WWF, PCEPSDI, and DOT Conduct Life Cycle Assessment Inception Workshop for the Local Food Service Industry
February 2018
Last February 13, 2018, World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) Philippines’ The Sustainable Diner: A Key Ingredient for Sustainable Tourism project hosted the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) Inception Workshop at the New DOT Building in Makati City, in partnership with The Philippine Center for Environmental Protection and Sustainable Development, Inc. (PCEPSDI) and the Department of Tourism - Philippines (DOT). The particular workshop focused on the application and implementation of LCA in the context of the local food service industry, which is one of the major project outputs requiring the full cooperation of stakeholders from the government and the private sector.
DLSU’s Alvin Culaba and PCEPSDI’s June Alvarez equipping the participants with LCA basics and methodologies in relation to its application for the local food service industry.
© Pamela Luber / WWF-Philippines
The event served as a one-day workshop on the fundamentals and the importance of LCA based on ISO 14040 International Standards and ISO 14024 Standards - Ecolabelling Guiding Principles and Procedures. It also introduced the National Ecolabelling Programme - Green Choice Philippines (NELP-GCP) and its process among participants.
WWF-Philippines’ Ms. Melody Melo-Rijk introduces The Sustainable Diner project and its objectives to key stakeholders.
© Pamela Luber / WWF-Philippines
Undersecretary Rolando Cañizal of the DOT’s Administration and Special Concerns Sector (DOT-ASC) opened the workshop by officially welcoming the participants, followed by an introduction on The Sustainable Diner project, discussed by Melody Melo-Rijk, WWF’s Project Manager for Sustainable Consumption and Production in the Philippines. June Alvarez, President and Executive Director of PCEPSDI, shared with the participants his knowledge on sustainable consumption and production in order to level everyone’s understanding of the concept as well as their expectations from the workshop.
De La Salle University’s Alvin Culaba the conducted the bulk of the workshop on LCA, starting with an introduction to the process, its application to the local food service industry in relation to the tourism industry, and a discussion on the various simplified methodologies associated with LCA. The afternoon session covered the main workshop activity, which involved having the participants split into four groups, each coming up with an LCA on their assigned food service category. The workshop ended with an in-depth discussion on Ecolabelling and Green Choice Philippines conducted by Engr. Maureen Grace Lebria, PCEPSDI’s Programme Director.
WWF-Philippines’ Dino Calderon and Muneer Hinay sharing their workshop activity results and LCA application to the rest of the participants.
© Pamela Luber / WWF-Philippines
All in all, it was a very fruitful whole-day session where participants got to immediately apply all the principles they learned in the morning, seeing its relevance to their respective departments and units, and inspiring everyone in the room to collaborate for the implementation of sustainable consumption and production in the country’s tourism industry.
The Sustainable Diner project, under WWF-Philippines’ Sustainable Consumption and Production, is part of the International Climate Initiative (IKI). The Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety (BMUB) supports this initiative on the basis of a decision adopted by the German Bundestag.
