Philippines: A Nation of Underrepresented Islands and Waters at the Margins

Three times. That is the number of times the word “island” appears in the Department of Environment and Natural Resources’ Integrated Water Resource Management Plan: A Consolidated Action Plan for the Water Resources and Sanitation Sector published in 2024.

For an archipelagic nation of more than 7,600 islands—over 2,000 of which are inhabited and home to millions of Filipinos—that number should compel us to reflect.

The Philippines is defined by its islands. Yet when it comes to water governance, our island communities remain largely invisible in policy, planning, and research. Despite governing a geographically fragmented country, our water management frameworks continue to be built around watersheds—a resource that many small islands simply do not possess.

Although small islands are surrounded by (sea)water, they often suffer from chronic freshwater scarcity. Their limited land area constrains groundwater recharge and surface water storage, making them especially vulnerable to drought, saltwater intrusion, and climate variability. From an economic lens, delivering public services to remote islands is more expensive, infrastructure development is more difficult, and local governments often operate with limited financial resources. Moreover, seasonal tourism can further intensify competition for already scarce water supplies, particularly during the dry months when demand peaks and supply diminishes.

Due to these complexities and compounded vulnerabilities experienced by smaller island communities water governance in these contexts should be treated differently from larger islands with river basins.

Yet despite these realities, island water governance remains underrepresented in the country.

While integrated watershed management has received considerable attention, far less is known about how water access and inequality are structured within islands, and more so in multi-island local government units (LGUs). Many municipalities and provinces govern several inhabited islands that diff er dramatically in population, remoteness, infrastructure, and resource availability. This gap is particularly troubling because a substantial number of these islands are located in Visayas and Mindanao which are regions that are already geographically distant from the country's political and economic center.

However, the challenge is not confined to the country's peripheries. Even municipalities in mainland Luzon, such as Bolinao, and Sual in Pangasinan; Mauban, Pagbilao, and Padre Burgos in Quezon, govern small offshore islands. Multi-island municipalities all face a similar question: when seawater separates a number of their barangays, how do local governments ensure equitable access for all their constituents? Where does the water come from? Who receives it first? And who is left waiting?

Our experience in Bongao, Tawi-Tawi, a municipality governing four inhabited islands, illustrates how these policy gaps create persistent water allocation challenges leading to water inequality. Situated in a region that has long faced development challenges, Bongao demonstrates how vulnerability is not merely a matter of physical scarcity but also of governance. The difficulty lies not only in finding water, but in deciding how it is distributed across communities separated by sea.

These decisions raise critical questions about justice and equity. For instance, when water is extracted from one island but primarily benefits another, who bears the costs and who receives the benefits? If one community experiences environmental impacts from groundwater pumping while another gains access to reliable supply, how should local governments balance these competing interests? What allocation decisions are being made, and whose voices are missing from those conversations?

At its heart, water governance is not simply about infrastructure. It is about representation, and whose needs are being recognized. To date, the experiences of Philippine island communities have remained at the margins of national discussions on water security.

That must change.

As an archipelagic nation, the Philippines cannot afford to treat its islands as an afterthought. The stories of communities navigating water scarcity across fragmented geographies are not peripheral concerns—they are central to the country's future. If we are earnest about achieving Sustainable Development Goal 6, and ensuring the availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all, then we must extend our vision beyond the horizon and toward the island communities whose voices have remained like messages in a bottle—adrift, unheard, and waiting to reach the shores of our national consciousness.