MANILA — Where is natural capital in the national discussion and debate? In policy making and development planning? What are the prospects of mainstreaming natural capital valuation in government decisions and actions?
The World Bank defines natural capital as “the resources that we easily recognize and measure, like minerals, energy, timber, agricultural land, fisheries, and water. It also includes all the ecosystem services that are often invisible to most people, such as air and water filtration, flood protection, carbon storage, pollination of crops, and habitats for wildlife.
Owing to the invisibility of these ecosystem services markets do not capture their true value and the contribution of natural resources to the economy, and consequently what it would cost if these were severely depleted or lost.
For both communities that are highly dependent on natural resources for their sustenance and industries that need these resources for their products, it is therefore imperative that policy makers take cognizance of the value of these natural resources and services so that policies designed to conserve and rehabilitate these assets can be crafted and translated into programs.
Recognizing the crucial role media plays in ramping up awareness of these issues among policy makers and the public alike, the Philippine Press Institute, in partnership with Nickel Asia, Inc., is kicking off its first seminar series for the year with discussions on natural capital valuation, a tool for measuring the value of a nation’s natural assets to inform decision making.
The seminar, themed Taking Stock of our Natural Resources, seeks to help the participating media practitioners to understand and appreciate the concept of natural capital accounting and its role in economic planning and governance.
The seminar also aims to expose media participants to the realities on the ground as basis for better stories set against the backdrop of natural capital valuation. Such stories, it is hoped, should shed light on the value of natural capital and the urgency to factor them into economic policy making and development planning.
To this end, there will be lectures by experts on the topic and a forum with indigenous community representatives on palm oil expansion in Palawan, including local government policies, and the relevance of these issues to natural capital valuation. A media visit to a sanitary landfill and an abandoned mine in Barangay Sta. Lourdes, Puerto Princesa, is yet another highlight of the seminar-workshop.
Statistical tools for doing this kind of valuation are already in place globally but their application is not yet widespread, said PPI training director, Tess Bacalla. The Philippine government adopted the concept of natural capital accounting more than three decades ago but little has been done to implement it.
Seminar sessions will be jumpstarted by Philippine Daily Inquirer correspondent and chair of the National Union of Journalists, Ryan Rosauro, who will talk about his experience writing about the environment and observations of Philippine media’s coverage of the environment.
PPI Director Ariel Sebellino will present findings on local media coverage of the environment, based on a scan and analysis of relevant articles published by member publications.
Palawan NGO Network, Inc. Executive Director Atty. Roberto Chan will talk on the State of the Environment in Palawan: Policy and Enforcement Issues, which will be held at the Palawan Environmental Enforcement Museum in Puerto Princesa.
The session titled Natural Capital: Counting It In will be handled by Dr. Allaine Baaco, assistant professor at the Western Philippine University, while World Bank consultant Dr. Gem Castillo will discuss Transforming Economic Policy through Natural Capital Valuation.
Conservation International Country Director Ricky Nuñez will tackle Toward Healthy Ecosystems and Services: What is the Price Tag?
John Francisco Pontillas and Mary Lacao of the Palawan Council for Sustainable Development will tackle Piloting Ecosystem Accounts in Palawan.
The Visayas leg was held Feb. 8-10 in Tacloban City. The Mindanao leg will be held on Feb. 15-17 in Surigao City. (PPI)
