To reach the attention of youth/school children, GWP Philippines collaborated with the National Water Resources Board (NWRB) to produce a notebook with information on water conservation as campaign material.
To connect with high level officials and other concerned stakeholders, GWP Philippines also supported and participated in several water events. One of these was a seminar under the theme “IWRM for Local Government Units (LGUs) and other concerned stakeholders” in Lipa City, Batangas, in September.
The goal was to promote better understanding of water resources in the Philippines, to inform about climate change impacts and why IWRM is an ideal water resources management approach and climate change adaptation strategy. At the end of the seminar, a declaration of support to advocate and operationalize IWRM and Climate Change Adaptation strategies in the participants’ respective areas of operation was signed by each one of them.
GWP Philippines also organised a session on "Water Partnerships, Convergence and Governance" during the 2nd International River Summit in Marikina City in November. The aim of the Summit was to provide updates on policy recommendations and discuss the conditions of major rivers in the region (and other parts of the globe). The discussions following the session served as an important input to the “Marikina Declaration”, a major output document of the conference, which was formulated to serve as a guide on principles and future action to revive rivers.
GWP Philippines is also an active member of the Sub-Working Group on Water Supply and Sanitation Task Force on Water Security, one of the working groups of the Philippine Development Forum (PDF). The PDF is the primary mechanism of the government for facilitating substantive policy dialogue among stakeholders. It also serves as a process for developing consensus and generating commitments among different stakeholders toward critical actionable items of the government reform agenda. The goal of the Sub-working Group on Water Security is to improve environmental quality and enhance competitiveness and infrastructure.
Top photo: Batad and rice terrases near Banaue in Luzon island, Philippines