Outcome of the 1st Philippines-Japan Environmental Week

The Ministry of the Environment, Japan (MOEJ), held "The 1st Philippines-Japan Environmental Week," co-hosted with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) of the Republic of the Philippines from March 2 to March 4, 2022.

On March 2, NAKAI Tokutaro, Vice-Minister of the Environment, Japan, and Mr. Atty. Jonas R. Leones, Undersecretary for Policy, Planning and International Affairs, DENR, chaired the Bilateral Environmental Policy Dialogue concerning the cooperation between both countries in environmental fields. MOEJ and DENR released a Joint Statement to confirm future cooperation on climate change and other environmental fields. In the afternoon on the same day, the 6th Dialogue on Waste Management was held.

At the online seminars held on March 3 and March 4, after opening remarks delivered by NAKAGAWA Yasuhiro, Parliamentary Vice-Minister of the Environment, Japan, Mr. Atty. Jonas R. Leones, Undersecretary, and KOSHIKAWA Kazuhiko, Ambassador of Japan to the Philippines, two plenary sessions on climate change and city-to-city collaborations were conducted. In addition, three seminars were held on themes related to measures against climate change. Relevant persons from the public and private sectors of both countries participated in the seminars and deepened discussions on each of their roles and on cooperation towards resolving issues. In addition, business matching events, such as exhibitions and presentations by companies, were held to facilitate further the development of Japanese companies in the Philippines and approximately 650 participants participated in the events from the Philippines and Japan.

1. Outline

(1) Date and time

March 2 through March 4, 2022

(2) Venue

Online Conference

(3) Hosts

Ministry of the Environment, Japan (MOEJ), and the Department of Environment and

Natural Resources (DENR) of the Republic of the Philippines

2. Background and objectives

MOEJ has held dialogues on waste management between the ministries of environment of the Philippines and Japan five times since 2015. This time, "The 1st Philippines-Japan Environmental Week" was organized to include issues related to climate change, and bilateral environmental policy dialogue, seminars, exhibitions and business matching were conducted in an integrated manner to provide opportunities to enhance comprehensive cooperation, from upstream in policy support to downstream in creating actions for the Philippines.

3. Results

(1) Bilateral environmental policy dialogue (morning of March 2)

(Major participants)

Japan: Vice-Minister of the Environment NAKAI Tokutaro, Economic Minister of the Embassy of Japan to the Philippines NAKATA Masahiro, Director, Environmental Management Team 1, Environmental Management Group, Global Environment Department, Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) MATSUOKA Hideaki, and others

The Philippines: Undersecretary Atty. Jonas R. Leones, and others

(Outline of the results)

• The Philippines and Japan shared the progress of cooperation with the Philippines and its future direction in a broad range of areas in the climate change field, such as fluorocarbon management, transparency improvement (PaSTI), Joint Crediting Mechanism (JCM), adaptation, and city-to-city collaboration, etc. In addition, the two delegations confirmed future cooperation for the achievement of the Waste-to-Energy project.

• Furthermore, the two delegations confirmed the discussion of possibilities of cooperation in new fields, such as the establishment of a long-term strategy related to climate change and support for implementation of nationally determined contributions (NDC), etc., in addition to existing cooperation.

• As a document on the results of the policy dialogue, the two delegations released a Joint Statement on climate change between DENR and MOEJ.

(Outline of the Joint Statement)

The two delegations agreed to make efforts to develop cooperation in the following fields:

(i) Fluorocarbon Management: Promoting cooperation in the potential assessment of HFCs collection and destruction, the capacity development of policy makers and technicians, and utilization of the JCM;

(ii) Partnership to Strengthen Transparency for co-Innovation (PaSTI): Promoting cooperation with a view to strengthening greenhouse gas (GHG) reporting and incentives for action;

(iii) JCM: Promoting development further projects and coordination on the formulation of frameworks for the implementation of Article 6 of the Paris Agreement;

(iv) City-to-City Collaboration: Sharing good practices of city-to-city collaboration in the Philippines and Japan (between Osaka City and Quezon City, Kitakyushu City and Davao City) in international forums, etc.;

(v) Adaptation: Sharing knowledge and tools to implement adaptation projects in vulnerable communities;

(vi) Waste Management: Deepen collaboration in developing the viability of implementation of Waste-to-Energy projects in the Philippines.

Both sides agree to discuss potential cooperation in new areas, such as support for the development and implementation of Long-Term Strategy on Climate Change and NDCs with consideration of the mandates of both ministries.

(2) The 6th Dialogue on Waste Management (afternoon of March 2)

(Participants)

Japan: MOEJ, Embassy of Japan in the Philippines, JICA, etc.

The Philippines: DENR, etc.

(Details)

The Philippines side explained and raised issues related to the current management status of urban waste and disposal of medical waste related to COVID-19. The Japan side explained medical waste disposal technology and the achievements of Waste-to-Energy projects through public-private partnership. In addition, both sides discussed a countermeasures plan for issues that have been identified and confirmed their commitment to continuing cooperation in the waste management field that takes countermeasures into account.

(3) Online seminars, business matching (March 2 through 4)

Approximately 650 persons from the central governments of the Philippines and Japan, embassies, local governments, JICA, JETRO, and private sectors. For online exhibitions, 38 Japanese companies and groups exhibited and 14 companies made presentations on environmental technologies.

○ Opening Session:

On March 3, Parliamentary Vice-Minister of the Environment, Japan, Nakagawa, Ambassador of Japan in the Philippines Koshikawa, and Undersecretary Leones (video message) expressed their expectations for future cooperation on the environment between the Philippines and Japan and declared the opening of Environmental Week.

○ Plenary Session 1:

Ms. Sandra Wu Wen-Hsiu, UN Global Compact Board member / Chairperson and CEO of Kokusai Kogyo Co., Ltd. gave a lecture on the role of businesses towards a resilient, sustainable, and decarbonized society. In the panel discussion between the central governments, private sectors, and researchers, etc. of the Philippines and Japan, they deepened discussions on the importance of long-term strategy in measures against climate change and on the decarbonizing activities of business sectors in the Philippines.

○ Plenary Session 2:

Messages from the mayor of San Carlos City and mayor of Santiago City were delivered, as well as a presentation from Pasig City on climate change activities by local government. Then, as good practices for city-to-city collaboration between the Philippines and Japan, activities between Osaka City and Quezon City and between Kitakyushu City and Davao City were introduced. Participants held a panel discussion on the role of cities and city-to-city collaboration, etc.

○ Thematic sessions:

On March 3 and 4, 2022, the following seminars in individual fields were held.

(i) Seminar on the Joint Crediting Mechanism (JCM) in the Philippines

(ii) Introduction of support towards climate change adaptation plans in developing countries through e-learning training materials using ISO 14090 Series and the Introduction of a Participatory Coastal Land-use Management (PCLM) project in Oriental Mindoro

(iii) Partnership to Strengthen Transparency for co-Innovation (PaSTI) Public Private Sector Dialogue on MRV (Measurement, Reporting, and Verification of CO₂ emissions)

In addition, for public-private collaboration between the Philippines and Japan and for further promotion of the business development of Japanese companies, exhibitions and presentations by companies were conducted online at business matching events where business establishments in Japan and participants could meet individually.

○ For the Philippines-Japan Environmental Week, please see here.

https://www.jprsi.go.jp/ew2022ph/event_en.html

For Japanese

Attached File:

• Attachment 1 Joint Statement on Philippines-Japan Policy Dialogue [PDF 93 KB]
• Attachment 2 The Philippines-Japan Environmental Week Seminar Program [PDF 678 KB]