UP Forum May-June 2013

FORUM UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES

sh a p i ng

m i n d s

t h at

sh a p e

t h e

n at i on

VOLUME 14 NUMBER 3

MAY-JUNE 2013

Inside 6 Financing Global Climate Action Rich Countries Should Pay Up

7 The New Order

Climate Change

Climate-Proofing and Climate-Resilient Expenditure

10 Roundtable Discussion National Land Use Act

14 A Tale of Two Towns

Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation Strategies in San Vicente, Palawan and Del Carment, Siargao Island, Surigao del Norte

17 Power Switch

Reconsidering Renewable Energy

18 Making the Change to Save the Planet 20 Health Impacts of Climate Change The Case of Dengue and Malaria

2 | A Climate-Resilient 4 | Comm. Yeb Saño: 12 | Climate Adaptive Philippines Speaking for the Planet Local Planning: The he 19th of June was in many ways a momentous Camotes Experience about Climate Change

T

date.

In the afternoon of that date, UP Diliman's Quezon Hall saw two formidable entities entering into a Memorandum of Agreement. The first was the country's national university. The other, an independent agency under the Office of the President tasked with confronting one of the greatest issues of our age.

The goal? Working together towards the promise of a “climate-resilient Philippines.”

More than a union of strengths, this partnership signified a promise of a more intelligent and comprehensive response to climate change throughout the country. For the first time in its history, the University of the Philippines would be mobilizing its seven

T

he outcome of our work is not about what our political masters want. It is about what is demanded of us by 7 billion people. I appeal to all, please, no more delays, no more excuses. Please, let Doha be remembered as the place where we found the political will to turn things around. And let 2012 be remembered as the year the world found the courage to do so, to find the courage to take responsibility for the future we want.”

His voice breaking with emotion, Naderev “Yeb” Saño, Climate Change commissioner and head of the Philippine delegation to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), made

V

ast, white-sand beaches, crystal-clear waters in subterranean caves, secret scuba diving spots, strictly enforced marine sanctuaries, and a pristine lake —these are the natural wonders that the municipality of San Francisco, Camotes Islands, is trying to protect.

The Philippines, being the third most at risk to the impacts of climate change, is facing vulnerability issues that can have profound impacts on its people’s well-being. As such, long-term planning in local government units is an imperative for building resilience—most especially for people at the grassroots who are likely bear the brunt of climate change.

2 UP FORUM Volume 14 No. 3 May-June 2013

Andre Encarnacion constituent units, one constituent college and 17 campuses to work with the Climate Change Commission in a “synergistic collaboration."

But the 19th of June was also a bittersweet day.

Even UP President Alfredo E. Pascual hesitated to call the day a “joyous occasion.” At that time, Tropical Storm 'Emong' continued to bombard the country with heavy rains.

“Our fishermen also have a very hard time,” Pascual said. “Our farmers pray that heavy rains will not wipe out their crops. And many of our vulnerable communities are hoping that the flooding will not be of the magnitude that we saw in the case of Ondoy and Pepeng.”

This sobering remark was a reminder of how important the agreement to be signed was for the country. It was also an indication of the enormity of the task ahead.

Photo from http://www.gov.ph/2012/07/06/project-noah-launch-july-6-2012/

A CLIMATE-RESILIENT PHILIPPINES... continued from page 1

Milestone Despite this preview of future challenges, the day of the signing of the agreement was ultimately a day of hope. “(T)his occasion gives us an opportunity to celebrate another initiative, which I even call this new milestone, in the journey of UP to become a great university in the 21st century,” Pascual said.

The MOA specifically aims to provide a “framework for cooperation” between UP and the CCC. High on the priority list are collaborations in capacity development, policy analysis, R&D, and the piloting and mainstreaming of climate change actions.

It was another clear step forward for UP, whose purpose, according to Republic Act No. 9500, includes leading as “a public service university by providing various forms of community, public and volunteer service, as well as scholarly and technical assistance to the government, the private sector, and civil society while maintaining its standards of excellence.”

In fulfilling this mandate, Pascual pointed out several of the recent agreements UP had entered into, where the university's considerable powers and resources were put to the service of the public.

“We recently signed agreements with NEDA, DOST, the Department of Agriculture, Department of Health, Philippine Coconut Authority, and soon with the Department of Environment and National Resources to offer our expertise to the national government and its departments,” Pascual noted, “(in addition to the) Commission on Elections and ABS-CBN to promote clean, credible and empowering elections (in 2013).”

No stranger UP is no stranger to the effects of disasters and climate change.

Many faculty members rose to prominence in the wake of several natural and man-made disasters of recent years, including the devastation of Typhoon “Sen-

Above: Dr. Mahar Lagmay of the UP National Institute of Geological Science (2nd from right) shows Project NOAH to President Benigno Aquino III while DOST Sec. Mario Montejo (4th from right) and other officials look on. Right: A UP doctor talks to young survivors of Typhoon Sendong.

Photo on cover: CCC Vice Chairperson Sering, GIZ Principal Advisor Dr. Bernd Liss, and UP President Alfredo Pascual during the MOA signing between the CCC and UP on June 19, 2013.

dong” and the oil and gas leaks in Serendra and Makati.

In addition, many key initiatives of the Aquino administration are being led by UP experts, among them Project NOAH, which maps and monitors weather patterns and disaster-areas.

Another notable initiative is the Disaster Risk and Exposure Assessment for Mitigation or DREAM program, which uses sophisticated remote sensing technology to produce more detailed topographical maps that can be used for disaster risk and reduction programs.

“Twenty-five units have been active in climate change research, policy formulation, and capacity building,” Pascual said. From Cordillera Studies in UP Baguio to food security and management in UP Mindanao, the constituent units of the system have been active in finding solutions to climate change in their various areas of specialization.

The difference now would be that these efforts need not exist in isolation. With continued on page 3

Eight of the 14 nominees to the Climate Change Commission's Panel of E Rex Victor Cruz Dr. Cruz is the chancellor of the University of the Philippines Los Baños and the former dean of the UPLB College of Forestry and Natural Resources. He pursued his doctorate in watershed management at the University of Arizona and was part of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change that won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007.

Porfirio M. Aliño Dr. Aliño is a faculty member of the UP Marine Science Institute. He specializes in coral reef ecology, community ecology and management, chemical ecology and ecological modeling. He has a doctorate in marine chemical ecology from the James Cook University in Queensland and was recently named outstanding alumnus of the same university.

