Climate Change Commission cites need to rehabilitate river systems

MANILA, Philippines – The Climate Change Commission (CCC) said there is a need to rehabilitate and develop the country’s river systems to effectively address the devastation brought about by typhoons.

CCC vice chairman Secretary Heherson Alvarez said there are funds that the country could avail of to undertake such measures.

He specifically cited the need to manage the Cagayan River basin and 12 other river basins nationwide, which had been continuously under threat by climate change-triggered storms.

Alvarez was referring to the $30-billion fast start fund under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), which the Philippines is qualified to gain access to to support adaptation programs of vulnerable communities in response to the effects of global warming.

He said there is a need to build “protective measures, defense mechanisms and launch the appropriate adaptation programs” to manage the productivity of the Cagayan River, a life support of the region’s agricultural lands.

The Cagayan Valley region supplies one-third of the country’s grains requirement and 40 percent of Metro Manila’s supply.

Farmlands in the region draw irrigation from the 25,469- square kilometer Cagayan River, the biggest of its kind in the country.

“The climate change funds, while not for emergency relief measures, shall be accessible to support medium and long-term programs, that is, in the case of Cagayan Valley, improving the irrigation system and preservation of the watershed areas,” Alvarez said, adding that the same is true with all the other river systems in the country.

Alvarez is meeting with Land Bank of the Philippines officials to arrange for the deployment of the fast start funding to help affected and vulnerable areas.

The bank shall serve as the fiduciary vehicle for the foreign funds.

The Land Bank, said to be active in social reform programs, has been nominated by the CCC as the national implementing entity of the government of the Philippines to the adaptation fund of the Kyoto Protocol.

The CCC, in pursuit of its legal mandate as coordinator of programs and projects on climate change, must establish access to all climate financial mechanisms of the UNFCCC.

Alvarez said that since the Commission had begun work on the Cagayan River basin program a few months back, typhoon “Juan” brought to the fore the sense of urgency to access available UNFCCC funds and install the necessary medium- and long-term measures to prevent drought or famine from happening in the region.

Angara wants Pagasa modernized

At the Senate, Sen. Edgardo Angara reiterated his call to prioritize the modernization of the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) in order to improve its efficiency in weather forecasting.

With more typhoons expected to come before the end of the year, he said it is imperative that the improvements in the technology and training of the weather bureau be addressed right away.

Angara, chairman of the Senate committee on science and technology, said the budget of Pagasa must be augmented for its modernization in order to avoid the repeat of inaccurate tracking of typhoons, like what happened with typhoon “Basyang” earlier this year.

“The accuracy of their forecasts and their ability to help prepare the people for high-risk situations are big factors in minimizing the damage done by these calamities,” he said, adding that a lot of the agencies involved in disaster risk management rely heavily on the agency for information during periods of bad weather.

Agencies like the Coast Guard, Air Traffic Controllers and the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council would all benefit from more accurate information coming from Pagasa. —-Rhodina Villanueva (The Philippine Star) with Marvin Sy