Legarda pushes Nature-Based Future: “Nurturing nature is our strongest flood defense”

Senator Loren Legarda, in a privilege speech delivered at the Senate on November 11, called for a nationwide shift in flood governance following the devastation of Typhoons Tino and Uwan. Rather than relying solely on concrete infrastructure, she urged government agencies to embrace nature-based, science-driven systems rooted in ecosystems, community resilience, and climate foresight.

“Nurturing nature is our strongest flood defense,” she declared. “Flood protection should begin not with cement but with soil, trees, and ecosystems, a layered defense shaped by nature’s design.”

Reports says Typhoon Tino claimed 232 lives and affected over 4 million Filipinos while Typhoon Uwan, still unfolding, has already displaced 2.4 million. Cebu bore the worst, with 150 fatalities, followed by Negros Occidental and Negros Oriental. These tragedies, Legarda emphasized, are not isolated events but symptoms of deeper systemic failures.

“This is nature speaking to us clearly: our growth has outpaced our safeguards,” she said. “Unchecked mining and reclamation, deforestation, unregulated construction, uncontrolled urban sprawl into no-build zones, poor waste management, and corruption in infrastructure and government clearances have eroded the very foundations of safety and sustainability.”

Legarda called for a complete reorientation of national policy, echoing the UP Resilience Institute’s call to move away from rigid megaprojects and toward flexible, nature-based systems.

The four-term senator laid out a comprehensive set of nature-based solutions, asserting that flood protection must begin upstream, extend through rivers and cities, and reach the coasts, along with governance reforms:
-Restore watersheds through native reforestation, bamboo and vetiver groves, catchment ponds, and contour farming.
-Protect forests from illegal logging, mining, and encroachment.
-Reconnect floodplains, rehabilitate riparian buffers, and restore wetlands as natural sponges.
-Replace concrete embankments with gabions and coconets reinforced with deep-rooted vegetation.
-Stop converting riverbanks into commercial or residential zones.
-Build sponge infrastructure: permeable pavements, bioswales, rain gardens, retention parks, green roofs, and rainwater harvesting.
-Enforce solid waste laws and no-build zones; end exemptions for politically connected developers.
-Restore mangroves and seagrass beds for coastal protection.
-Align agencies under an Integrated Flood Management and River Basin Framework.
-Use multi-hazard maps to guide planning—flood, landslide, earthquake, and storm surge risks must be integrated.
-Ensure all projects are science-based, risk-informed, and climate-aligned—not politically determined.

Legarda also called for the strict enforcement of existing laws which she championed and supported, including the Clean Water Act, the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act, and the National Building Code’s no-build zones. She reminded the public that resilience begins at home.

Citizens must not throw waste into canals, rivers, or streets, must not obstruct waterways or build structures in riverbeds, and must support barangay-level waste segregation programs.

She encouraged the gradual reduction of single-use plastics and active participation in community-based tree planting, river clean-ups, and disaster preparedness drills.
“Every dike that collapses is not only a failure of construction; it is a failure of imagination,” Legarda said.

“The legacy of Tino and Uwan should not be another round of bidding for quick repairs. It must be a nationwide realization that resilience cannot be engineered solely by concrete; it must be grown, restored, and sustained.”

“We cannot keep reacting to typhoons or floods,” she concluded. “We must live with them wisely, with foresight, science, and the guidance of nature.” (30)