Laura T. David Dr. David is a faculty member of the UP Marine Science Institute. She earned her PhD in physical oceanography, the first Filipina to do so, from the University of Southern Carolina.

She was named Outstanding Young Scientist by the National Association of Science and Technology and now heads the Ocean Color and Coastal Oceanography laboratory at the UP MSI.

Carlos Primo C. David Dr. David is a geologist at the UP National Institute of Geological Sciences. He has a PhD in geology and environmental sciences from Stanford University and now heads the Environment Monitoring Laboratory which runs rain and flood models at the UP NIGS. His other interests include hydrology and water resource management.

UP FORUM Volume 14 No. 3 May-June 2013 3

A CLIMATE-RESILIENT PHILIPPINES... continued from page 2 the Memorandum of Agreement, the expertise and resources from all these units can now “be harnessed in (UP's) collaboration with the Climate Change Commission.”

Photo from UP Padayon

Looking forward According to UP Vice President for Public Affairs Dr. Prospero De Vera, the institutionalization of all the efforts from different campuses under the Office of the President was a clear step in the right direction.

“Even within the UP community, a lot of the colleges didn't know what the other colleges were doing,” De Vera remarked.

He recalled a recently-held workshop on disaster-risk reduction and management in which some of the colleges were surprised by the “brilliant knowledge products” by other units that they did not know about.

This MOA, according to De Vera, was “making sure we are all on the same page and we're doing things together and in step.”

Similarly, Atty. Mary Ann Lucille Sering, who represented the Climate Change Commission in the signing, expressed her “deepest appreciation” to UP for the newlyinked partnership.

“I have been waiting for this moment... since I took up this position in 2010,” she said.

Speaking as vice chairperson of the CCC, Sering said that during a trip to the University of California – Berkeley, she marveled not only at the culture of innovation that prevailed there, but also in the generous support the US government had for their initiatives.

“I feel that when I sat down as vice chair that it is a resource that is clearly untapped,” Sering said about the academe's role. “There are a lot of work and researches in the academe that we were not able to bring in and scale up.”

“In UC Berkeley, the support of the private sector is tremendous. How they were able to bring in all these innovations to be able to move forward—that's what we're missing right now.”

“The thing is, when you're the top university, there's a pressure to lead by excontinued on page 5

Development Cooperation for a Climate Change-Resilient Philippines

F

or more than 40 years, the German government, through the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, has been working with the Philippine government in improving the lives of Filipinos by strengthening the capacity of people and institutions.

This partnership involves a range of priority areas such as crisis prevention, promotion of environmental protection, school health, economic development, decentralization and support for urban infrastructure. In keeping with the demand of the times, the partnership has also expanded since 2008 to include emerging concerns in climate change.

Germany supports developing and newly industrialized countries and countries in transition in achieving their climate protection goals through the International Climate Initiative (ICI) of the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU).

ICI funds are initially revenues from carbon emissions trading based on a cap and trade principle of certain greenhouse gases that can be emitted by the factories, power plants and other installations in the system. Since 2013, ICI funds have been allocated under the regular budget of the German government. This generates new and additional finance for supporting climate change measures. Also part of the ICI commitment is the improvement of systems and framing of conditions related to sustainable forest management, protected areas (marine and terrestrial) and biodiversity conservation. “We are all part of the global community. In the end, we all benefit from promoting sustainable development through technical cooperation projects,” Dr. Bernd-Markus Liss, GIZ Principal Advisor, stressed.

In keeping with the ICI’s commitment, GIZ strengthens key institutions and supports the implementation of pilot projects to mitigate the effects of climate change through the Support to the Climate Change Commission in the Implementation of the National Framework Strategy on Climate Change and the National Climate Change Action Plan (SupportCCC) project. Through knowledge and technology transfer and improvement of policies, SupportCCC’s Renewable Energy Component sets the foundation for the transition of the country’s transition to a low-carbon economy and development of sustainable alternative sources of energy. Guided by GIZ’s concept of sustainable development, the Preparation of a National REDD-Plus Mechanism for Greenhouse Gas Reduction and Conservation of Biodiversity in the Philippines (National REDD-Plus System Philippines) project supports the protection and the sustainable use of forests to conserve them in their function as carbon reservoirs as well as habitat for a rich biodiversity and as a source of livelihood for all Filipinos. In addition, the Promotion of Green Economic Development program promotes a climate-friendly economy.

continued on page 5

Experts are currently based in UP: Rodel D. Lasco

Fernando P. Siringan Dr. Siringan is a faculty member of the UP Marine Science Institute where he specializes in marine/ coastal ecology, sedimentology and seismic stratigraphy. He earned his PhD in geology from Rice University and is currently investigating the role played by relative sea level and climate changes in the development of present-day coastal environments.

Dr. Lasco is a faculty member of the UPLB School of Environmental Science and Management and the Philippine Programme Coordinator for the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF). He earned his PhD in forestry from UPLB. He was bestowed the title of Academician by the National Association of Science and Technology in 2009 and was a member of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change that won the Nobel Prize in 2007.

Juan M. Pulhin

Felino P. Lansigan

Dr. Lansigan is a professor of agricultural and environmental statistics at UPLB. He holds a PhD from Colorado State University. His other interests include hydrology and water resources, risk management and systems simulation modeling. He was part of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change that won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007.

Dr. Pulhin is a faculty member and dean of the UPLB College of Forestry and Natural Resources. He obtained his PhD in geographical science from the Australian National University as an Australian government scholar.

He is the lead author of the Fourth Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Report (the IPCC won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007). He received the Outstanding Researcher Award from UPLB in 2012.

4 UP FORUM Volume 14 No. 3 May-June 2013

Celeste Ann Castillo Llaneta this appeal to the representatives of the 194 countries that participated in the 18th session of the UNFCCC Conference of the Parties (COP) held from November 26 to December 7, 2012 in Doha, Qatar.

The appeal was markedly different from the wheeling and dealing that characterizes most multilateral treaty negotiations. If Saño deviated somewhat from diplomatic protocol, he had good reason to. At the time, the Philippines was reeling from the impact of Typhoon Pablo (Bopha), the strongest to hit Mindanao in 40 years, which killed over 1,000 people. This was the backdrop to Saño’s plea for real, lasting action to halt climate change.

