DENR lauds UN resolution on water as basic human right

Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) Secretary Ramon Paje has lauded the United Nation’s Declaration that clean water is a fundamental human right. Paje said the UN declaration lends a moral force to the government’s strides to “uphold the right of our people to clean water." “We welcome this declaration, and give it our unconditional support," Paje said in a statement, stressing that the Philippines had acted 10 years ahead of the UN declaration. He also said one of the marching orders of President Benigno Aquino III to the DENR is to clean up rivers, creeks and other waterways, especially in Metro Manila and other highly urbanized centers. Paje said the 2000 Millennuim Development Goals (MDG) includes a provision whereby the government commits itself to provide the Filipino people sustainable access to safe and clean water (MDG No.7). This resulted in the promulgation of Republic Act 9275 or the Clean Water Act of 2004 to underscore the government’s vigilance in addressing the country’s water security. “Indeed, we are pleased to report that we are well on the way to reaching, if not exceeding, the MDG target of raising to 86.5 percent the number of households with access to safe water by 2015. With 1990 as the baseline year, when access level was 73 percent, we have broadened access to 80 percent in 2002 and 80.1 percent in 2008," Paje said. Paje described the 2004 Clean Water Act as “key to sustaining the universalization of access to water," giving regard to water not “as an independent resource but as a vital component of the environment, inseperably linked to ecological protection of our watersheds, river basins and other water resources." “But raising the access level is just part of the challenge we have accepted. The other part is sustainability. We are working on that as well," Paje said. To clean up and protect the country’s waterways, Paje has embarked on “out of the box" solutions to keeping rivers and creeks clean such as requiring violators to render community service by cleaning waterways. The DENR chief has likewise ordered a speedy resolution of 500 pollution cases pending before the DENR’s Pollution Adjudication Board. High on his legislative agenda is to have the “Sustainable Forest Management Bill" re-filed and secure a congressional approval in the 15th Congress. “The convergence point of all these (efforts), the common Denominator, is water – the sustainability of our water for our various needs," Paje said. –VVP/OMG, GMANews.TV