Achieving water security remains to be a major longstanding challenge for the Philippines. The country has dealt with numerous water-related challenges including water pollution, water scarcity, and insufficient access to sanitation among others, as well as water hazards such as floods, droughts, and storms. These threats continue to evolve and intensify due to aggravating factors like climate change, environmental degradation, and most recently the pandemic.

The ECCP reaffirms its commitment to work with the government to finally address the evolving water crisis in the country. As part of its sustainability-related advocacies, the Chamber has launched various initiatives focusing on the water sector with the main objective of raising awareness of the challenges and opportunities in the said sector. Among these initiatives is the Water Challenge Forum Series (WCFS).

Now on its sixth run, this year's WCFS will be a two-forum series that will occur in November and December. This virtual event will provide stakeholders and participants an opportunity to engage in a multi- and cross-sector dialogue relating to the need to address water challenges and water-related hazards.

FORUM 1
"A Deep Dive into the Philippine Water Sector:
Exploring solutions for the country's water supply and sanitation system"

Water scarcity has increasingly become a worldwide problem, affecting more than 40% of the global population with water resources depleting at an alarming rate due to the increase in the world's population coupled with the impact of climate change. Data from the Asian Development Bank also show that global water demand projections are estimated to increase by nearly 55% with the global population increasing to almost 10 billion by 2050. For the Philippines, the issue of water scarcity is not foreign. It has been the topic of numerous discussions between the public and private sectors and is one of the longstanding issues that the country faces.