Disappointment in Doha The Doha COP ended with the participating countries’ agreeing to the adoption of a universal climate agreement by 2015, which will come into effect in 2020; amending the Kyoto Protocol to include an eight-year second commitment period for governments and further commitments for countries to review their emission

reductions; completing new infrastructure to channel technology and finances to developing nations; and a reiteration of the developed countries' commitment to deliver on promises to continue long-term climate financial support to developing nations.1 Some regard these gains as "modest at best"2 and at worst, resulting in “no money, no aim and no equity.”3 The latter refers to how the Doha COP tackled the issue of the rich countries’ helping poor countries respond to climate-related disasters, preferably through a special fund—a prospect that rich countries balked at.

Russia, Japan, New Zealand and Canada opted to leave the Kyoto Protocol,4 while US notoriety as a non-ratifier of the Kyoto Protocol continued, despite its being the second biggest carbon emitter after China and the top carbon emitter in the planet per capita.

A sense of disappointment, according to Saño, is usual after each climate summit. After all, it has been 21 years since countries signed the UNFCCC, agreeing to work together to limit average global temperature increases and to cope with the impacts of climate change; and 16 years since the Kyoto Protocol was adopted, legally binding countries to reduce their emissions.5 Despite this, according to a number of reports, the average global temperature is still rising.6 “Every year that we have a COP, the anticipation is for the whole world to actually come up with lasting solutions. But we always fall short,” said Saño, who cited the complexity of the multilateral political process involving almost 200 countries with varied national interests as a reason for the slow progress.

“Every year, you have these very small steps. The big steps you expected do not happen.”

Common but differentiated responsibility The UNFCCC is one of the three treaties adopted during the Rio Earth Summit in 1992.

“Being an international treaty, [the UNFCCC] is actually a very strong document that tries to solve the climate change problem by asserting specific important principles. The most important of these principles is that of ‘common but differentiated responsibility,’” Saño said.

‘Common but differentiated responsibility’ recognizes the historical differences in the cumulative impact upon the environment between developed and developing countries, as well as the differences in their respective economic and technical capabilities to respond to problems.7 Countries listed in Annex I of the UNFCCC, which are classified as industrialized countries or economies in transition, are required by the Kyoto Protocol to stabilize their greenhouse gas emissions. Countries listed in the UNFCCC’s Annex II, which include most OECD countries, are required to provide financial and technical support to developing or non-Annex I countries to help them reduce their emissions and manage the impacts of climate change.

Photo from Wikicommons

COMM. YEB SAÑO: SPEAKING FOR THE PLANET... continued from page 1

“The reason these countries are listed in Annex I is because they have emitted most of the historically cumulative emissions that resulted in climate change,” Saño pointed out. “They are enjoying this kind of lifestyle and socio-economic well-being now because of those years of industrialization.”

Developing countries, on the other hand, do not have the luxury of developing through the neglect and abuse of the environment, and the subjugation of entire peoples—at least, ideally. Yet these countries must struggle to reach the level of development enjoyed by rich countries now, but must do so within the boundaries of modern laws on environmental protection, labor, gender equality and human rights.

“These [laws] are not necessarily constraints but conditions we as a civilized society must adhere to,” Saño said. “But some of these laws were not in place a hundred years ago. Now that we live in a carbonconstrained world, we try to avoid worsening the problem by trying to look at alternatives to development. That is why, from a negotiator’s standpoint, I feel very strongly about our right to development, but I also feel strongly about future generations inheriting a clean and healthy planet.”

Non-compliance—a global shame It is one thing for governments to profess their desire to save the planet; but it is another to make them put their money where their mouths are.

The Kyoto Protocol comes with non-compliance mechanisms for Annex I countries who fail to hit their emissions targets, including requiring the country to make up the difference between its current emissions and its assigned amount during the second commitment period, plus an additional deduction of 30 percent.8 However, a country that finds itself unable to comply with its target can avoid putting forward targets for the next commitment period, as Russia, Japan and New Zealand have done, or opt out of the Kyoto Protocol altogether, as Canada did.

“There are no sanctions, no penalties,” said Saño. “It’s a setup which we think should be strengthened in terms of compliance mechanisms. However, this is not an easy thing to do because it is a multilateral treaty, and given the principle of common but differentiated responsibility, it’s very legally challenging to set a standard when you talk about sanctions. It’s difficult to adjudicate climate change.”

One consequence being brought to bear upon non-compliant countries is the prospect of global shame. Then again, one need not look any further than the US

to know that name-and-shame tactics do not always work.

“As a global problem that needs to be solved seriously, I don’t think any particular human sanction will suffice,” Saño added. “The main consequence will be the impact of climate change—consequences that you cannot prevent and have very little power over.”

The stand the Philippines has taken—a stand shared by many developing countries—is that the UNFCCC should be enough. The risk we all face should be enough. If the rich countries can find the resources to bail out collapsing banks, continued on page 5

UP FORUM Volume 14 No. 3 May-June 2013 5

COMM. YEB SAÑO: SPEAKING FOR THE PLANET... continued from page 4 then they certainly can and should find the resources to protect the planet for future generations. It was from this perspective that Saño made his appeal during the Doha COP. “Climate change is a serious problem that demands a stronger commitment. We already have this very strong treaty. All we have to do is implement it. We have not implemented it. What so many countries, especially the developed countries, are trying to do is disregard the treaty, undermine it, change it, or try to altogether get rid of it. This is why we are fighting for the Climate Change Convention, because it is a good step in the right direction.”

Standard-bearer for developing countries The Philippines has been an active participant in climate change negotiations from day one. Saño noted that during the first COP in 1995 in Berlin, the Philippines chaired the Group of 77, a loose coalition of developing nations.

Saño credits the lifelong dedication of members of the Philippine delegation as a source of strength for the Philippines. These members, who have followed the climate change multilateral process for years and can quote entire passages from the UNFCCC, act as sources of institutional memory, with a deep understanding of the complex contexts of the issue.

“This is rare. For most countries, they have people from their foreign

A CLIMATE-RESILIENT PHILIPPINES... continued from page 3 ample... Marami pong study dito sa UP,” Sering said.

“Half of our national panel of experts are from the University of the Philippines, so alam po natin na this is a memorandum of agreement that will go (a long way).”

--------------Email the author at forum@upd.edu.ph.

affairs ministries handle the climate change negotiations, and they change these people after two or three years.

The Philippines is unique because we are very articulate about the process, and we know what we are saying.”

As a developing country with an insignificant emission rate that consistently ranks high in the list of countries most vulnerable to extreme weather risk,9 the Philippines also has a level of moral ascendancy unique among countries.

“We have very high moral ground because of our vulnerability.

