German firm to help the Philippines in climate adaptation, disaster risk reduction

Inquirer News (Philippines): German experts would be assisting the Housing Land Use and Regulatory Board (HLURB) in integrating climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction planning instruments into the Comprehensive Land Use Plans (CLUP) of local government units (LGUs).

HLURB signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with German firm Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Internationale Zeusammenarbeit (GIZ). “The MOA involves integrating climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction planning instruments into CLUPs in the form of climate proofing and disaster risk mapping,” HLURB Chairman Vice President Jejomar Binay said in a statement Thursday.

Binay also said the MOA called for GIZ to help the HLURB in enhancing CLUP guidebooks by including Forest Land Use and Coastal Land Use Planning as well as the Model Zone Ordinance and the Plan Review Parameters and Guidelines.

“The partnership with GIZ was a direct response by the HLURB Board to the policies stated under the Climate Change Act of 2009,” said Binay. “This law seeks to systematically integrate the concept of climate change in various phases of policy formulation, development plans, poverty reduction strategies and other development tools and techniques by all agencies of the government,” Binay added...