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IT is
noteworthy that the provincial government of Albay is
spearheading a holistic approach to the problems of
climate change, a new buzzword meant to showcase the
pernicious effects of environment degradation.
The
convenor for the first-ever national confab on
climate-change adaptation, Albay Gov. Joey Salceda, has
in fact made it a point to personally distribute the
conference details which the province will host next
week. That is how Al Gore-ish this former stock-market
mover has become.
The
three-day conference, set to start October 22 with
President Arroyo as keynote speaker, expects to come up
with a road map for the Philippine government’s policy
thrust on climate change. Workshops are to come up with
recommendations on the potential impacts of climate
change in the country, envision concrete adaptation
options to current climate risks and future climate
change, and see into the policy implications of climate
change to local government units.
Not
leaving anything to chance, Governor Salceda has even
come up with a draft Albay Declaration on Climate
Change, with a view of having it as part of a Philippine
position paper for the Bali Conference on Climate Change
in December this year. Mr. Salceda has asked for
conference participants to add to, edit or otherwise
change any part of the proposed draft in keeping with a
healthy discussion of issues on climate change due to
its economic impact on Filipinos.
“It is
now widely recognized that climate change is happening.
It is a threat to the attainment of the Millennium
Development Goals and will make it more difficult to
alleviate poverty in the developing world,“ said the
governor in explaining the focus of the Albay initiative
on climate change. The province is well-positioned to
dwell on climate-change adaptation as it has ample
environment showcases: the Tiwi geothermal plant which
boasts of clean energy, Palanog cement plant’s
alternative use of fuel, and Pulang Buya (Albay Gulf)
scuba diving spots.
The
Albay conference is a serious take on the problem of
climate change, and it is a good thing that the governor
has seen to it that all points are covered.
Representatives from the World Bank, United Nations and
the Asian Development Bank have been invited to
underscore their respective initiatives on this emerging
threat that sees threats of flooding in coastal areas
all over the world, as global warming results in the
“loss” of icebergs and subsequent rise in the oceans and
seas.
Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap will present a paper on
addressing climate-change impacts on agriculture while
former Environment Secretary Dr. Angel Alcala will
present mitigation measures on the impact of climate
change on the agricultural sector. As an archipelagic
country, the Philippines is vulnerable to
climate-related hazards. With about 20 typhoons visiting
it every year, the country has to address the impact of
continuous rains that have been blamed for several
landslides that resulted in many deaths and destruction
of villages.
Per the
preliminary inputs from Gov. Salceda, the Philippine
government will make it a policy declaration to adapt
mitigating measures on climate change, as it is deemed a
sound social policy and a promoted economic activity.
With this, it is expected that all behavior of its
instruments and agents through programs, projects,
budgets, grants of license and franchise should consider
climate change as part and parcel of government policy
directives.
“Climate-change adaptation and mitigation is a socially
desirable national goal. Thus, greater allocation of
public and private, both domestic and foreign, resource
flows should enable the whole economy and ecosystems,
particularly local communities, to adapt to climate
risks,” said Mr. Salceda. The national government must
provide and direct subsidies for adaptation through the
budget to government departments such as the Department
of Energy, Department of Agriculture and Department of
Education, according to the Albay governor.
Albay’s
initiative on climate change comes as no surprise. The
provincial government, as of August this year,
unanimously proclaimed the first and pioneering
prototype for local climate- change adaptation with the
launch of the Albay in Action on Climate Change (A2C2)
and resolved that the environment shall be included in
the curricula of all schools, colleges and universities
in the province.
As
conceptualized, the conference paper will urge the
country to engage its bilateral and multilateral
partners in redirecting official development assistance
toward programs on climate-change adaptation and
mitigation, particularly in land-use, land use change,
forestry, farming-practices adaptation and promotion,
and development of renewable and indigenous clean
energy.
Also,
the country will be asked to “vigorously collaborate
with other developing countries” in the Bali conference
on climate change and other international negotiations
to push for more aggressive and more immediate
emissions-reduction targets, more expeditious
implementation of adaptation and mitigation funds, and
possibly the creation of a new global- fund initiative
under the UN system to prime the process. For Governor
Salceda, action on climate change is a civic duty of all
citizens, and he expects the Albay conference to
highlight this before it is too late.
E-mail: hugagni@yahoo.com |