Other developing countries that are bigger and richer than us cannot articulate [the issue] the way we do it. Our vulnerability, the size of our country, our income—these allow us to take this strong position without fearing that we could be swayed so easily, because we stand on very solid ground, because we are coming from the position of vulnerability. Any position we take will always be defensible.”

These also contribute to the consistency of the Philippines’ position that developed countries must fulfill their commitments under the Kyoto Protocol. The high credibility of the

DEVELOPMENT COOPERATION... continued from page 3 With the Climate Change Commission, the National Economic and Development Authority, the Department of Energy and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, among others, as partners, GIZ implements these projects to improve capacity to adapt to climate change impacts, conserve biodiversity and contribute to reducing emissions.

This was recognized by CCC Secre-

Philippines has allowed its delegates to stand firm in the face of attempts by negotiators of other countries to persuade them into changing their stance.

The fact that the Philippines' official position is one Saño wholeheartedly believes in, allowing him to speak with full conviction, only adds to his authority.

“My response to [the other negotiators] is simple: I say to them, this is our position, because this will best represent the interest of the entire world, and it will best serve the interest of the Philippines.

So how do you counter that?”

Change from the grassroots up When asked how he deals with the frustration of seeing global temperature increases outpacing committed multilateral action year after year, Saño replied: “Frustration is something we deal with almost constantly.

However, we cannot lose hope. We know what the problem is. If we lose hope that this problem can be solved, we become part of the problem.”

For Saño and his fellow advocates, there is another source of hope.

“You might become frustrated with the international process, but

tary Mary Ann Lucille Sering, saying that “Germany is committed to assist the Philippines, but there are many things that have yet to be done.”

GIZ also implements a number of programs and projects in the Philippines that address drivers of vulnerability to climate change such as Conflict Sensitive Resource and Asset Management in the CARAGA Region, Environment and Rural Development Program, Adaption to Climate Change in Coastal Areas, Support to the Implementation of

there are a lot of good stories on the ground,” he related. “There are a lot of local government units, communities, organizations, mayors, barangay captains, fisher folk and farmers who are doing a lot already on the ground to make a difference. Not just in the Philippines; it’s all over the world.

There are a lot of good stories; we just need to strengthen the commitment and conviction that we can do it on the ground. We have to work together, because we cannot wait for the international process. We cannot wait for 2020 to do things.”

This, then, was the real message behind his appeal during the Doha COP. “I was really talking to the broader public—to the people in the grassroots, the people in the virtual world, those in social media. [I was] delivering the message to the broader audience that we are not doing enough in this process, which is why we need to drive change in the grassroots. We cannot put all our hopes in the international process. [Change has to be] bottom-up.”

--------------Email the author at forum@upd.edu.ph.

NOTES:

1 UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. (n.d.) The Doha climate gateway.

Retrieved from http://unfccc.int/key_steps/ doha_climate_gateway/items/7389.php 2 Harris, Richard. (2012, December 7). At Doha climate talks, modest results at best. NPR. Retrieved from http://www.npr. org/2012/12/07/166748716/at-doha-climatetalks-modest-results-at-best 3 Sen, Pujarini. (2012, December 8). No money, no ambition, no equity: Another COP, another

continued on page 13

the Tri-national Sulu-Sulawesi Marine Ecoregion Comprehensive Action Plan, Forest and Climate Protection in Panay Island and Protected Area Management Enhancement in the Philippines.

The portfolio also includes regional projects that benefit the country such as the ASEAN Centre for BiodiversityBiodiversity Climate Change Project and Support of the Political and Regulatory Framework Conditions of Pro-Poor Insurance Markets in Asia and Cities Development Initiative for Asia.

6 UP FORUM Volume 14 No. 3 May-June 2013 Photos from the UP SIO

Financing Global Climate Action Rich Countries Should Pay Up Fred Dabu

S

everal organizations led by Aksyon Klima Pilipinas (AKP), the Philippine Movement for Climate Justice (PMJC) and the Freedom From Debt Coalition (FDC) held a picket outside the Dusit Thani Hotel, venue of a United Nations (UN) meeting of experts for the Long-Term Finance (LTF) programme under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) last July 16 in Makati City, Philippines.

The protesters submitted to the UN body a statement calling for developed or richer countries to “pay up their climate bill” by funding the adaptation and mitigation efforts of poorer countries.

They said that while developing countries like the Philippines are among the most vulnerable to climate change, developed countries continue to emit the most amounts of greenhouse gases. Hence, they said, richer countries have the most responsibility to fund adaptation and mitigation activities worldwide. The groups also demanded scaled-up mobilization of funds in the form of grants and reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.

According to the Primer on Climate Finance published by IBON International “developed countries... have accounted for around three-fourths of total anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere since the start of the Industrial Revolution (i.e. from around 1850 to the present).

Developing countries—despite their larger populations and as a result of their lower industrialization levels— have contributed much less to such anthropogenic emissions.”1

Mobilizing USD100 billion per year by 2020 Last July 16 and 17, the Philippines’ Climate Change Commission (CCC) hosted the first meeting of international

experts on LTF. Delegates discussed how adaptation and mitigation efforts in developing countries are to be funded and how pledges made for climate finance, “one of the key building blocks of the UNFCCC,” can be implemented.

The CCC said in its press release that this is in line with the commitment of industrialized countries to mobilize USD100 billion per year by 2020 to address the need of developing countries in relation to climate change.2 CCC commissioner Naderev Saño and co-chair Mark Storey of Sweden facilitated the two-day UN meeting.

They also received the statement submitted by the protesters to the international delegation.

But CCC secretary Lucille Sering emphasized that the promised USD100 billion per year by 2020 “still pales in comparison to what is really needed to ensure we effectively address the climate change challenge, especially in terms of poorer countries being able to cope and adapt.”

She highlighted the need for a “clear mechanism on climate financing for developing countries which are more likely to bear the brunt of the changing climate.”

Outcome of the meeting The International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) reported soon after the experts’ meeting that further discussions are needed, “particularly on pathways for mobilizing climate finance towards the USD100 billion goal.”3 “Ways to define climate finance, lessons from the fast-start finance period, and approaches for monitoring, reporting, and verification (MRV) systems for finance to ensure consistency and transparency on resources provided to developing countries” are among those

Top photo: Comm. Saño addressing the members of AKP, PMJ and FDC outside the Dusit Thani Hotel on July 16. Middle photo: AKP makes their stand clear. Bottom photo: From left to right Mark Storey of Sweden, co-chair of the UNFCCC-LTF along with Comm. Saño (next in photo), standing with officers/representatives of the three groups.

that still need to be settled in upcoming meetings, according to the IISD report.

