GENERAL LUNA, Siargao Island, Surigao del Norte – The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) will launch Project Transform (Transdisciplinary Approach for Resilient and Sustainable Communities) here on Friday, June 23, to achieve resiliency and environmental sustainability on the island.
DENR-13 Regional Executive Director (RED) Nonie M. Tamayo said that Project Transform is an offshoot of a series of consultations during the multi-stakeholder forums conducted by the department in Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao.
It was initially launched during the Multistakeholder Forum-Mindanao Cluster n Cagayan de Oro City on Feb. 2 with three municipalities – Malimono, San Francisco, and Burgos – in Surigao del Norte as pilot sites.
The municipality of Del Carmen in Siargao has been included as one of the pilot municipalities for the project. This town was among the worst-hit by super typhoon “Odette” on Dec. 16, 2021.
This project also aims to showcase communities working together in synergy with the government and other sectors of society to achieve resiliency and environmental sustainability following the tenets of mobilizing the country’s citizens in protecting, conserving, and managing the environment and natural resources, particularly in the province of Surigao del Norte, Tamayo said.
“The project's launching will also oversee the interventions implemented for the recovery of SIPLAS (Siargao Islands Protected Landscape and Seascape) and other projects related to climate resiliency implemented by the department,” he said.
“This resilience and sustainability program also aims to boost the delivery of environmental, social, and economic gains for local government units nationwide.”
Under the project, the DENR is conscientiously working with stakeholders to achieve resilience and environmental stability, especially in hazard-vulnerable areas such as Del Carmen, Burgos, Malimono, and San Francisco, the DENR official said.
Tamayo added that this transdisciplinary approach for resilient and sustainable communities is a holistic and collaborative scheme that brings together diverse stakeholders from various disciplines such as the academe, government, businesses, and local communities, to address complex challenges and promote long-term resilience and sustainability, for which the DENR has teamed up with the local government units (LGUs), the National Resilience Council, the Philippine Business for Social Progress, Peace and Equity Foundation, the Zuellig Family Foundation, the Energy Development Corp., and other potential partners to undertake Project Transform.
Top officials of the DENR, Surigao del Norte, and Siargao Island, sectoral leaders, and officials from the different concerned government line agencies are attending the launching of Transform.
Meanwhile, DENR Secretary Toni Yulo-Loyzaga has urged business leaders and all sectors to work with government on efforts to address the climate crisis and create sustainable communities.
She said the government needs partners who go beyond ESG (environmental, social, and governance) and the fence lines of their operations to ensure ecosystem integrity and the resilience of communities that surround their operations.