The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) has called on industries to include sustainability in all aspects of their business operations as part of their contribution to environmental protection.
Environment Secretary Antonia Loyzaga stressed that as the Philippines undergoes rapid industrialization and urbanization, the parallel effects of being an international hub for manufacturing
and production, as well as increased consumption have challenged the country’s inadequate solid waste management system.
“It has become increasingly clear that our current production systems are not sustainable. We are consuming and disposing more quickly and far more than our environment can support, putting our future at risk,” Loyzaga during her speech at the joint launching of the Philippine Action Plan for Sustainable Consumption and Production (PAP4SCP) and the Roadmap to Institutionalize Natural Capital Accounting in the Philippines on Feb. 13.
She called on the companies to work together on integrating sustainability into all aspects of the supply chain.
“We all have a stewardship role in terms of protecting our environment and natural resources, and this responsibility is not solely the DENR’s. The sustainable production and consumption policies we design must therefore be trans-disciplinal, time-sensitive, and spatially targeted in order for them to be transformational,” she added.
Loyzaga pointed out that sustainable production means producing goods with a minimal ecological footprint, and products and services that meet the needs of the present without compromising the use of the next generations.
It must balance the sustainable production model between economic growth, social equity and responsibility, and environmental protection, she added.
The PAP4SCP, developed by the National Economic and Development Authority with the assistance of the Asian Development Bank, will serve as a guiding framework at the national level to lead sustainable behaviors and practices across sectors and at all levels of government.
