THE Philippines may not yet be ready for climate change, as a self-assessment of national agencies, local government units (LGUs) and nongovernment organizations (NGOs) showed that implementing and mainstreaming climate-change programs are far from becoming a reality in the country.
The assessment showed the climate-change adaptation capacity of the Philippines, based on the pilot study, was 2.57 out of a perfect score of 5. The score was derived as the mean of the ratings given by participants in the study.
Shiela Encabo, National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) Agriculture Staff director and project coordinator of the Joint Program on Strengthening the Philippines’ Institutional Capacity to Adapt to Climate Change explained that a score of 1 meant that no climate-change-adaptation capacity has been put in place, not even a plan; while a score of 2 meant there are already plans; 3, plans are already being implemented; 4, implemented plans have been reviewed against the benchmark; and 5, plans have already been mainstreamed.
“This means we have some plans but there is no implementation yet. Most of our climate-change-adaptation efforts are on the drawing board. The assessment shows that we have a lot of things to do,” Encabo said in a briefing with reporters on the sidelines of the Capacity Assessment-Validation Workshop in Pasig City on Tuesday.
A rating of 1 to 5, one being the lowest and five the highest, were given per functional capacity. These included engaging multistakeholder dialogue; assessing a situation and creating a vision and mandate; formulating policy and strategy; budget, manage and implement policies/programs; and monitoring and evaluating.
The country’s mean score for engaging multistakeholder dialogue is 2.69; assessing a situation and creating a vision and mandate, 2.6; formulating policy and strategy, 2.59; budget, manage and implement policies/programs, 2.46; and monitoring and evaluating, 2.49.
“From Typhoon Frank to Ondoy, Pepeng and Santi, we have seen how vulnerable many of us are to extreme weather conditions—whether you live along the banks of rivers, the mountain slopes, or in some middle-income class village—we are exposed to disaster of great proportions. This joint program gives us a good opportunity to take a proactive share toward climate-change adaptation by focusing on our functions on planning, investment programming, budgeting, implementation, and monitoring and evaluation,” Neda Deputy Director General Rolando Tungpalan said in his speech at the workshop.
Encabo said that ultimately, the self-assessment results together with the workshop results would be used toward creating and implementing efficient land-use guidelines, as well as influencing the Medium Term Philippine Development Plan (MTPDP).
She said that while the country has a Land Use Act, developers and the public, in general, particularly those in the provinces, use the Act or accomplish it for the sake of compliance and not really take its guidelines to heart.
On the MTPDP, Encabo said that the country’s MTPDP is not yet climate-proofed and only discusses climate change under the Green Philippines portion of the updated 2004 to 2010 plan.
She said climate change should not be only a section in the MTPDP, but must be embedded in the entire plan, cutting across chapter topics.
Loren: Climate in budget
Meanwhile, Sen. Loren Legarda vowed on Tuesday she would ensure that the national budget for fiscal year 2010 will give utmost priority to addressing the issues of climate change and disaster-risk reduction, as vice chairperson of the Senate Committee on Finance and as chairperson of the Senate Committee on Climate Change.
She said the proposed P1.541-trillion proposed budget for next year was formulated before a number of super typhoons hit the country recently.
“This is the first time that the Executive Department has given priority to environment and climate change in its budget preparations. But we must make sure that funds for these priority concerns are properly utilized and disbursed,” said Loren.
Legarda stressed that the 2010 budget must allocate funds for the implementation of the Climate Change Act, which was signed into law on October 23, long after the President’s National Expenditure Program was submitted to Congress.
The senator is the principal author and sponsor of Republic Act 9729, which mandates the development of a framework strategy and local action plans on climate change and the creation of the Commission on Climate Change. The commission is the sole policymaking body of the government tasked to coordinate, monitor and evaluate the programs and action plans of the government relating to climate change.
“If there’s one important lesson that we must learn from the super- typhoons that ravaged not only our countryside, but Metro Manila as well, it is that the government, both at the national and local levels, must draw up preventive measures so that our people and our communities will remain safe and protected,” she said.
“The 2010 budget must not be a maintenance budget. Waking up from the country’s vulnerability to disasters and climate change, next year’s budget must be instrumental in financing our climate-change work to save lives and livelihoods. The 2010 budget will reveal if our leaders and decision-makers in the government have learned to finally mainstream climate change in the budgeting process.”
“We should protect our agricultural and fishery sector by first providing for the identification of the Strategic Agriculture and Fisheries Development Zones or SAFDZs that would delineate the biophysical properties of agri and fisheries areas, including climate-change adaptabilities of crops, poultry and livestock,” said Loren.
“The zones will also be the physical planning base for agri and fisheries programs and should be guarded against conversion, destructive activities like excessive quarrying and mining, forest fires, over-fishing and other illegal activities in coastal areas.”
She added that local government units must also have sufficient funds for disaster mitigation, as well as for agricultural and fisheries undertakings.
16 agencies in assessment
The initial capacities on climate-change self-assessment was conducted in 16 agencies consisting of 12 national agencies, the local governments of Albay and Benguet, Philippine Network on Climate Change, and Philippine Association of Tertiary Level Educational Institutions in Environmental Protection and Management.
The 12 government agencies included the Neda, Departments of Agriculture, Environment and Natural Resources, Education, Health, Interior and Local Government, and Labor and Employment.
Other agencies included the Departments of National Defense, and Public Works and Highways; Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical, and Astronomical Services, Administration; Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology; and the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council. –Cai U. Ordinario / Reporter, Businessmirror
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