PDRF, DENR convene climate leaders for annual discourse on status of climate change

The Philippine Disaster Resilience Foundation (PDRF), in partnership with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and the Climate Change Commission (CCC), convened today climate leaders from the public and private sectors for the State of Climate Change Forum at Makati Diamond Residences in Makati City.

Now on its third run, the annual forum serves as an avenue for global and local climate leaders from various sectors to foster constructive dialogue on disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation and mitigation.

This year, with the theme “Natural Capital: Investing in Forests for Water Sustainability,” the forum, attended by more than 200 multisectoral representatives, highlighted the critical role of forest ecosystems in sustaining watersheds, innovative financing mechanisms for climate resilience investments and nature-based solutions (NbS) for environmental sustainability.

In the keynote address delivered by DENR Undersecretary for Policy, Planning and International Affairs Atty. Jonas R. Leones, DENR Secretary Raphael P.M. Lotilla highlighted the importance of multisectoral collaboration in creating and maintaining vital structures that safeguard water security.
“The private sector has a pivotal role here. Your innovation, capital and efficiency are indispensable. We’re looking at avenues such as impact investing, developing robust payments for ecosystem services and robust public-private partnerships that leverage private sector expertise, technology and capital to accelerate project implementation in forest, watershed and water management,” he said.

In alignment with this, PDRF President Butch Meily emphasized the private sector’s role and commitment in turning the Philippines’ high-risk status (2025 World Risk Index) into an opportunity for global leadership in climate finance.
“In this changing world, there is one constant — the commitment of private companies to play a role in calamities. The key to our future lies in the government, civil society, the private sector and other groups working to prepare for the impacts of the degradation of our environment as development and population increase,” Meily said.

The high-level panel discussion with Secretary Borje, Atty. Allan Barcena (Energy Development Corporation), Sarah Bergado (Manila Water), June Cheryl Cabal-Revilla (Metro Pacific Investment Corporation) and Baguio City Mayor Benjamin Magalong focused on science-based data, business cases and models that work; and the structural bottlenecks, policy gaps and the reality of the “ridge to reef” approach.

CCC Vice Chairperson and Executive Director Secretary Robert E.A. Borje underscored the crucial role of data-driven public policies in climate adaptation.
“It is no longer about how many policies we have but whether those policies change behaviors, investments and outcomes. Preventive adaptation is about reducing exposure before losses materialize. It is about using science and data not just to inform plans, but to change decision rules,” Secretary Borje said.

Building on the insights from the high-level panel discussion, succeeding climate sessions focused on technical discussions on climate finance and the ridge-to-reef approach to sustainability, respectively.

The first session, featuring Kevin Tagpinez (World Bank Group), John Adrian Narag (Department of Finance) and Rachelle Anne Miranda (Department of Science and Technology), tackled ways to unlock capital for green projects and leverage innovations for resilience.

The last session, featuring Atty. Jose Andres Canivel (Forest Foundation Philippines), Dr. Rex Cruz (University of the Philippines Los Baños), Abegail Gatdula (Energy Development Corporation) and Atty. Arturo Fadriquela (DENR Forest Management Bureau), focused on integrated water resources management (IWRM) from the mountains to the coast.

This year’s forum was made possible through the support of Aboitiz Equity Ventures Inc., First Philippine Holdings, Metro Pacific Investments Corporation, Makati Business Club and Liveable Cities Philippines.