A new project aims to help small islands in Bohol to be resilient to the impact of climate change, a report obtained by The Bohol Tribune said yesterday, Oct. 24, 2020.
The project is known as Transforming Small Islands into Climate-Adaptive and Resilient Communities. It is an initiative aiming to help make the small islands included in the province’s territory to become more resilient to climate change’s impact.
It is known that Bohol was among the first provinces to pass the Local Environment Code, with provisions on disaster management and climate change adaptation.
“Bohol’s small islands can be examples of how to mainstream climate change advocacy,” Cong. Edgar Chatto said in an audience with personalities of Greenpeace Philippines via Zoom.
Chatto welcomed the project that will help small islands in the province adapt to climate change.
According to Greenpeace Country Director Lea Guerrero, Bohol can become a model for climate change resilience and the outputs of the project can be replicated in other areas of the country.
A study on sea level rise and tidal flooding by technical expert Dr. Ma. Laurice Jamero, head of Resilience Collaboratory, Manila Observatory was conducted on the Bohol islands of Batasan, Bilang-bilangan, Ubay, and Pangapasan in Tubigon.
The project is based on the study conducted by Jamero, the same information relayed to The Bohol Tribune by the Office of Cong. Chatto says.
The project aims to raise awareness on the state of island communities and the impact of climate change affecting people living in the islands.
This way, local government response and collaborative action among government, people, and organizations can be created and organized to mitigate the impact of climate change.
Likewise, data regarding climate change issues are currently being collected in the island barangays of Tubigon and Talibon and will soon also cover similarly situated island barangays in other parts of the province, the information from Rep. Chatto’s office bared.
For his part, Chatto emphasized that communities and local leaders must be involved and must take ownership of the project in order for it to be sustainable.
Moreover, the project had also been presented to the Provincial Government and the Sangguniang Panlalawigan, the same information from the Office of Rep. Chatto revealed.