Pushing for a Green Future: Dr. Rañola Represents PAA in the ECCP Summit
Dr. Rañola serves as a panel member for Nature and Land Use during the 1st Race to Zero Sustainability Summit.
The European Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines (ECCP) invited Dr. Roberto F. Rañola, Jr., Chairperson of the Board of Trustees, Philippine Association of Agriculturists, Inc. (PAA), to represent PAA in the inaugural Race to Zero Summit with the theme “Accelerating the Philippines' Path to Net Zero” held on October 10, 2024, at Ascott BGC, Taguig.
This important meeting brought together industry leaders, environmental scholars, and policymakers to discuss innovations and strategies to combat climate change in the country.
As part of the broader discussion on the United Nations 2030 Breakthrough Agenda for a Zero-carbon Future, PAA Chair Rañola who is also an agricultural economist and licensed agriculturist, served as a panel member for the topic on Nature and Land Use.
Insights on Green Future
To contribute to the discussion on the protection and rehabilitation of the environment through effective land use management, ECCP invited PAA Chair Rañola along with other prominent figures in the agriculture sector. His talk focused on the Philippine roadmap to sustainable green future and the Department of Agriculture’s priority programs based on the DA’s Strategic Plan 2024-2028.
In his talk, Dr. Rañola mentioned the key priority agenda of the Department of Agriculture aimed at promoting a green future:
Expand and improve available Agri-Fishery areas for increased production;
Mechanize and modernize Agri-Fishery production systems;
Develop and improve post-harvest systems;
Develop an efficient logistics system for both input and production output;
Improve and expand local and international market access;
Balance the development and regulatory role of the DA; and
Maintain a strong partnership with farmers, fisherfolk, and the private sector.
These urgent steps are deemed necessary to address the needs of various stakeholders in the Philippine agriculture sector. However, Dr. Rañola also noted the challenges in achieving these goals such as low soil fertility, degraded water resources, shrinking agricultural land, and climate-related disasters.
Dr. Rañola called for a comprehensive comparative analysis on transformative and incremental planning to include operational, functional, and structural changes in the sector. As such, performance indicators are helpful to measure the impact of the said reform. His participation inspired meaningful discussions and collaborations between the public and private sectors in achieving collective climate goals.
The Mission of ECCP Summit
ECCP is the first and only Accelerator for the Race to Zero in the Philippines, a global campaign led by the UN Climate Change High-Level Champions. This initiative unites over 14,500 non-state actors in taking urgent and decisive action, with the goal of halving global carbon emissions by 2030 and creating a healthier, more equitable, zero-carbon world. In line with this commitment, ECCP has organized the said summit to engage both local and international stakeholders in advancing the Philippines' net zero ambitions.
