Ms. Maria Antonia Yulo Loyzaga is the current Secretary of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources of the Philippines. Since her appointment, she has been designated by President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. as Head of the Philippine Delegation to four major conferences: the 2022 Asia Pacific Ministerial Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction, United Nations Climate Change Conference COP27, United Nations Biodiversity Conference COP15, and the United Nations Water Conference. She is the Chairperson of the Cabinet Cluster on Climate Change Adaptation, Mitigation, and Disaster Risk Reduction (CCAM-DRR) and the designated representative of President Marcos to the Climate Change Commission (CCC) as Chairperson.

Ms. Loyzaga was the President of the National Resilience Council (NRC), a science and technology-based public-private partnership aimed at the implementation of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, the Sustainable Development Goals, and the Paris Climate Agreement. She was a member of the United Nations International Office for Disaster Risk Reduction’s (UNDRR) Asia Pacific Science Technology Advisory Group (APSTAG) and was also a Director of the UNDRR’s Alliance for Disaster Resilient Societies (ARISE) Philippines initiative, where NRC leads the Disaster Risk Management Strategies work theme.

Ms. Loyzaga served on the Science Advisory Board of the Integrated Research on Disaster Risk International Center of Excellence-Taipei (IRDR ICoE) and was a governing board member of the Future Earth Global Secretariat Hub (GSH) Taipei. She was a Trustee of the Zuellig Family Foundation, the Manila Observatory, Ateneo de Naga University and the Forest Foundation Philippines, where she also served as Treasurer.
Prior to these appointments, Ms. Loyzaga was the Executive Director of the Manila Observatory from 2007-2016 and was also a Trustee of the Ateneo de Manila University from 2007-2017. During this period, she was appointed to the Department of Science and Technology’s Committee on Space Technology Applications and to the UNESCO National Commission’s Committee on Science and Technology.

In 2013, she was recognized by the Armed Forces of the Philippines for her contributions to the Philippine military’s emergency disaster response operations during Super Typhoon Haiyan.

Ms. Loyzaga holds a Master of Arts degree in Government from Georgetown University and Bachelor of Arts Degree in Political Science from the Ateneo de Manila University.