Financing climate actions since 1992 Monique Barbut, chairperson of the Global Environment Facility (GEF), said in an article that climate financing goes back to the historic Rio Earth Summit of 1992 when the GEF was created to promote funding for sustainable development in poor countries.4 According to Barbut, who made recommendations and expressed optimism in making real the USD100 billion target, the GEF “has been serving as the major source of financing for the global environmental conventions created in Rio, including climate change.

Today, the GEF grants USD300 million per year for climate change mitigation in developing countries.

“The GEF also operates two funds on behalf of the climate change convention(…), which have provided USD420 million in grants to developing countries in an effort to reduce vulnerability to climate change in the context of their national development.

“An Adaptation Fund was also established under the Kyoto Protocol of the

Climate Change Convention. Moreover, in 2008 the World Bank established two Climate Investment Funds to provide grants and loans for climate change mitigation and adaptation.

Similar funds exist at various regional development banks, UN agencies and bilateral aid agencies, all dealing with climate change.”

--------------Email the author at forum@upd.edu.ph.

Notes: 1

IBON International. (2008). Primer on Climate Finance. Retrieved from http:// iboninternational.org/resources/primers/178 2 Climate Change Commission - Philippines.

(2013, July 16). Climate Commission hosts high-level meeting on climate finance.

Retrieved from http://climate.gov.ph/index. php/news/press-releases/726-climatecommission-hosts-high-level-meeting-onclimate-finance 3 International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD). (2013, July 20). Summary of the Meeting of Experts on Long-term Finance. Meeting of Experts on Long-term Finance Bulletin. Retrieved from http://www. iisd.ca/climate/ltf/em1/html/crsvol205num7e. html 4 Barbut, Monique. (2011). Climate Finance: Putting the Puzzle Together. UN Chronicle, United Nations. Retrieved from http://www. un.org/wcm/content/site/chronicle/home/ archive/issues2011/7billionpeople1unitednati ons/climatefinanceputtingthepuzzletogether

UP FORUM Volume 14 No. 3 May-June 2013 7

The New Order Climate-Proofing and Climate-Resilient Expenditure

I

Timeline of the Work Programme on Long-Term Finance

n an interview with the UP Forum, Commissioner Naderev M. Saño of the Climate Change Commission discusses the People’s Survival Fund and how Excerpts from the Meeting of the government intends to use it, among others. Excerpts: Experts on Long-term Finance FORUM: How does the Aquino administration intend to use the People's Bulletin, a publication of the Survival Fund from 2013 until 2016?

International Institute for Saño: The People's Survival Fund (PSF) is intended solely for local government units (LGUs) and local community organizations. The utilization of the Sustainable Development* PSF will depend on the projects proposed by LGUs and local communities.

The PSF is meant to finance adaptation programs and projects directly sup* International Institute for Sustainable portive of the objectives enumerated in the Local Climate Change Action Plans November 2013 Development (IISD). (2013, July 20).

(LCCAP) of local government units and communities.

Submission of a report by the co-chairs Summary of the Meeting of Experts on Specifically, the PSF is intended for initiatives in support of: on the outcomes of the extended work Long-term Finance. Meeting of Experts on Long-term Finance Bulletin. Retrieved programme at COP 19 in Warsaw. This will • adaptation activities in the areas of water resources management, land from http://www.iisd.ca/climate/ltf/em1/ inform the ministerial dialogue on finance management, agriculture and fisheries, health, infrastructure develophtml/crsvol205num7e.html at COP 19. ment, fragile ecosystems including mountainous ecosystems, and integrated coastal zone management; • improvement of the monitoring of vector-borne diseases triggered by climate change, and in this context improving disease control and prevention; September 2013 • early warning systems as part of preparedness for climate-related A final wrap-up meeting in Songdo, Republic of Korea. hazards; • supporting institutional capacity-building, both for national and local governments, in partnership with local communities and civil society groups, for preventive measures, planning, preparedness and management of impacts relating to climate change, including contingency planning, for droughts and floods in areas prone to extreme weather events; 19-20 August 2013 • serving as a guarantee risk insurance needs of farmers, agricultural The Second Meeting of Experts on Long-Term Finance in Bonn, workers and other stakeholders; and Germany.

• strengthening regional centers and information networks to support climate change adaptation initiatives and projects.

FORUM: What is the ideal amount needed for the Philippines to be climate-resilient in a given 26 November – 7 December, 2012 time frame? How does the agency imagine the funds At the COP 18 held in Doha, Qatar, delegates agreed to extend the work programme on LTF to be mobilized, from what sources and for what with the twin aims of informing: developed country parties in their efforts to identify pathways specific purposes? for mobilizing scaled-up climate finance to USD100 billion per year by 2020; and parties in enhancing their enabling environments and policy frameworks to facilitate the mobilization Saño: This is a seemingly simple question that and effective deployment of climate finance in developing countries. The First Meeting of would expectedly have a straightforward answer.

Experts on LTF is part of that extended work programme.

However, the reality is there will never be enough Other elements of COP 18 decisions on long-term finance for consideration, as identified resources for climate change adaptation or resilby the co-chairs during an information event in Bonn on 3 May 2013: encouraged developed iency. countries to increase their efforts to provide resources of at least the average annual level of Climate change adaptation is a dynamic process, fast-start finance for the period 2013-2015; invited submissions by developed countries by COP 19, that contain information on their strategies and approaches for mobilizing scaled-up in contrast with a static one where meeting a given climate finance to USD100 billion by 2020 in the context of meaningful mitigation actions and target would solve the problem once and for all. transparency of implementation; and called for an in-session high-level ministerial dialogue Adaptation involves a moving target—one that at COP 19 to consider progress made in mobilizing LTF and efforts undertaken by developed shifts according to development goals and to the countries to scale up mobilization after 2012. climate system's behavior. It is hugely dependent The 2013 extended work programme is designed to focus on areas where it can add value, on how the whole world addresses its root causes— building on the 2012 work programme and taking into account related processes and bodies, such as the Standing Committee on Finance, Green Climate Fund (GCF), Adaptation Fund, and reduction of global greenhouse work programmes on REDD+ finance, loss and damage and nationally appropriate mitigation emissions that would in turn be actions (NAMAs). dependent on the political will of the industrialized countries.

