KATOWICE, Poland—The Philippines welcomed the release of the Adaptation Gap Report 2018 launched by the United Nations Environment Programme at the climate-change summit here, which highlighted the country’s policies and measures that enable climate adaptation in the country.
“We thank the report’s citation on our adaptation efforts in the Philippines, and we take this as further encouragement that we are on the right track to saving more lives and livelihoods and building further resilience within our communities, which is what enabling adaptation really means for a climate-vulnerable developing country like ours,” said Climate Change Commission (CCC) Secretary Emmanuel M. de Guzman, head of the Philippine delegation to the 24th Conference of Parties (COP24) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
De Guzman said the report, which examines the gaps in taking stock and assessing progress on adaptation expressed through laws and policies, adaptive capacity and finance, described the Philippines with a “comprehensive adaptation legislation,” starting with the Climate Change Act of 2009, which established the CCC.
The report also cited the creation of the Cabinet Cluster on Climate Change Adaptation, Mitigation and Disaster Risk Reduction; and the formulation of the 2010 National Framework Strategy on Climate Change, leading to the 2011 National Climate Change Action Plan, which provided a road map for climate action in seven thematic priority areas, with the ultimate goal of building the adaptive capacities of women and men in their communities and increase the resilience of vulnerable sectors and natural ecosystems to climate change.
De Guzman added that the report acknowledges the Philippine government’s efforts of rolling out science-based climate and disaster-risk and vulnerability assessment processes to ensure that adaptation and disaster risk reduction are mainstreamed and integrated into the country’s plans and programs at all levels.
He noted that beyond creating the enabling environment, the CCC is also intensifying its efforts in building the capacity of local government units, transitioning sectors toward a green economy, and facilitating efficient access to international climate finance to support climate action within the country.
“Through a whole-of-nation approach, the Philippines is constantly exploring new ways, guided by science and the practical knowledge of our communities, to find solutions toward ensuring that our people can truly be able to survive and thrive,” de Guzman concluded.
Meanwhile, de Guzman recently presented the country’s People’s Survival Fund (PSF), the country’s flagship climate finance mechanism for adaptation projects. It aims to help local communities undertake domestic action to address climate impacts and support their transition toward a climate-resilient and low-carbon development pathway.
De Guzman delivered the climate adaptation efforts of the country at the side event of the Vulnerable 20 Group of Finance Ministers, organized by the Institute for Climate and Sustainable Cities, and the Munich Climate Insurance Initiative.
He said the PSF, which follows an enhanced direct access modality through a demand-based access process specifically tailored for local government units and local organizations, sets a high ambition of how inclusive climate financing should look like.
“As a climate financing window, I am proud to share with you the innovations unique to the PSF. It strives to respond to specific local adaptation needs by focusing on grassroots-level engagement with local governments and organizations. It is an innovation because it veers away from the conventional top-down planning process from the national government down to local implementers. It shifts the decision-making process of what to ask for and how much to ask to those who are experiencing the situation firsthand,” de Guzman explained.
He said that the availability of climate funds and opportunities is always an issue in fully undertaking the high ambitions that the country set when the Paris Agreement was signed in 2015.
“We know climate finance is critical and we know it is also limited, in terms of availability and in terms of its inability to cover the more serious impacts, which we call loss and damage. The delivery of climate finance needs to be faster, in greater scale and in more responsive modalities,” de Guzman said.
He said the Philippines started transforming its climate finance landscape when the PSF Law was passed in 2012, as an amendment to the Climate Change Act of 2009, allocating P1 billion for local adaptation projects and providing much needed predictable funds in support of local climate action.
De Guzman added that the CCC has been extending technical guidance and support in project-proposal design and research in order to ensure that risks and vulnerabilities are articulated well, with the help of delivery partners, including non-government organizations, civil society, and the academe.
He emphasized that the PSF seeks to influence the bureaucratic national budgeting and reporting processes, stating that the PSF Board, which manages the fund, is led by the Department of Finance, together with other economic agencies and non-government representatives, to fast track the mainstreaming of climate action into the overall development strategy of the Philippines.
“We are looking forward to the PSF getting more experience and hopefully it finds the perfect balance between access and accountability to allow local governments and organizations to contribute more in the resilience building and adaptation efforts of the Philippines,” de Guzman said.
He also noted that the PSF can also serve as a vehicle to channel premium support toward climate risk insurance solutions to help manage the impacts of climate-related disasters, where adaptation and disaster risk reduction aren’t enough, and can be augmented by international sources, such as the Green Climate Fund.
The CCC is the lead policy-making body of the government tasked to coordinate, monitor and evaluate government programs, and ensure the mainstreaming of climate change in the national, local and sectoral development plans toward a climate-resilient and climate-smart Philippines. https://businessmirror.com.ph/phl-welcomes-u-n-report-citing-countrys-climate-adaptation-efforts/