Last March 4, 2019, World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) Philippines’ The Sustainable Diner: A Key Ingredient for Sustainable Tourism project conducted a policy planning workshop in partnership with the Philippine Center for Environmental Protection and Sustainable Development, Inc. (PCEPSDI) and the Cebu City Local Government Unit (LGU) at the Social Hall of the Cebu City Hall.

WWF and PCEPSDI conduct Policy Planning Workshop with the Cebu City LGU

The workshop was attended by representatives from the LGU’s Resource Management and Development Center and the Tourism; Health; Planning; Public Information; Budget; Agriculture; and Environment and Natural Resources offices.

The goal of the workshop was to validate the action recommendations and strategies derived from the Action Planning Workshop conducted last year in order to assist the LGU in integrating the Sustainable Consumption and Production (SCP) concept into their policies and plans. It was also set to identifying key departments or units instrumental in handling each recommended strategic action.

Diana Sadili, PCEPSDI’s Project Officer for The Sustainable Diner project, set the expectations for the policy planning workshop by giving a quick run-through on the project action recommendations and strategies, consolidated from the inputs gathered from the Action Planning Workshop held last September 24-25, 2018.

The Action Planning Workshop was meant to define the medium- and long-term strategic goals of specific national and local government units on the implementation of SCP in the food service industry, and to integrate SCP principles into local and national policies and plans.

The gathered recommendations and strategies were classified under four major themes: the creation of an SCP council; the institutionalization and harmonization of SCP concepts; the adoption and implementation of SCP practices and policies; and the development of a support system for the foodservice industry’s transition to SCP compliance.

Cebu City and Food Sustainability Policy Planning

With Cebu City being situated on an island that is surrounded by rich marine biodiversity and blessed with different forms of natural resources, environmental protection became a very important theme during the policy planning workshop. Giving specific importance to this lens, the presented action recommendations and strategies were then assessed by the Cebu City LGU representatives, particularly on how these can be improved and implemented through local policy-making and governance.

During the workshop proper, the Cebu City LGU representatives were able to localize the consolidated challenges and opportunities shared during the Action Planning Workshop by stakeholders from the food service industry, the academe, and other civil society organizations, with the present challenges they are facing in the different aspects of local governance.

The action recommendations and strategies were then further refined, and collectively, suggestions were made on the possible delegation of the roles and responsibilities to the corresponding LGU offices.

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The outcome of the policy planning workshop will be further synthesized until a revised batch of action recommendations and strategies, specifically for Cebu City, can be presented and implemented with the help of the LGU’s different offices. Having concluded the policy planning workshops for Quezon City and Cebu City, the same kind of workshop will be conducted in Tagaytay City in the coming month.

About the WWF-PH Food Tourism Program and Initiative

Note: CebuFinest.com was chosen by the World Wide Fund for Nature – Philippines, along with other online media bloggers, and selected personnel and members of the City Government of Cebu to participate in The Sustainable Diner workshop event held last September 26, 2017, in Seda Vertis North Hotel, Quezon City.

All Photos © Gabriel Villalon / WWF-Philippines