A unique approach to warding off a water crisis

To achieve results that will significantly address our water crisis, a unique approach is needed. This was started on Jan. 20 at the Executive Secretary’s Conference Room in Malacañang. Given the sad state of our water in terms of quality, availability, and equity, insanity may have seeped into our water sector.

Einstein defined insanity as “doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” The lack of positive results from the same things we are doing over many years demands a new approach.

The Malacañang meeting last week showed three very different features: a tripartite approach; the identification of globally recognized water indicators per sector; and a new management mechanism.

Tripartite approach

This meeting was initiated by the private sector. Since 80 percent of our water is used by agriculture, it is understandable why the five-coalition AgriFisheries Alliance (AFA) brought this water crisis to the attention of President Rodrigo Duterte.

The AFA is composed of five coalitions from different sectors: Alyansa Agrikultura (farmers and fisherfolk); Philippine Chamber of Agriculture and Food (agribusiness); Coalition for Agricultural Modernization in the Philippines (science and academe); Pambansang Koalisyon ng mga Kababaihan sa Kanayunan (rural women); and Agriculture Fisheries 2025 (multisector leaders).

The five coalition heads met with President Duterte and now Presidential Management Staff Head Christopher Go as early as April 16, 2016. In that meeting, Duterte said hewould “give high priority to the water crisis.”

Encouraged by this, the AFA arranged meetings with the government’s legislative and ex- ecutive branches.

On Jan. 20, it was agreed that a tripartite approach would be used in doing a national water roadmap that would culminate in a June National Water Summit. The initial lead convenor for the legislature is Sen. Loren Legarda, chairperson of the Climate Change Committee. The executive branch convenors are Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Gina Lopez, Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol, Economic Planning Secretary Ernesto Pernia, and Interior and Local Government Secretary Ismael Sueno.

But the most important difference is that the Office of the President will now be deeply involved in addressing our water crisis. Key water summit convenor Cabinet Secretary Leoncio Evasco, Jr. is arranging for all the main preparatory meetings to be held in Malacañang. This way, the 30 water-related government agencies who hardly talk to each other will now be coordinated and united.

For the private sector, the initial convenors are the AgriFisheries Alliance and the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry. This tripartite group has formed a Steering Committee that will get technical support from the National Water Resources Board under Executive Director Bill David and the University of the Philippines Los Baños faculty under Chancellor Fernando Sanchez, Jr. Sanchez showed his strong commitment by bringing nine UPLB deans to this meeting.

Indicators

At the meeting, the tripartite group decided to benchmark their indicator scores against 47 other countries that are includ- ed in an ADB 2016 study. This study identified specific indicators for five critical sectors: household, economic, urban, environment, and resilience to water disasters.

The tripartite group’s objective is to significantly improve the dismal scores our country has in each sector. For example, on a 1-20 scale, our 2016 scores are 9 for household, 11 for economic, 5 for urban, 8 for environment, and 7 for resilience. We are in the bottom 20 percent of the 47 countries identified in the ADB study. We rank 38, far lower than Indonesia’s 27 and Malaysia’s 8.

We have identified two additional sectors where programs, targets, and measures will be used. These are agriculture, which uses 80 percent of our water; and governance, which is considered the most important sector, and where “we do the same thing over and over again.”

Mechanism

A mechanism that will be used to guide the water program will make full use of the tripartite approach and the measurement of specific water indicators. Each sector will be ranked according to its improvement on globally accepted water indicators. If there is no change, the management of each sector will similarly be changed to improve performance.

With the introduction of these three new elements, an insanity charge on this matter will no longer be appropriate. We can now look forward to significant water results that will address our alarming water crisis.