Baguio has been chosen as one of eight cities (four each in the Philippines and India) as site of AsianCitiesAdapt, a project to develop local adaptation strategies being coordinated by the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI).
Representatives of ICLEI and other participating agencies will join Mayor Mauricio Domogan at the launching of the one-year project on Tuesday morning (July 19) at the Ridgewood Residence at Barangay Lualhati here.
Domogan created last April 12 a task force he heads to spearhead the development and implementation of the city’s climate change adaptation plan in relation to the AsianCitiesAdapt project.
With him in the launching will be Holger Robrecht of the ICLEI European Secretariat, Jana Werg of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, Florencio Ballesteros Jr. of the UP National Engineering Center, Victorino Aquitania of the ICLEI Southeast Asian Secretariat, and a representative of the German Embassy.
Aquitania, a native of Baguio, worked with the city planning and development office before transferring to ICLEI.
ICLEI is an international association of local governments as well as national and regional local government organizations who have made a commitment to sustainable development.
As per the media advisory, “the project brings together science and policy in order to identify the impacts of climate change and to development concrete local adaptation strategies.”
Aside from Baguio, the other chosen cities in the Philippines are Dagupan, Tuguegarao, and San Fernando, La Union. The sites in India are Howrah, Madurai, Kochi, and Visakhapatram.
AsianCitiesAdapt is part of the International Climate Initiative of the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, and Nuclear Safety of Germany.
As indicated in ICI’s website, it has been financing, since 2008, climate projects in developing and newly industrialised countries, as well as countries in transition.
ICLEI is a global association of more than 1,200 local governments and municipal organizations that have made a commitment to sustainable development, according to the media advisory issued on the launching.
“As a movement, ICLEI runs the world’s largest climate program of cities that links local action to national goals and internationally agreed targets.”
