The Duterte administration is seeking a budget of P152.35 billion to implement its convergence program on climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction next year.
The Cabinet Cluster on Climate Change Adaptation, Mitigation, and Disaster Risk Reduction (CCAM-DRR), chaired by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), said the Duterte administration has allotted P152.35 billion for the government’s Risk Resiliency Program (RRP) under the 2021 National Expenditure Program it submitted to Congress.
The amount is roughly 30-percent higher than the P117 billion allocated for the program this year, it added.
The increase in the budget request was due to the alignment of programs and activities to the priority policies, strategies and projects of the Inter-Agency Task Force Technical Working Group on Anticipatory and Forward Plan for the “new normal” in the CCAM-DDR sector.
In a statement, DENR Undersecretary for Finance, Information Systems and Climate Change Analiza Rebuelta-Teh said the proposed funding will be used to build resilient and sustainable communities as the country continue to deal with the coronavirus crisis.
“We are still in the midst of a health crisis brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic. The country needs programs that will strengthen the resilience and adaptive capacities of its communities, especially in climate-vulnerable provinces and major urban centers,” Rebuelta-Teh said.
The RRP has the following objectives: to increase the adaptive capacities of vulnerable communities; to ensure the adequate supply of clean air, water, and other natural resources; to increase the resilience of critical infrastructures; and, to enhance knowledge, access to information and institutional capacities of communities.
For next year, the RRP will prioritize 14 climate-vulnerable provinces, which vary in risk factors of rising sea levels, extreme rainfall and heating events, increased ocean temperature and disturbed natural resources supply.
The provinces are Masbate, Sorsogon, Negros Oriental, Western Samar, Eastern Samar, Sarangani, Surigao del Norte, Surigao del Sur, Dinagat Islands, Southern Leyte, Zamboanga del Norte, Bukidnon, North Cotabato and Sultan Kudarat.
The program also covers four major urban centers—Metro Manila, Metro Cebu, Metro Iloilo and Metro Davao.
The DENR has placed climate change a top priority for the government even if it is currently preoccupied on controlling the spread of Covid-19.