Protecting the Earth through Sustained Partnerships

Opening Remarks
Cosette V. Canilao, Executive Director
Public Private Partnership Center
17 May 2012, 10:00 am

Amenities:

 

Honorable Nerus Acosta, Jr., Presidential Adviser on Environmental Protection.

PPP Center officials and staff.

Honored Guests.

 

Good morning.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank Secretary Nerus Acosta Jr, for graciously accepting our invitation to be our Guest Speaker for the PPP Earth Forum.

We at the Public Private Partnership Center truly appreciate you’re coming all the way here to join us in this endeavor.

During the Earth Day celebration held last April 22, the entire community of nations, including the Philippines actively took part in activities that reinforced our common commitment to protect our environment. More than one billion people have pledged their support to continue channeling their coordinated efforts to address the pressing challenges on global economic security and social priorities.

This is not an empty participation, but an advocacy that each person, each generation should continue to uphold and defend as it affects not just our lives but of those who will come after us. This will be our legacy to our families and to the next generation of Filipinos.

We at the PPP Center fully understand and appreciate the need to protect the only home that has sustained the entire human race. And that is why we are encouraging the implementation of projects that can cater to this very need — that of ensuring the sustainability of our limited resources.

The impact of climate change on the country’s investments in infrastructure, agriculture, water and environment among others pose an alarming threat to the continued viability not only of the country’s economy but more so on the quality of the lives of our people.

PPPs offer an alternative to help mitigate our vulnerability to climate change. Through properly structured projects and strong committed partnerships between government and the private sector, the PPP Center will continue to integrate and advocate environmentally sound practices and policies that are core to each PPP project.

It is said that we did not inherit the earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children. It is our hope that through these sustained partnerships we can all continue to protect this earth and pursue our goal of incorporating effective strategies for environmental protection. That in the end we will all be recognized not only what we create, but for what we refuse to destroy.

Thank you very much and good morning!