After 21 years, FPE continues to foster partnerships for a better environment

Since its founding on Jan. 15, 1992, the Foundation for the Philippine Environment (FPE) has been a reliable partner of countless organizations throughout the country—catalyzing cooperation, marshaling resources from other donors, providing grants, and rallying stakeholders from various sectors to conserve natural resources that sustain communities.

Recalls Executive Director Godofredo T. Villapando, Jr.: “FPE was a result of the debt-for-nature swap between the Philippine and US governments that relieved the Philippines of part of its huge debt burden, ensured the availability of funds for the environment, and expanded the arena for environmental protection to a larger community of stakeholders.”

Over the years, FPE financial and technical assistance has gone primarily into protecting local conservation sites and strengthening community and grassroots-led environmental efforts. FPE is currently operating in 8 sites and about to enter 12 other key biodiversity areas. It is restoring forests as well within the ancestral domains of indigenous peoples, who are assisted to mainstream participation in environmental governance. FPE has also backed both legal and paralegal citizen actions against violators of environmental laws.

Said current FPE Chairperson and Chief Executive Officer Nestor R. Carbonera: “Entering our third decade, we aim to position our assistance more strategically in the vast landscape of environmental issues. Our top priorities include a clear-cut policy on mining, support for indigenous peoples, and an environmental and sustainable development consideration in the ongoing peace process in Mindanao.”

To know more about the Foundation for the Philippine Environment, visit www.fpe.ph.