Philippine agencies collaborate on adaptation

Mick M. Basa in the Manila Bulletin (Philippines): The National Economic and Development Authority and three campuses of the University of the Philippines recently signed an agreement to organize series of programs with an earmarked budget of P11 million for climate change adaptation. The agreement signed by both government-run entities will muster experts from the state university to deliver outputs on their assessment on the impacts of global warming in the country.

They would also be tasked to put together strategies on how to adapt with the critical change in the climate of the earth. Since natural resources are at great stake, the series of adaptation programs would cover sectors in agriculture, forestry, health and water.

The health sector will be handled by UP Manila, the water sector by UP Diliman, and the agriculture and forestry sectors by UP Los Baños. “We are taking deliberate actions to cope with the effects of climate change,” NEDA Deputy Director-General Rolando Tungpalan said during the signing of the MoA.

The multimillion-peso project is contained in the Joint Program on Strengthening the Philippine’s Institutional Capacity to Adapt to Climate Change which is funded by the Spanish government’s Millennium Development Goal Achievement Fund (MDG-F). The agreement would tap government agencies to adapt and manage vulnerabilities coming from the risks of climate change such as extended droughts and floods…

A Philippine palm forest