Latest in DENRThe presence of trees in the watershed above Metro Manila is not sufficient to significantly slow floodwater from reaching the capital region, Forest Management Bureau (FMB) Assistant Director Ray Thomas Kabigting said Friday. What is needed is closed canopy forest, where trees are dense enough to…
The fundamental reason Metro Manila floods is not engineering failure or government neglect alone — it is that generations of Filipinos built their homes, roads, and commercial centers directly in the valleys, river deltas, and natural drainage paths that nature designed specifically to carry…
A closer look at why the rainfall warning came late, and why classes couldn’t have been suspended sooner There were no rainfall warnings hanging over Metro Manila in the early hours of Wednesday, September 9, even as clouds gathered thick and low across the region overnight. Then, without a single…
The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) has deployed over 2,000 Estero Rangers who clean waterways across Metro Manila and nearby regions every day, but some residents continue to dump garbage into the same waterways being cleaned—with impunity, Environment Secretary Juan Miguel…
The Marcos administration has secured a €60 million grant from the European Commission under the Green Economy Programme for the Philippines, covering circular economy, waste and plastic reduction, renewable energy, and climate change mitigation—one of the major international environmental…
The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) has launched a mobile outreach program called DENR Express five months ago, sending teams from all 17 regional offices to rotate across provinces every month—with help desks that issue permits and clearances on the spot for residents who…
About 89% of local government units across the Philippines now have Solid Waste Management Plans approved by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), a significant increase from previous years, but Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) Director Michael Drake Matias said they are…
Twenty-five years after the Philippines passed its landmark solid waste management law, the country is now moving toward waste-to-energy technology as a complementary solution to its persistent garbage crisis, with a bill already approved by the House of Representatives and now being deliberated…
The Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) has moved the processing of Environmental Compliance Certificates and other environmental permits to fully online platforms under the Marcos administration, reducing face-to-face transactions and human discretion in the approval process, EMB Director…
Rising international prices for gold and copper are driving significant gains in the Philippine mining sector, pushing the industry’s contribution to gross domestic product past 1% in the first quarter of 2024, even without the opening of major new mining operations under the Marcos…
Philippine forest cover is improving under the Marcos administration, with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources expecting its next national forest cover analysis to show an increase of almost 2% across the country, Forest Management Bureau (FMB) Assistant Director Ray Thomas…
The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) has shifted the focus of its forest rehabilitation programs to headwaters and mountain peaks—the source of water that feeds downstream farming communities—rather than concentrating planting efforts in lowland areas that are easier to reach…
The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) has launched a mobile one-stop shop that brings permitting and registration services directly to small-scale mining communities, as part of a push to formalize a sector that remains largely outside the regulated economy despite its…
Companies that produce plastic products are now legally responsible for managing their own plastic waste under the Extended Producer Responsibility law, ending a decades-long arrangement where local governments bore the sole burden of solid waste management, DENR Undersecretary Jonas Leones said…
Mining companies in the Philippines must now set aside a dedicated rehabilitation fund from the very start of their operations—not just submit a plan—before they are granted a permit to begin digging, Environment Secretary Juan Miguel Cuna said Saturday. Cuna made the statement in an interview on…
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