Monday, March 24, 2008 Rural program seeks to address climate change
CLIMATE change is real and is happening.
With this, the Mindanao Rural Development Program (MRDP) is taking steps to address not only rural poverty but also the growing concern over climate change.
MRDP is a poverty alleviation program of the Department of Agriculture (DA) aimed at helping improve incomes of rural folk through the implementation of infrastructure, livelihood, and capacity building projects.
Through its Natural Resources Management (NRM) component, the program will also deal with the conservation of critical resources in the uplands, lowlands, and coastal and marine areas.
Samuel Wedderburn, senior operations officer of the World Bank, said there is a need to include the impact of climate change in the program and find out the vulnerability of the projects to be implemented.
"Poverty reduction is intrinsically linked to environmental and social sustainability. Natural resources should be enhanced or protected rather than damaged as part of the development process. Development countries like the Philippines are much more vulnerable to environmental degradation," Wedderburn said.
He added that problems related to climate change such as loss of biological diversity, desertification, and deforestation are threatening the ability of rural folks to meet basic human needs like adequate food, clean water, and safe shelter.
Environment scientists say that the Philippines, being an archipelago with more than 7,000 islands, is vulnerable to climate change effects like rising sea levels, destructive typhoons, flooding, droughts, and landslides.
MRDP program director Roger Chio said the program would integrate conservation efforts that result in the cautioning of climate change impact on coastal and critical food production areas. It will also facilitate mainstreaming of upland and coastal conservation mechanisms into municipal policies and development plans.
Considering that a range of socio-economic factors had been linked to environmental destruction, the program will implement on-the-ground investments that will include infusing funds, effort, time and other resources to ensure appropriate balance between economic development and resource conservation and protection.
"If there is displacement caused by the conservation strategies, the program will provide alternative income-generating project," Chio said.
Chio said MRDP has identified and prepared 11 sites in Mindanao considered with global environment significance for funding under the Global Environment Facility (GEF).
The GEF is an organization that is playing a key role in addressing global environmental policies such as climate change.
The 11 identified sites are from the three regions in the island namely: Western Mindanao, Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (Armm), and Caraga. It will also include Coastal Marine Biodiversity Conservation (CMBC) sites covered during the first phase of MRDP.
