The Hard Choices

Authors:
Dr. Antonio G.M. La Viña
Atty. Eunice Agsaoay-Sano
Joanne Dulce
Johanna Jambalos
 Climate change is upon us.
It is the most serious, most pervasive environmental
threat the world faces. It spans political, social, and
economic dimensions, crosses national boundaries
and will reach beyond the present generation.
It will aggravate the complex problems of
development that we struggle with today.

Poverty Water Availability

Peace and Order Food Security

Photo by Ami Vitale, Oxfam; posted on People and Planet website
 The threat of
climate
change is real.
There are  United Nations
Framework Convention
global efforts on Climate Change
to address it. (UNFCCC)

 The Kyoto Protocol

 The Bali Action Plan

 The Copenhagen Accord

What happened in Copenhagen?
 12 days of negotiations
 192 country-parties trying
to reach consensus
 Progress in forests,
adaptation, & tech
transfer
 Difficulty in mitigation
and finance
 Resulted in the
Copenhagen Accord
The Copenhagen Accord

 “Noted” only by Country-

Parties due to:
transparency and
participation problems
and inherent weaknesses

 Its adoption was

supported by the
Philippines but with
reservations
Elements of the Copenhagen Accord

 Recognition of the need to cut deep in

global emissions to hold temp increase below
2 degrees Celsius
 Adaptation is a challenge to all countries,
thus requiring enhanced action and
cooperation to reduce vulnerability
 Developed country committed to implement
individually or jointly the quantified emission
targets for 2020 and submit pledges by Jan
31, 2010
Elements of the Copenhagen Accord

 Implementation of mitigation actions in the

context of sustainable development by
developing countries
 Recognition of the crucial role of reducing
emissions from forests and the provision of
incentives
 Provision of scaled up, new, predictable and
adequate funding, with improved access, to
support mitigation, adaptation, technology
transfer and capacity building
Elements of the Copenhagen Accord

 Creation of the Copenhagen Green Climate

Fund
 Establishment of a Technology Mechanism to
accelerate technology development and
transfer to support adaption and mitigation
 Agreement by parties to assess the
implementation of the Accord to be
completed by 2015
 The missing piece?
Not sufficiently precautionary in the
adoption of 2 degrees Celsius
The system of pledging and reviewing
mitigation targets is weak in achieving
mitigation targets
Absence of safeguards in REDD-plus actions
Uncertainty in the financial and technology
transfer agreements
The Accord was not legally binding
With no legally
binding agreements,
climate change is
expected to worsen.

What could this

mean then for a
developing country
like the Philippines?
Cascading effects
Agriculture
Imbalance in seasons (drier dry days and wetter
wet days) may lead to poorer crop production,
storage, and distribution

Forest and biodiversity

Moist forest will shrink and become dry forests, loss
of biodiversity due to increasing risks of flood,
environmental degradation, and extinction of flora
and fauna species.

Marine life and ecosystems

Coral bleaching leading to to a decrease in fish
production.
Cascading effects
Energy
Dry spells will affect the country’s power generation, 20% of
which is sourced from hydro power

Health
Exposure to vector and water-borne diseases

Water resources
Water shortages due to drought, salt water intrusion, and
flooding, which may also affect infra

Geo-physical hazards related to climate-related disasters

Landslides and rain-induced lahar flows put rural
populations at risks of physical injuries, death and
displacement
The rain fell on September 26, 2009.

