The Department of Environment and Natural Resources on Friday said they have kicked off the 'brown bag' sessions within the agency, as part of its drive to enhance the knowledge base of DENR officials and employees through the sharing of best practices by experts and practitioners.

The first DENR 'brown bag' session is focused on nature-based solutions for climate and disaster resilience, with First Philippine Holdings Chief Sustainability Officer Agnes De Jesus and Senior Infrastructure Specialist for Innovation and Green Finance Naeeda Crishna Morgado as guest speakers during the event held at the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

"These brown bag sessions are really about the science, technology, engineering, and innovations for the future that we want," Environment Secretary Antonia Loyzaga said. "These will improve our work to enhance what we know and enrich our knowledge base," she added.

During the first 'brown bag' session, De Jesus shared her insights on the conglomerate's experience with nature-based solutions, focusing on the subsidiary Energy Development Corporation (EDC).

She cited some approaches that EDC uses such as planting native trees and leading the replanting of degraded forest areas in various sites under its BINHI program, where they planted rare, threatened, hardwood, and native species. This included the Mount Apo afforestation, which brought back its rich biodiversity.

De Jesus added that they organized forest communities, wherein alternative livelihoods were provided to support host communities.

Morgado, for her part, noted that Southeast Asia is facing a dual crisis to combat climate change and finance climate actions while addressing a natural capital crisis, which can be seen in how the forestlands and biodiversity are impacted by the conversion or extension of agricultural lands. With this, she presented a case study on sustainable coastal and marine fisheries in Cambodia to address declining fish stock due to overexploitation.

Wrapping up the session was DENR Assistant Secretary Noralene Uy, who discussed the advocacy of the DENR for nature-based solutions as one way of mitigating the impacts of climate change.

The DENR leadership hopes to organize 'brown bag' sessions open to all DENR employees. These sessions are designed for all DENR employees to learn from experts in practices related to environment and natural resources management.