Salceda says climate funds in crossroad

LEGAZPI CITY: The quest of the Philippine government and other developing countries to obtain climate funds is in the crossroad as the wealthy countries disregarded the plea of poor nations, Gov. Joey Salceda of Albay lamented. Salceda, who attended the concluded 16th Conference of Parties (COP-16) climate talks in Cancun Mexico told before the participants Local Government Units (LGU) Summit +3i Visayan held in Sarabia Manor Convention Center in Iloilo that the quest of Philippine government to demand for financing adaptation is in dismal and bleak situation as the powerful countries declined to play a part specifically on climate funds for adaptation measures.

According to him, the world is facing a tipping point on the expanding global carbon emissions gap—where global warming and climate change becomes irreversible by 2050 and beyond.

Salceda said this should now be addressed, but the attempt of poor nations is in chaos.

With this, Salceda said that the best action to be done by Philippines through local government officials in the country is to carry out the total implementation of Republic Act 10121, or the “Disaster Risk Reduction Management (DRRM) Act of the Philippines and Climate Change Adaptation,” should be embedded in all development process.

The local governments according to Salceda should implement the disaster risk reduction management thoroughly to brace for the worst impact of global warming, which will seriously affect the country’s development specifically to agricultural industry.

“LGUs must create a permanent disaster risk management like what we did in the province of Albay. If there is a risk, it is the duty of the state to reduce the risk and local government units must demystify the climate change. We need to protect infrastructures, this is the insurance to private investors that their investment or business will not be destroyed by any form of calamities,” Salceda said.

“Human capitalization is most important rather than physical adaptation. This means that population in the vulnerable or in the high risk areas must be permanently relocated. However, it should be coupled with defense habitation. Defense habitation simply means that we need to protect the physical structure,” Salceda continued.

Adaptation measures
Salceda also sought before the local leaders to include the climate change adaptation measures in its comprehensive land use plan as part of development framework of every local governments.

The provincial government of Albay under Salceda pioneered the LGU Summit+3i with the governors to mainstream the Climate Change Adaptation in the Philippines in pursuit of minimizing the impact of global warming that triggers climate change, as well as intensify and forge strong partnership with the local governments across the country.

The LGU Summit+3i Visayas is a joint program of the provincial government of Albay-CIRCA, National Economic and Development Authority, Millennium Development Goals Fund 1656 using Albay as DRRM model, Climate Change Commission, League of Cities of the Philippines, in cooperation with Development
Academy of the Philippines.

In a book written by Herminia Francisco and Arief Anshory Yusuf Economy and Environment Program for Southeast Asia with a title Hotspots! Mapping Climate Vulnerability, Manila, the country’s capital is the most vulnerable area in the country and the seventh in Southeast Asia.

Based on the study, the Top 10 vulnerable provinces are located in Luzon in the north of the country but the Top 5 areas are Manila, Benguet, Batanes, Ilocos Sur and Rizal in the northeast.

The province of Albay, facing the Philippines Sea is among the most exposed to typhoons and ranks 10th in terms of aver all vulnerability in the country. The low lying islands and vulnerable countries in developing nations are calling for fast action on climate mitigation after identifying that approximately 50 percent of global warming is caused by greenhouse gases (GHG) other than carbon dioxide.

Climate Change Commission Secretary Heherson Alvarez said that current pledges by developed countries to cut their GHG emissions only amount to about 50 Gigatons (Gt) of CO2 by 2020. This, he stressed, is 4 Gt short of the level of reduction needed to control the warming temperature of the Earth beyond 2 degrees Celsius.

The Copenhagen Accord promised a $100-billion annual financing for developing countries, plus an additional $30-billion Fast-Start Finance to jumpstart adaptation, technology transfer and REDD-plus between 2010 to 2012.

The United Nations Environment Programme warned that countries would have to be far more ambitious in chopping GHG emissions to close the gigaton gap if the world is to effectively limit a rise in global temperature. –RHAYDZ BARCIA, Manila Times