ILOILO City – The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) Region 6 is accelerating efforts to integrate climate resilience and sustainability into local governance through its flagship initiative, the Transdisciplinary Approach for Resilience and Environmental Sustainability through Multi-stakeholder Engagement or Project TRANSFORM.
With climate threats becoming more severe and urban centers like Iloilo increasingly vulnerable, DENR-6 recently convened stakeholders for a public-private partnership orientation and community-level greenhouse gas inventory training — aiming to institutionalize a science-driven disaster and climate risk management system in Iloilo City.
“This event marks a significant milestone in our efforts to advance global climate actions to climate resilience solutions employing multi-stakeholder collaboration, emphasizing the establishment of green spaces and green infrastructure throughout the city of Iloilo,” said DENR Western Visayas OIC-regional executive director Raul Lorilla.
The activity brought together representatives from the private sector, academia, and local communities in a bid to build a unified and localized climate strategy anchored in urban greening and carbon emission tracking. Among the key topics discussed were the long-term effects of greenhouse gases and the need for stronger environmental responsibility in city development.
“This is a reminder that while we’re enjoying the Earth by doing our own businesses, please return back a portion and contribute to us on how to counter the negative impact of the activities of your establishments by contributing to the community, your share in protecting and improving our environment,” added Lorilla.
Climate experts including Jessica Dator-Bercilla, a Science Resilience Fellow at the National Resilience Council, and Engineer Jun Peter Dabuco, chief of the Climate Change Unit at the DENR-Environmental Management Bureau Region 6, provided overviews of Project TRANSFORM’s framework and discussed its relevance to ongoing climate challenges.
Local government agencies were also involved in the discussions. Ronald Cartagena of the Iloilo City Planning and Development Office shared implementation strategies for Project TRANSFORM at the local level, while Engineer Antonio P. Caliston Jr. of the Department of Public Works and Highways highlighted the essential role of green infrastructure in sustainable urban planning.
Project TRANSFORM serves as a pioneering effort by the DENR to fuse science, governance, and community engagement into one actionable blueprint for environmental resilience — with Iloilo City at the forefront of its pilot implementation in Western Visayas./PN
