BAGUIO CITY—The Regional Development Council has finally adopted the Declaration of Principles on Environmental Governance (DPEG) during Third Quarter Full Council meeting on October 8.

Thirty of the 56 voting member of the RDC have approved the DPEG through a referendum facilitated by NEDA-CAR, the RDC’s secretariat.

The RDC’s Executive Committee has endorsed DPEG for CAR to the Full Council through the RDC-CAR ExCom Resolution No. 16, s. 2014. However, the Full Council moved to defer action on it.

The Executive Committee agreed DPEG to be subjected to a referendum to the RDC members.

DPEG provides reasonable and acceptable policy directions on key areas such as mining, tourism, upland agriculture, and urbanization. It shall serve a guide for key actors and stakeholders in pursuing sustainable development in the Cordillera.

The principles include: strong institutions for effective and sound and responsive environmental governance, planning processes sensitive to local conditions and guided by sound management principles, quality and meaningful citizen participation, and rights-based approach to environmental governance.

 

 

By: Christine Mamuyac, SPCAR