PAGBABAGO
House Bill 9181 or Senate Bill No. 2439 filed last Sept. 12 would institutionalize a Philippine Ecosystem and Natural Capital Accounting. It would respond to the damage brought about by the exploitation of our natural resources, the impact of which had grown due to rapid urbanization and a demographic boom.
In the country it is the poorest people that are most affected and therefore would benefit most from biodiversity and a healthy ecosystem.
Thus, the bill filed by Senators Loren Legarda, Ramon Revilla Jr., Joel Villanueva, and Risa Hontiveros deserves utmost priority.
Senate President pro tempore Loren Legarda laments the lack of accounting of the country’s natural resources a major driving force in the country’s economy. The PENCAS bill would provide clear direction from government agencies to have the data to assess the physical and monetary worth of ecosystems including forests, waterworks, coastal and marine areas. It is a data-driven appraisal that will inform policy making, allocate resources efficiently, raise public awareness, and align with global sustainability goals.
The country was among the first countries of the world to conduct ENRAP, the national capital accounting effort in 1990, a project of the Department of Natural Resources (DENR) to account the economic values of interaction between the economy and the environment. These were estimates in terms of waste disposal services provided by air and water resources, depreciation of forests, fisheries, copper and gold, upland soils, and environmental damage from air and water pollution as well as un-marketed products of upland agriculture. The data generated was useful in building the accounts that supported environmental policy management. The findings showed that renewable resources, forest and fisheries were losing more of their value. This justified the need for deforestation as a priority. This project was assisted by USAID Philippines.
Since ASEAN countries host some of the highest biodiversity, it is important for them to have the needed resources to protect and conserve their unique ecosystems, according to Legarda who also urged the ASEAN Center for Biodiversity (ACB) to address biodiversity concerns including funding. Legarda was recognized as ASEAN Biodiversity Hero in 2022 for her active role in championing green development through legislation.
Once the PENCAS BILL is passed, it would provide the national government with important data that would integrate nature in planning, policy making, and budgeting that will be in line with standards set by the System of Environmental Accounting of the United Nations.
Legarda further notes that “our economic indicators appear to be nature blind in that we undervalue or do not value at all our ecosystems that are the very basis of our economy. We measure our gross domestic product based on goods and services and we also measure our human capital, but we do not measure our natural capital. Natural capital includes but is not limited to ecosystem services such as air and water filtration, flood protection, carbon sequestration, pollination of crops and habitats for wildlife.”
In addition to the PENCAS bill, there is the Roadmap to Institutionalize Natural Capital Accounting in collaboration with the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA). The roadmap provides strategic guidance on the national implementation of natural capital accounting from 2022 to 2040. It provides critical activities, milestones, outputs, for each planning period to fully institutionalize and integrate natural capital accounting including valuation of ecosystem services in the government’s planning, investment decisions and policy making.
Given these priorities expressed through these initiatives by both our legislative and executive departments, we hope that we can be a model in the ASEAN or even Asia in this critical concern on natural resources mapping and accounting. ([email protected])