If, for instance, climate change accelerates at a rate that has not 1-3 October 2012 been anticipated, adaptation beThe second LTF workshop convened in Cape Town, South Africa, and focused on approaches to scaling up climate comes more urgent and drastic. finance and creating enabling environments. Participants considered new and innovative sources of climate If baseline development issues finance, approaches and strategies to mobilize climate finance from such sources, and ways to strengthen developing country capacity for improved access to climate finance. continued on page 8

9-11 July 2012

The first LTF workshop was held in Bonn, Germany to increase understanding of long-term climate finance, and focus on solutions rather than problems. The workshop addressed key aspects pertaining to LTF, benefited from technical and analytic inputs from experts, and used social media and webcast tools to promote transparency, openness and inclusiveness by engaging those not physically present at the workshop.

2011

17th session of the UNFCCC Conference of the Parties (COP 17), held in Durban, South Africa, decided to undertake a work programme on LTF in 2012. The work programme analyzed options for mobilizing resources from a wide variety of sources, such as public, private, bilateral, multilateral and alternative sources, and undertook analytical work on climate-related financing needs of developing countries for adaptation and mitigation.

8 UP FORUM Volume 14 No. 3 May-June 2013

such as poverty worsen, then adaptation becomes frustrating and more long-drawn-out. Pursuing the goal of a climate-risk resilient Philippines involves a very dynamic challenge.

The scientific community has concluded that anthropogenic climate change has affected many human and bio-physical systems all over the world. As a result, the resilience of all ecosystems is in jeopardy. This will result in serious stresses on food production, health, and economic security.

As climate change is expected to overtake our efforts in massive terms, the resources we allocate for it will never be enough, especially in the context of “the earth is one but the world is not,” and countries continually fail to find the global political will to stop climate change through serious cuts in greenhouse emissions.

The chances for adaptation become slimmer and slimmer for every year that passes.

As for the national effort to respond to the adverse impacts of climate change, both in the short term and the

long term, optimizing the national budget to fulfill the policy imperative of adaptation is a leap of faith—a persistent belief in the ability of humanity to save itself and sooner than later find a way to avert the worst case scenario of a climate crisis.

We are guided in our determination to lead the country in pursuing climate change adaptation by three principles – the precautionary principle, the co-benefit principle, and the no-regrets principle.

The precautionary principle tells us that in the absence of solid scientific evidence to dispel any uncertainty, we’d rather take the side of caution and take measures to protect ourselves from harm. Even with inadequate scientific information, we will pursue anticipatory adaptation measures in order to minimize the impacts of climate change. Lack of scientific certainty should not be an excuse for postponing or delaying such measures.

The co-benefit principle is about pursuing actions that would redound continued on page 9

Photo from the UP SIO

THE NEW ORDER... continued from page 7

Comm. Saño answers questions on climate long-term finance from ABS-CBN's Atom Araullo on July 16.

UP FORUM Volume 14 No. 3 May-June 2013 9

THE NEW ORDER... continued from page 8 to a multitude of benefits other than the primarily intended outcome. In the case of adaptation, for instance, implementing measures to improve land use planning, aside from reducing risk from climatic hazards, can also lead to enhanced food security and quality of life, and improved local economies. The no-regrets principle is a close cousin of the co-benefit principle. It simply means pursuing actions that we will do anyway regardless of how climate change progresses. For instance, we need to protect our forests to ensure watershed integrity even if there’s no climate risk.

So the question perhaps is when will our budget be enough for adaptation? It is when the climate change juggernaut is addressed and

when genuine social and economic development has become a reality for us.

FORUM: What is the agency's overall assessment of the pace of both the Philippines and international climate financing?

Saño: It should be stressed that every peso from public funds must be used in a way that lowers overall climate risk. In this sense, the Philippines is quite advanced in terms of analyzing how national expenditure is geared towards building resilience to climate change. Since adaptation is a complex dynamic endeavor and one that involves a huge amount of hopefulness, it would be wise that every peso of the nation’s coffers be spent towards building resilience.

The Climate Change Commission works to ensure that the budget of every national government agency, local government unit, or government instrumentality contributes to building resilience against climate and disaster risks. In the same vein, the Commission strives to ensure coherence among all agencies in order to prevent

the unwitting possibility of resources being utilized to further increase risks.

In a manner of speaking, the whole national budget must be a climatesensitive budget that manifests in every sector – agriculture, infrastructure, water, environment, transport, energy, health, industry, education, social welfare, labor, etc.

Climate-proofing and climateresilient expenditure is the new order. This also entails elimination of resource leakages, such as corruption, inefficiencies, and redundancies.

In an era of global climate change, scarce resources must be optimized carefully. As an example, roads and bridges must be constructed to account for shorter return periods of extreme events and climate-proofing would be a function of design, location, and careful execution. Corruption-laden infrastructure projects are therefore contributory to climate risk and the Commission strongly supports the important task of ridding society of these potential leakages.

It should be noted that adaptation is also mainly a function of people’s

vulnerability. As such, the Commission takes seriously its mandate of mainstreaming climate change into development planning.

But it should also be clarified that our own resources will never be enough to address the challenges at the rate of change that is happening.

As such our pursuit of resilience relies much on the international mobilization of scaled-up climate finance that would allow us to pursue concrete adaptation measures and participate in global climate mitigation. Today, international climate finance remains a largely empty shell and the amount being made available pales in comparison to the massive needs. There is a promise from developed countries to jointly mobilize US$100 billion annually by the year 2020 for developing countries. But there is as yet no clarity on how this will be achieved.

-------------------Commissioner Naderev M. Saño has undergraduate and graduate degrees in philosophy and community development from UP Diliman. Email him at yeb.saño@gmail.com.

10 UP FORUM Volume 14 No. 3 May-June 2013

THE UP FORUM ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSION THE NATIONAL LAND USE ACT

I

n the last Congress, the National Land Use Segfredo R. Serrano, PhD Bill passed the House of Representatives Undersecretary for Planning, Research and and very nearly crossed the finish line in Development and Regulations the Senate. If prioritized by the Legislative Executive Development Advisory Council Department of Agriculture (Ledac) and certified again as urgent by the President, who now has effective control of both houses, there is indeed hope for its pas"If prioritized by the Legislative sage in this Congress.

Most of the issues raised by its opponents, Executive Development Advisory Council especially the belated ones in the Senate, can be resolved in good faith. But while we and certified again as urgent by the have emphasized the urgency of passing this President, who now has effective control piece of legislation in the 15th Congress, we should take this opportunity to further of both houses, there is indeed hope for improve the bill through further debates and the legislative process should address the its passage in this Congress." concerns of stakeholders.

