppliers.
Relative to this, he stressed that private-public partnership should be highlighted on top of the business sector’s undertakings to comply with environmental laws and regulations to address the pressing issue of climate change.
Citing a report from the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration, Paje said that the number of destructive typhoons that hit the country in the first three years of the 21st century has increased from 6.75 typhoons in 2000 to 2003 to 9.7 typhoons per year from 2004 to 2007.
Further, the climate pattern in the country has already been drastically altered with prolonged wet season accompanied by heavy rainfall beyond the normal monthly average, inundating low-lying areas, causing damage to farmlands and other agricultural products and landslides.
To address the issues of climate change and to minimize damage to life and property, the government has embarked on massive tree planting activities in various denuded areas to increase forest cover which is currently peg at 7.2 million hectares or 26 percent of the country’s land area of 30 million hectares.
