The commissioner and vice chairperson of the Climate Change Commission Friday urged Filipinos to do their share in addressing the hazards of changing climate after the country was ranked third worldwide as the most vulnerable to disaster risk and natural hazards as revealed by the World Risk Index 2011.
Secretary Mary Ann Lucille L. Sering said that everyone has a role to play in addressing the hazards brought by the changing climate around the world, especially in the Philippines. She said immediate action is needed especially now that the country ranks 3rd around the world as the most vulnerable to disaster risk and natural hazards as revealed by the World Risk Index 2011, a study developed by the United Nations University Institute for Environment and Human Security in Germany.
Sering said this information should move everybody in contributing to the country’s fight against climate change. “We must make an effort to make sure we are prepared against the long-term effects of this global phenomenon.”
Sering said that one way of facing the problem is through the National Climate Change Action Plan (NCCAP), the country’s roadmap for greater adaptive capacity. She said one facet of the action plan is to build “resiliency” especially on the effects of climate change in the country’s economy and livelihood.
Under the NCCAP, it identified seven strategic priorities: Food security, water sufficiency, environmental and ecological Stability, human security, sustainable energy, climate-friendly industries and services, and capacity development, financing, valuation of natural resources, multi-stakeholder partnership and capacity building.
Based on data presented by the Climate Change Commission, the country is visited by an average of 20 typhoons annually causing over $2 billion in direct damages and deaths of over 25,000 for the last 20 years, excluding typhoons from 2009 onwards.
It added that in 2009 alone, the country suffered the worst disaster from a relatively weak typhoon but dumped an equivalent of a month’s rain in just six hours, resulting in damages equivalent to 2.7 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and 2 percent for reconstruction. “If we want to be prepared, we must know how to recover from potential damages,” Sering stressed. “Resiliency is vital. And a resilient nation has resilient communities. This is what we are aiming through the Ecotown Framework,” she added.
The Ecotown Framework, she said, is an ecosystem-based approach in building resiliency of local communities. Using this approach, the community is able to increase its adaptive capacity, propagate and sustain environmental growth, utilize climate-friendly technologies and improve its local economy.
Sering said the commission chose areas where this framework will be applied and is now starting to work with the communities in these areas.
“But this is not just an endeavor of the commission alone. We are working with the regional offices of various national government agencies. Their support and cooperation are of great importance for the success of this program,” Sering said.
The commission is mandated by Republic Act 9729 or the Climate Change Act of 2009 to create an enabling environment that shall promote broader multi-stakeholder participation.
“Local government units (LUGs) should not be overlooked. The law states that they will serve as front line agencies in the formulation, planning and implementation of the climate change action plant of their respective area. “Climate change is a cross-cutting issue. It is not limited by age, gender nor social status.
That’s why it cannot be solved by one agency. Everyone must act,” she stressed.
Sering said the Philippines is one of the vulnerable countries in the world to the impacts of climate change such as increases in temperature, sea level rise and extreme weather events due to its geographical location and economic situation.
