Arroyo forms body vs climate change

MANILA, Philippines — As thousands grapple with the devastation wrought by the recent strong storms, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on Friday enacted into law a bill establishing the Climate Change Commission that will draw up an action plan against global warming.

Ms Arroyo signed into law the Climate Change Act of 2009 before a crowd of Congress leaders, foreign dignitaries, government officials, and environmental advocates at Malacañang’s Rizal Hall.

“The signing into law of the Climate Change Act ushers in a new era in the way the Philippines will tackle climate change in both the short and long terms, for the benefit of Filipinos today and for Filipinos yet unborn,” the President said in a statement.

The signing came as Metro Manila and northern Luzon reeled from the trail of destruction left by Tropical Storms “Ondoy” and “Pepeng” that killed hundreds of people, and destroyed millions of dollars worth of crops and infrastructure.

Weather officials had blamed climate change for the extremely heavy rainfall dumped by the storms which inundated a vast swath of the metropolis and triggered heavy flooding and landslides in the rest of Luzon.

Republic Act 9729 seeks to set up the Climate Change Commission, whose main job is to map out an action plan to mitigate the effects of climate change, and to integrate climate change in the formulation of government policy.

Some P50 million from the President’s contingent fund will be appropriated as initial operating fund of the commission. The law allows the body to accept foreign grants to finance its programs.

The body will have three commissioners who will be appointed by the President and serve for six years.

Within six months, the body, to be chaired by the President, will formulate a framework strategy on climate change, a sort of a road map to combating the advance of climate change.

The commission will have an advisory body composed not only of Secretaries of different departments, but also the heads of the League of Provinces, League of Cities, League of Municipalities, Liga ng mga Barangay, representatives from the academe, business and nongovernment organizations.

With its creation, the Presidential Task Force on Climate Change and the Inter-Agency Committee on Climate Change are abolished, and their functions absorbed by the commission.

After a year, the commission will map out a national climate action plan that includes an assessment of the impact of climate change, specifically on the poor, women and children; identification of vulnerable localities, and identification of strategies to lower greenhouse gas emissions, chief contributor to warming temperatures, among others.

“It’s sad that Ondoy and Pepeng had to happen before this adaptation to climate change law is given attention. But I’m happy we have a permanent commission that will implement programs against climate change,” said Sen. Loren Legarda, one of the principal authors.

In her view, the body’s crucial role lay with providing technical and financial support to local governments to better understand effects of rising sea levels, changing landscapes, droughts, floods and storms.

The commission is tasked with mainstreaming climate change in the development plans of the government in “synergy with disaster risk reduction”; coordinating programs of national government, including disaster risk reduction, and recommending relevant legislation, among others.

But most importantly, it will represent the country in climate change negotiations.

“The new law is important in the sense that it will help pull together a lot of disparate efforts to address climate impacts,” Jose Ma. Lorenzo Tan of the Worldwide Fund for Nature said in an interview. “It sets the stage for climate change to have a prominent impact on the way government plans are made.” –TJ Burgonio, Philippine Daily Inquirer