Fresh drinking water is an important issue in this decade. The role of water monitoring is a function provided by water utility providers such as the Davao City Water District (DCWD). On a national scale, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Environment Management Bureau (DENR-EMB) is mandated with monitoring the country’s water resources. However, there is a growing trend to democratize water monitoring though engaging local communities. As major stakeholders, local communities can be trained to become river watchdogs to support the government’s water quality monitoring role. Through the project “The Flow of the River: A Community-based Water Monitoring System”, local communities especially local youth members (Bantayo Aweg or Water Guardians) are trained and empowered to monitor water quality through manual testing of the eight parameters, e.g., temperature, color, pH, stream flow discharge and crafting the data into policy recommendations for river protection.
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FALLING WALLS Engage
Mark Peñalver: Breaking the Wall to Inclusive & Democratic Watershed Management
Mark Peñalver
Mark Peñalver is a lawyer having been admitted to the Philippine Bar in 2017. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Mass Communication from Ateneo de Davao University and a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Mindanao. Currently, he is serving as the Executive Director of Interfacing Development Interventions for Sustainability (IDIS), Inc. a policy advocacy and environmental non-government organization with a primary focus on watershed protection and conservation and the promotion of urban sustainable transformation. As such, he represents the organization in different local special bodies in Davao City, among others, the City Development Council, Local Zoning and Review Committee, Watershed Management Council, and Davao City Climate Change Committee.
As an environmental lawyer he advocates for an inclusive policy development and implementation through active community participation.
He is an alumnus of the Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative (YSEALI) – Professional Fellows Program on Sustainable Development and the Environment by the United States Department of State-Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. He recently participated in the nature-based/regenerative placemaking sandbox hosted by the University of Melbourne, Australia with support from Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.