Cong. Edgar Chatto, chair of the House Committee on Climate Change, on Thursday, July 15, 2021 formally turned over to the Provincial Government of Bohol (PGBh) via Gov. Arthur Yap, the Bohol Climate Emergency Response Roadmap for Small Islands during a virtual partnership forum, a report says.
The roadmap guides local government units (LGU) and stakeholder partners in order to develop plans and actions to adapt to impacts and address underlying causes of climate change, according to Greenpeace Philippines Country Director Lea Guerrero.
Through this roadmap, stakeholders and LGUs will be guided in crafting their own declaration of a climate emergency, Chatto explained.
Rice Watch Action Network Executive Director Hazel Tanchuling said that the cooperation research and advocacy project takes off from House Resolution 1377 authored by Chatto in the House of Representatives, which was adopted as House Resolution 123 – declaring a climate and environmental emergency to ensure enhanced and coherent climate actions to be inserted in the executive and legislative agenda of the government.
“Our goal is to be able to cascade the environmental laws from the national government to the local government units and even down to the puroks or smallest sitios and island communities,” Chatto said as he commended Rice Watch Action Network and Greenpeace for their initiative in formulating the roadmap.
The roadmap is the product of a collaborative process that was set in motion to generate concrete actions among affected communities, LGUs, and experts from different fields.
These fields include coastal engineering, marine biology, waste management, conservation, fisheries, and sustainable livelihood, the report says.
After a series of on-site and virtual consultations, the roadmap identifies six pillars: 1. Enhancing Accessibility; 2. Human security: health and medical services and water and sanitation, emergency preparedness and early warning systems and protocols, basic community services, appropriate infrastructure, local energy transition plan; 3. Water security; 4. Food Security and Incomes; 5. Environmental integrity; and 6. Knowledge management.
The result of the collaborative undertaking is an eye opener, Yap said, and commended partners in putting together the roadmap which is critical to navigate through realities of climate change.
The governor also expressed readiness to implement and partner with stakeholders in programs to save lives and communities against climate change with the roadmap as a starting point.
Bringing different stakeholders in a convergence of partners, the forum also sought the commitments of relevant national government agencies such as the Department of Agriculture (DA), Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), Department of Education (DepEd) to align programs with the roadmap.
Development agencies also recognized its regional impact with Germany’s Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenar (GIZ) organization committing to support the carrying capacity aspect and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)Climate Resilience Network assuring knowledge exchanges among member countries with the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) vowing to help through early warning systems for farmers and fisherfolks and the Climate Change Commission (CCC) to aid in climate financing through the People’s Survival Fund.
The municipalities of Bien Unido, Clarin, Carlos P. Garcia, Getafe, Inabanga, Talibon, and Tubigon were covered in the participatory risk assessment process and were also represented by LGU officials during the forum.
The initiative covered 19 island communities, which includes the islands of Pangapasanin Ubay, Bilangbilangan, and Batasan in Tubigon as well as the islands of Hingotanan East, Hingotanan West, Bilangbilangan Dako, and Bilangbilangan Diot in Bien Unido; Aguining and Rosario in Pres. Carlos P. Garcia; Tangaran, Bacani, and Poblacion Norte in Clarin; Banacon and Nasingin in Getafe; Ondol and Lawis in Inabanga; and Nocnocan and Calituban in Talibon.