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Updating the 1993 National Wetland Action Plan: The Process
Desk Review and Small
Group Workshops
Four Technical Working
Groups (TWG) were formed representing focal areas of
concern namely Freshwater Wetlands, Marine and
Coastal Wetlands, Wetlands Policy, and Enabling
Activities. Each group compiled information
from various sources and reviewed the
consolidated information.
Stakeholders Recommendations: the Dumaguete
Conference
As a result of the review, working documents
were prepared for the National Conference on
Wetlands, Climate Change Adaptation and
Biodiversity Conservation held in Dumaguete City
on 12-14 January 2009. The Dumaguete Conference
marked the second stage of plan formulation. At
the Conference, the working documents
were presented and subjected to further
discussion and validation. There were two main
outputs at the Conference, a Conference
Resolution and the elements of an updated
National Wetlands Action Plan for the
Philippines (NWAPP). The Conference Resolution
recognized the importance of wetlands to
humanity and to nature, its critical state owing
to the various threats on these ecosystems, and
strongly affirmed that the concerned authorities
particularly the Department of Environment and
Natural Resources, the Philippine Congress, and
the Local Government Units, take action in
implementing the priority activities endorsed by
the participants. The updated National Wetlands
Action Plan took into account how wetlands are
affected by extreme climatic changes and the
important role the wetlands play in climate
change mitigation and adaptation.
The outputs were further subjected to iteration
and refinement by the Ad Hoc National Committee
on Wetlands whose membership was constituted at
the Dumaguete Conference. A Final Workshop was
convened which was attended by the Ad Hoc
Committee Members, TWG members and other key
personalities who helped in crafting the updated
NWAPP.
Regional Consultation and Integration
Workshop
The draft NWAPP
was subjected to a series of Regional
Consultations to ensure that all key
stakeholders were involved in the review and
were able to provide inputs to the document. The consultations were
held to prioritize specific wetlands for management and
identify their management needs through
participatory processes, identify partners and
their roles (specific responsibility centers),
resources available and solicit commitments for
its implementation, and to solicit the
endorsement of the updated NWAPP by
stakeholders.
Mainstreaming the NWAPP: Adoption and
Institutionalization
In
23 September 2011, the Ad-Hoc
Technical Working Group was convened to review the consolidated
outputs from the Integration writeshop. This
version is the final product of these series of
consultations and iterations.
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