The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) on Thursday cited the important contributions of barangay officials to the country’s disaster resilience and sustainable development.

“All disaster risk is local while the impacts would cascade globally. Disaster resilience has no natural constituency. Resilience may appear and manifest differently in each and every barangay and community. Unfortunately, barangays that are most vulnerable to extreme events and multiple hazards are also most likely to be underinvested in, and this puts them more at risk,” Environment Secretary Maria Antonia Yulo Loyzaga said during the “Barangayan Para sa Kalikasan at Bayang Matatag” forum at the SMX Convention Center in Pasay City.

The forum also aligns with the Philippines’ preparations for hosting the 2024 Asia Pacific Ministerial Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction in October 2024.

“We need to adopt a comprehensive risk management strategy, centered on prevention, rather than on relief and response,” she added.

The barangays, Loyzaga said, are the smallest administrative unit in the country but also the most important in terms of disaster risk reduction.

She said the DENR seeks to have a shared understanding of risk and resilience to better frame its strategies, programs, and investments.

Among the participants were delegates from the provinces of Bataan and Rizal, Ormoc City, and Siargao in Surigao del Norte, which are the pilot sites of Project TRANSFORM (Transdisciplinary Approach for Resilience and Environmental Sustainability through Multistakeholder Engagement).

The project has implemented practices and programs in environmental protection, climate action, and disaster risk reduction through the DENR’s flagship initiative that engages the entire society in implementing programs focused on poverty alleviation, environmental protection, climate change adaptation and mitigation, disaster risk reduction, and public-private partnerships.

“Our investments in prevention and preparedness, not for response, but preparedness to avoid a disaster would really change the landscape for all of our barangays. We must look beyond our fence lines, though,” Loyzaga said.

“Barangays are just part of a local government unit, which in turn are part of regions and provinces as well. So, we need to be able to re-align and align our paths to progress and resilience so that they in fact, feed into each other and result in multiple positive outcomes.” (PNA)