AMID Metro Manila's rapid growth and transformation, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources National Capital Region office (DENR-NCR) made significant gains in increasing green spaces in the metropolis — a move aimed at mitigating the impact of climate change and bring a host of other benefits.

"There was already an observed 47 percent in green space from 2021 to 2024. So, it is noteworthy that this is only based on the assessment conducted by this office on available satellite images," said DENR-NCR Director Michael Drake Matias in a recent forum.

However, the official said, "it will still be subject to ground verification, but if you will notice, the increase is observable and significant from 2021 to 2024."

The DENR-NCR chief said in terms of increasing green spaces, the successful implementation of the aforementioned program was made possible through the efforts of the local government units in NCR.

The DENR's efforts to expand green spaces in Metro Manila came as the country faced the threat of climate change. According to the National Adaptation Plan of the Philippines 2023 to 2050 by the Climate Change Commission, up to 11 million Filipinos have been projected to be exposed to a "danger" level of heat index of higher than 42 degrees Celsius by 2030 with the number potentially ballooning to 74 million by 2050.

Among the green spaces accessible to the public in Metro Manila were the Arroceros Forest Park in Manila; University of the Philippines Academic Oval in Diliman, Quezon City; People's Parks in Valenzuela, Caloocan and Quezon City; Greenway Park in Taguig City; Ayala Triangle Gardens in Makati City; Estero Tripa de Gallina in Pasay City and Filinvest City Central Park in Muntinlupa City.

For its part, the World Health Organization (WHO) recommended universal access to green spaces with at least 0.5 hectares of green space within 300 meters of every home. The WHO also noted that these green areas would provide numerous health benefits, including lower premature mortality, fewer mental health problems and healthier babies among others.

To further mitigate the impact of climate change and the increasing heat index experienced during the summer months, the DENR-NCR has also been implementing programs such as the Enhanced National Greening Program (NGP).

"Part of its Enhanced National Greening Program from 2011 to 2023, the DENR has maintained around 1,577 hectares of NGP sites, planted more than 1,226,500 seedlings and produced closed to 12 million assorted seedlings," Matias added, "These assorted seedlings were utilized not only in NCR but in other regions as well."

Meanwhile, the DENR-NCR chief said one of the most common challenge in terms of greening would be the available open spaces for planting.

He said: "Most of the time, these open spaces were already [privatize] and are already intended for development purposes; thus, to address this matter, we are focusing our efforts on IEC (information, education and communication) activities that promote the importance of green spaces."

"In addition, we are already collaborating with other stakeholders [such as] national government agencies, civil society as well as nongovernment agencies on ways forward on enhancing and developing the green spaces in [NCR]," he added.