ANTONIA YULO-LOYZAGA

SECRETARY, DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENT AND NATURAL RESOURCES (DENR)

After stepping into the DENR in July 2022, Secretary Antonia “Toni” Yulo-Loyzaga has brought science and transparency back into the department. Under her helm, the country established its first comprehensive national natural resource geospatial database, leveraging satellite imagery through the Philippine Space Agency (PhilSA) and other space agencies to measure what we should treasure.

On the global stage, Secretary Loyzaga is the first woman in the current Cabinet to address the United Nations during the Water Conference in March 2023, where she announced the establishment of the Water Resource Management Office under the DENR by an executive order. As the President’s representative to the Climate Change Commission, she is leading the preparations for the country’s participation in the UN Climate Change Conference of Parties in Dubai. Secretary Loyzaga believes in a whole-of-nation approach to the environment, with private-public-academia-CSO and community partnerships at the crux for the development and security of the nation. In October 2023, she led a team to the Kalayaan Island Group in the West Philippine Sea to advance environmental security and national development. The DENR will establish a protected area and a marine station in partnership with the University of the Philippines Marine Sciences Institute, the Armed Forces of the Philippines Western Command, and the Kalayaan local government. Preserving this critical ecosystem and its biodiversity will provide food security, livelihoods and the preservation of the ocean’s climate regulatory functions in the region and beyond.