An official from the Philippines’ Climate Change Commission (CCC) on Saturday urged all stakeholders to carry out a “National Adaptation Plan Process” in order to reduce the country’s vulnerability to the impacts of climate change.
“National Adaptation Plan, because we need to adapt to the changes in the climate, gumawa tayo… in the last couple of years na-draft na natin, napa-finalize natin iyong National Adaptation Plan,” CCC Assistant Secretary Rommel Cuenca said in a Saturday news forum in Quezon City.
Cuenca said the UN Convention on Climate Change had urged that all signatories must adapt a national adaptation plan process in each of their own countries to “reduce the vulnerability to the impacts of climate change to build up the adaptive capacity.”
“Adaptive capacity is the ability of a community, a region, a city, a country to be able to reduce the harm and to exploit the benefits that can come out of adaptation action,” he said.
Cuenca said there is a need to have a national adaptation plan to integrate all plans in the country.
Climate change is not just the concern or problem of the Climate Change Commission, Cuenca said but a problem of all national government agencies, the private sector, science organizations, the academe, and local governments.
“Sa lahat ng mga sektor na iyan – private sector, academe, national government – may kaniya-kaniyang plano iyan para sa kaniya-kaniyang mandato. The National Adaptation Plan will allow us to make sure that all these plans are guided and aligned and integrated so that it becomes a whole-of-country effort and not just panukala lang iyan ni Climate Change Commission,” Cuenca stressed.
He said the National Adaptation Plan first seeks to identify priority high-risk climate change vulnerable areas of the Philippines then provide guidance on integrating adaptation considerations into planning, coordination and implementation processes at all levels of government and across society; and third, harmonize national strategies with international commitments.
Cuenca stressed the need to identify the sectors involved, the areas of the country which are highly vulnerable to climate change, and the risk to climate change.
The National Adaptation Plan gives guidance how the country can align, consolidate, coordinate all plans, he said.
This is based on what the Philippines has done and how the country could communicate with international platforms, he added.
“Tulad ngayon, nangyayari ngayon ang Conference of Parties (COP) – ito iyong bunsod ng UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change). So, nandoon ngayon tayo, mayroon tayong Philippine delegation ngayon – binabantayan lahat ng issues para… we make sure na ang country position ng CCC ay napuprotektahan at hindi nada-dilute para naman ang… the largest emitting countries who’ve been able to develop because of their emissions ay makatayo naman sila at makatulong sa atin base sa mga agreement na pinirmahan din noong ginawa sa Paris Agreement,” Cuenca said. PND
