Photo: Participants of the Consultation Meeting for the Implementation of DAO No. 2022-04
The Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) and the Biodiversity Management Bureau (BMB) of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), together with the DENR Global Environment Facility / United Nations Development Program Biodiversity (UNDP-BD) Corridor Project, conducted a Consultation Meeting for the implementation of DENR Administrative Order (DAO) No. 2022-04 re: “Enhancing Biodiversity Protection and Conservation in Mining Operations” on January 16-17, 2023 in Hive Hotel, Quezon City.
This consultation, which is part of the agreements made during the December 22, 2022 meeting with MGB, BMB, and the BD Corridor Project, aims to provide a venue for more in-depth discussion on the issues and concerns that needs to be addressed for the implementation of the DAO on the basis of the recommendations gathered from the previous roll-out of the said policy, and to develop an initial draft DAO 2022-04 Implementation Plan.
A total of 48 participants from the BMB, MGB Central Office and Regional Office Nos. XI and XIII, Forest Management Bureau, Environmental Management Bureau, Ecosystems Research and Development Bureau, Foreign-Assisted and
Special Projects Service, Policy and Planning Service, and the National Project Management Unit and Country Program Management Unit of the UNDP-BD Corridor Project attended the said consultation meeting.
The participants were welcomed by Engr. Teodorico A. Sandoval, OIC, Assistant Director of MGB, and the opening message was delivered by Dir. Natividad Y. Bernardino, OIC Director of BMB. After which, a series of presentations and lectures on best mining rehabilitation and biodiversity conservation practices were delivered by various personnel of MGB, BMB, and ERDB. An open forum was then conducted to clarify all concerns and questions related to the delivered presentations.
On the second day of the learning event, a lecture on the proposed guidelines for the valuation of biodiversity and ecosystem services was conducted for the development of the DAO 2022-04 Implementation Plan. The participants also reviewed and enhanced the DENR Special Order on the Creation of Technical Working Group.
The results of the conducted two-day consultation meeting will then be presented during the remaining leg of orientations on DAO No. 2022-04 for DENR Luzon Cluster (Regions CAR, I, II, III, IV-A) and Visayas Cluster (Regions IV-B, V, VI, VII, VIII) which will be held this CY 2023.
Article courtesy of the MGB