To ensure the support of the 16th Congress, there is a need to revisit the issues as well as to restart the national debate to fine-tune the provisions. Equally important is the need for strong and determined support by the administration-led coalitions in both houses that have strengthened their numbers; for learning from the lessons for the supportive lobby groups among the stakeholders to more strongly and effectively deliver the message in this Congress; for a re-certification by the president that the bill is urgent and a priority (not apparent in the recent State of the Nation Address or SONA); as well as for prioritization

by Ledac; and for more active support not only by the government agencies that have supported it from the start, but also by the Presidential Legislative Liaison Office (PLLO).

-------------------Undersecretary Serrano earned his doctorate in agricultural economics from UP. Email him at llanera72@yahoo.com.

Mario R. Delos Reyes, PhD Dean School of Urban and Regional Planning UP Diliman

Y

es, there is hope for the enactment of the National Land Use Act (NLUA) in the 16th Congress. Although there are divergent opinions on the NLUA, compromise agreements on the specific provisions of the bill could be pursued through thorough discussions and deliberations to reconcile the views of the opposing sectors.

It is my hope that these sectors are truly concerned about the sustainable use and management of the country’s land resources and are not only ruled by their personal/business and vested interests. The country as a whole should be their utmost concern.

This land use policy is long overdue.

The congressmen, after almost two decades, finally passed the proposed NLUA (House Bill 6545) in September 2012. Early this year, its counter-

part, Senate Bill 3091 was also discussed in the Upper Chamber.

However, strong lobbying by a group of real estate brokers, subdivision and socialized housing developers has pressured the Senate to stop the passage of the proposed bill outlining new policies on land use and development.

Much of the group’s concern is centered on the provisions that ban the conversion of agricultural lands and which defines them as protected areas under the exclusive jurisdiction of the Department of Agrarian Reform. There are other contentious issues such as the proposed land use classification and sub-classification system, land use allocation protocols, the decision-making process in cases of competing and conflicting land uses, and the implementing structure and coordination

Q.

for the sustainable use and management of the country’s environment and natural resources. The proposed bills, both in the senate and house, define land use as the manner of utilization of land, including its allocation, development and management. The main goal is to create preconditions for a favorable living environment and to promote ecologically, economically, socially and culturally sustainable development.

The bill calls for vertical integration and harmonization of land use plans. The national government defines national land use guidelines, which should be taken into account throughout the country in all land use decisions and land use planning. The land use planning system is hierarchical such that the higher level plans steer lower

"It is my hope that the opposing sectors are truly concerned about the sustainable use and management of the country’s land resources and are not only ruled by their personal/business and vested interests. The country as a whole should be their utmost concern." mechanism, among others.

I would like to emphasize the importance of the Philippines’ national land use policy because it is a countrywide spatial strategy to guide developments

plans. The National Framework for Physical Development Planning (NFPDP) guidelines will be implemented mainly through regional and provincial plans or the Regional Physical Frame-

Is t Na the

Giv its be sup Con

work and Development Plan (RPFDP) and the Provincial Physical Framework and Development Plan (PPFDP), respectively. The local plan or the Comprehensive Land Use and Development Plan (CLUDP) defines the land use and physical development of a city or municipality. It is drawn up through participatory planning procedures, which give local residents the chance to get involved in the planning processes that affect them.

As in the vertical harmonization, there should also be a horizontal integration of the land use and physical development plans among national government agencies’ sectoral plans.

These include the Forest Land Use Plan (FLUP), Coastal Resources Management Plan (CRMP), Protected Areas Management Plan (PAMP), Stracontinued on page 11

UP FORUM Volume 14 No. 3 May-June 2013 11

THE UP FORUM ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSION THE NATIONAL LAND USE ACT

Y

es. There is hope that the National Land Use Act will be passed in the 16th Congress. But for the bill to get the support of the 16th Congress, it has to hurdle the remaining objections and reservations posed by legislators during the 15th Congress. I, along with other senators, still have reservations about the present draft of the bill that have yet to be addressed.

Firstly, I have made it clear that I strongly support the passage of a land use policy for our country in order to align and harmonize competing claims to the use of our precious land resource.

As former governor of the province of Ilocos Norte, I understand the importance and value of the comprehensive land use plans (CLUP) of local government units that are mandated by the Local Government Code to formulate such CLUPs, under the guidance, of course, of the Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board (HLURB).

However, as the chairman of the Senate Committee on Urban Planning, Housing and Resettlement, to which this bill had been secondarily referred, I am under obligation to ensure that the key stakeholders of the housing sector, both from the government and private sectors, are adequately heard and represented.

No less than my counterpart in the House of Representatives,

Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr., MBA Senator Republic of the Philippines

there hope for the tional Land Use Act in e 16 th Congress?

ven the objections to passage, what should done to ensure the pport of the 16 th ngress?

ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSION: DELOS REYES... continued from page 10 tegic and Fisheries Development Zones (SAFDZ), Agricultural and Fisheries Management Plan (AFMP); National Tourism Development Plan (NTDP); and the more recent, namely: National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPC) and National Risk Reduction and Management Plan (NDRRMP), among others.

Many fora have been organized by the NGAs, NGOs, academe and other private sectors on the issue. In March 2013, the UP School of Urban and Regional Planning (SURP) and the Philippine Institute of Environmental Planners (PIEP) organized a forum on the NLUA at the UP-SURP Bldg. in Diliman, Quezon City. This forum

Congressman Rodolfo G. Valencia, chairman of the House Committee on Housing and Urban Development, as well as the officials of the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC) and the HLURB have approached me to explain why we should take another serious look at the final draft of the bill. Even the private sector, represented by the Chamber of Real Estate and Builders’ Association (CREBA), the Subdivision and Housing Developers Association (SHDA), and the Organization of Socialized Housing Developers of the Philippines (OSHDP), have expressed reservations.

I have scrutinized their concerns, and I am convinced that the present draft of the bill could be further improved and refined.

To digress, as we talk about the national land use policy law here in a forum on climate change, we seem to be of the belief that a national land use policy law for the county is essential to our government’s efforts to combat and mitigate the effects of climate change.

Is a national land use policy law essential to our efforts to adapt to climate change? Yes, it is.

But we should also ask: is this the first time that we will have such a national land use policy law?

No, it is not. We must disabuse ourselves of the notion that we do not have a national land use policy yet, or that we are having one for the very first time through the NLUP bill.

