THE Climate Change Commission (CCC) is urging local government units (LGUs) to draw up their respective climate change initiatives before another major disaster strikes again.
In a press conference on Wednesday, June 8, CCC Secretary Emmanuel de Guzman reminded LGU officials that failure to come up with measures to reduce disaster risks is tantamount to “social injustice,” because it deprives the poorest and most vulnerable sectors the much-needed protection against the adverse effects of climate change.
“Non-action on climate and disaster risks is a social sin, an injustice to the poor and most vulnerable,” de Guzman told local government executives during the two-day Communities for Resilience (Core) Convergence Forum held in a hotel in Cagayan de Oro City, June 8 to 9.
According to CCC, the forum brought together LGUs around the Buayan-Malungon in regions 11 and 12, Cagayan de Oro, Davao and Tagoloan river basins, which are part of the 18 major rover basins and communities covered by Core, with the aim of increasing capacities of local communities on reducing disaster risk and adapting to climate change.
Core river basins and communities, which are considered high-risk areas, have been identified by experts as pilot areas and models for the convergence of climate change adaptation, mitigation, and disaster risk reduction and management programs of the government.
The forum, which is the second of the series to be conducted across the country by CCC, aims to increase competencies of LGUs on risk information database, competency development on risk management, mitigation, mainstreaming of climate change and disaster risk reduction in local planning and knowledge management.
CCC said the first convergence forum was held in Davao City last March and was attended by 18 LGUs from that region.
“The convergence forum’s main strategy,” de Guzman said, “is the development of capacities of key national and local stakeholders, particularly the latter who bear the brunt of the impacts of climate change and are expected to be at the forefront of the response actions.”
He pointed out the sad reality that sectors mired in poverty, such as farmers, fisherfolk and informal settler families living in danger areas, have a higher chance of experiencing the ill effects of climate change due to increased exposure and vulnerability.
“Poor people often live, farm or hold assets in areas more exposed to droughts and floods, which put their homes, crops, livestock and even their own lives at risk,” he added.
Citing a United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015 report, CCC noted the country ranked sixth among 10 countries worldwide hardest hit by natural disasters, sustaining US$1.9 billion in economic damage and affecting an estimated 3.83 million people.
As disasters become more prevalent, de Guzman said, “the higher is the right of the poor to social protection, and the higher is the duty of government to reduce their disaster vulnerability and liberate them from the vicious cycle of poverty and risk.”
He said it is for this reason that the CCC is pushing for climate risk-sensitive national and local development policies, plans and programs so that the underlying risk factors are addressed and disaster risks are reduced effectively.
Actions that must be embodied in local climate change action plans required of LGUs by the Climate Change Act includes preparing risk assessment, protecting ecosystems, improving agricultural methods, managing water resources, building settlements in safe zones, instituting better building designs, improving insurance coverage, developing social safety nets, and strengthening multi-hazard early warning systems and services.
De Guzman said the most effective way for a country to reduce climate-related risks in the medium-term is through factoring risk reduction into development planning, land use, and building and environmental management.
“In as much as possible we’ll help the LGUs comply with the requirements of the law [Climate Change Act], that’s why we are introducing this Core so that they can have tools and methodologies for planning that they can use to craft a climate change action plan as required by law,” de Guzman told this paper in an interview.
At present, the Commission is in the process of implementing the People’s Survival Fund (PSF) where LGUs that are qualified and Climate Change Act-compliant will receive funding to finance climate change adaptation programs and projects in their localities.