Posted on Ella Pelayo blogsite

 As a Southeast High concentration of
population along
Asian country, what coastlines
makes us
vulnerable to Heavy reliance on
climate change? agriculture for livelihood

High dependence on
natural resources and
forestry

High poverty incidence

- Asian Development Bank, “The
Economics of Climate Change in
Southeast Asia”
 •

The Philippines is vulnerable to climate-related

disasters.
Situated on the Pacific typhoon belt, the country is hit yearly
by 20 typhoons, 7 of which is highly destructive.
Climate-Related Disasters:
What data tell us?
Total Number of Reported Disasters, 1999-2008
Type Total
Climato-, Hydrometeorological disasters 3,583
Geophysical Disasters 367
Grand Total 3,950

Total Number of People Reported Killed, 1999-2008

Type Total
Climato-, Hydrometeorological disasters 671,838
Geophysical Disasters 473,974
Grand Total 1,145,812

World Disaster Report 2009, International Federation of Red Cross

Climate-Related Disasters:
What data tell us?
Total Number of People Reported Affected, 1999-2008
Type Total
Climato-, Hydrometeorological disasters 2,606,736
Geophysical Disasters 87,233
Grand Total 2,693,969

Total No. of Disaster Estimated Damage in US$ millions , 1999-2008

Type Total
Climato-, Hydrometeorological disasters 834,490
Geophysical Disasters 232,696
Grand Total 1,067,186

World Disaster Report 2009, International Federation of Red Cross

Given our vulnerability,
we need to equip
ourselves now and
prepare for the future.

The National
Government
introduced two policy
measures: the Climate
Change Act of 2009
and the Philippine
Disaster Risk Reduction
& Management Act of
2010.
The Climate Change Act
The Policy adopts the following….

 The Philippine Agenda 21 framework,

espousing sustainable development
 Common but differentiated responsibilities
and the Precautionary Principle
 UNFCCC objective
 Vulnerability of local communities and
sectors
 Multi-stakeholder cooperation
 Gender sensitive, pro-children, and pro-poor
The Climate Change Act
Salient provisions
 Creation of the Climate Change
Commission, the sole policy-making body
tasked to coordinate, monitor and
evaluate the CC programs and action
plans of the government

 Formulation of a sound and clear

Framework Strategy and Program on
Climate Change and a National Climate
Change Action Plan
The Climate Change Act
Salient provisions
Empowers LGUs to serve as the frontline
agencies in the formulation, planning
and implementation of climate change
action plans in their respective areas

Encourages multi sectoral cooperation

Weak point?
National Leadership
The governance model is
heavy on policy-making
and planning but not strong
in enforcement and
implementation.
The DRRM Bill
Salient Provisions
 Paradigm shift from the traditional relief
and response to disaster risk reduction

 Adopts internationally accepted

principles of DRR in the UNISDR and HFA

 Creation of the NDRRM Council

The DRRM Bill
Salient Provisions
 Provides for the governance structure
from the regional to barangay level for
managing disaster risks

 Replacement of the Calamity Fund to the

National DRRM Fund to be used for
disaster risk reduction, mitigation,
prevention, and preparedness activities

 Local calamity fund

 The DRRM Bill
Salient Provisions
 Authority to call on government and NGO entities
for assistance on the use of facilities and resources

 Volunteer accreditation and compensation

 Integration of DRRM in education

 Mandatory training of government employees in

emergency response & preparedness

 Immediate & mandatory undertaking of remedial

measures
The DRRM Law is comprehensive as it
considers the fact that disasters are not
just climatological but also natural and
man-made…

Its inadequacy, however, lies in

NATIONAL LEADERSHIP and
INSTITUTION BUILDING.
 Invest resources that will help
farmers and fisherfolk to
adapt
Build a public health system
that helps the poor
Conserve forests
Improve land use planning for
urban areas
Reverse rural-urban migration
Despite patterns
inadequacies in Pursue just solutions for human
settlement challenges
our national laws, Establishing a metropolitan
we need to make authority with real power
Revisit construction and
hard choices. management of dams in rural
areas
The enemy of the good is perfect.
The Copenhagen Accord, the Climate
Change Act, and the DRRM Law are not
perfect, BUT…

There are things we can do.

 The Philippines
can continue to
play an
advocate and
facilitator role in
international
negotiations.
Prioritize
adaptation.
Purse mitigation
as a no-regrets
option.
 Courtesy of Malabon City Hall

Strengthen LGU capacity.

 Apply good
governance
principles in
decisions and
actions.
Maraming salamat po!