On the contrary, we have several existing laws and rules, which reflect separate and sector-specific land use policies themselves. Our laws, executive orders, rules, and other administrative issuances on land use planning, agrarian reform, agriculture and fisheries, solid waste management, local government autonomy, water resource management, climate change, disaster risk reduction, public lands, private ownership of lands, indigenous peoples’ lands, tourism develop"For the bill to get the support ment, cultural heritage sites, ecoof the 16th Congress, it has nomic zones, socialized housing and urban development, among to hurdle the remaining others—all of which are valid, existing and simultaneously beobjections and reservations ing implemented by our execuposed by legislators during tive agencies—declare national policies in themselves and at the the 15th Congress...I am same time mandate different, under obligation to ensure and more often than not, competing land uses. We should be that the key stakeholders of very careful and very certain that all these laws, rules, issuances the housing sector, both from and policies will be considered, the government and private aligned, harmonized and placed in a melting pot, so to speak, to sectors, are adequately heard constitute the consolidated National Land Use Policy law. and represented."

As chairman of the Senate Committee on Urban Planning, Housing and Resettlement, I must say that there must be an equal consideration and importance given the housing sector, particularly the National Urban Development and Housing Framework, as provided for under Republic Act 7279, the UDHA law, or more popularly known as the “Lina Law.” After all, we have to address the problem of the national housing shortage of more than 3 million housing units for poor and underprivileged citizens.

We must also understand that our climate change mitigation measures primarcontinued on page 13

highlighted the salient features of the bill—its scope and application, and advantages and disadvantages. It served as a venue for discussion of the parts of the bill that impact on environment, urban planning, regional planning and development.

As earlier mentioned, the passage of the law needs the review and enhancement of experts and stakeholders from the NGAs, NGOs, private sectors and

the academe. The revised and enhanced national land use framework/guidelines will be presented to Congress for further deliberation. It is hoped that this refined NLUA will be finally approved and passed during the 16th Congress.

-------------------Dean Delos Reyes earned his BS in Zoology and MS in Fisheries and Coastal Management from UP. Email him at mdreyes84@gmail.com.

12 UP FORUM Volume 14 No. 3 May-June 2013

CLIMATE ADAPTIVE LOCAL PLANNING... continued from page 1

Desiree Llanos Dee and Rene Clemente The Local Government Unit (LGU) of San Francisco has partnered with the Climate Change Commission (CCC) and a consortium of institutions to integrate Climate Change Adaptation and Disaster Risk Reduction Management (CCA-DRRM) into their local development planning process. This partnership aims to build a roadmap for climate resilience and reduce risks to disasters in order to prevent a repeat of the likes of Typhoon Ruping which damaged houses, destroyed crops and killed six people in 1990.

Island of solutions Nicknamed “SanFran” by the locals, the town is a source of national pride, besting 25 nominations to win the prestigious United Nations Sasakawa Award for Disaster Reduction in 2011.

The United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR) said that “San Francisco was chosen for its innovative use of the Purok system, a traditional method of self-organization within villages where members voluntarily contribute to a money bank used by those in need of emergency funds after a disaster. Also, with limited access to the Internet, cell phones and radios, the Purok system is used to disseminate information and risk assessments, with Purok coordinators acting as couriers of information to residents.”

SanFran’s resilience lies in the strengthening of its Purok system, a bottom-up approach which institutionalizes self-organization and participatory governance at the sub-village level. The system builds on existing indigenous social organization for mobilizing resources in developing local solutions for disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation in all its 120 functional Puroks.

The prize money from the Sasakawa Award supports innovative initiatives such as the Two Million Trees Project to rehabilitate watershed areas and give participants a food-for-work programme to plant trees and generate income.

For the past several years, San Francisco has been showcased in international events and national fora and has drawn a lot of visitors as a model of

best practice in community empowerment through the Purok system of governance.

During an informal gathering, a group of community leaders asked students what words they associate with the word “problem.” A respondent said: “Solusyon. Kasi walang problema na walang solusyon” (Solution. Because no problem is ever without a solution).

The Purok system has developed a culture of innovation and a solutionoriented mindset. The system is beneficial for the LGU itself, which disseminates its various programs on health, education, and environmental protection to the farthest corners of the municipality. The Purok system has become an intravenous system injecting solutions into the communities.

Power to the people “…Of the people, by the people and for the people.”

This is the kind of democracy and empowerment that former Mayor Alfredo Arquillano Jr. envisioned when he marched across the island with the Sasakawa award. “This award is for everyone,” added Arquillano, whom his townmates call Mayor Al.

At first, the residents did not understand what the award was all about or its relevance to their lives. As they told and retold their story to countless international visitors and other local government officials, they started to realize that they earned the Sasakawa Award for their communal efforts and collective community leadership.

Indeed, the spirit of volunteerism is alive and well in Camotes. When asked why he remains a purok member, one resident answered: “Kasi kapag may magagawa kang tulong sa mga kasamahan mo, masarap kasi sa puso eh.

Mas masarap kasi sa puso na makatulong ka, kaysa sa pera.” (Being able to help and be of service to others is a better reward than money).

One mother said that “Marami naman kasi sa amin dito sanay sa hirap, yun makakain lang ng tatlong beses masaya na. Kaya mas sanay rin kami sa tulungan.” (Many of us here are used to a simple life. We are already happy if we are able to eat three times a day. We are used to having nothing, so we are also used to helping each other out).

These statements are a testament to how the Purok system has fostered

solidarity and goodwill in the community.

Think big, start small In 2004, local officials divided the municipality into purok districts, each of which is headed by a coordinator. A purok district is composed of up to 21 puroks. Each purok is led by a council composed of ordinary residents who, through workshops conducted by the local officials, were capacitated to guide the people, not only in reducing and confronting disasters, but also in facilitating efficient delivery of basic services. It was really an extension of government down to the sub-village level.

Mayor Al was the incumbent when the program started. “Think big, start small,” was his mantra and the main strategy used by the LGU to make the program successful and implemented down to the most basic levels of community.

Mayor Al discouraged dole-outs and wanted people to work to deserve the incentive. The prize money won by the puroks is added to their capital for livelihood programs, such as selling local products and handicrafts. Soon, the continued on page 13

Photos from Desiree Llanos Dee, Climate Change Commission

Photo on left: Santiago Beach.

Photo on right: Aside from MDGs and HFAs, every barangay also has a hazard map.

UP FORUM Volume 14 No. 3 May-June 2013 13 Photos from Desiree Llanos Dee, Climate Change Commission

Hyoga Framework of Action in Cebuano

CLIMATE ADAPTIVE LOCAL PLANNING... continued from page 12 community members benefitted from the projects and took pride that they are earning money from their projects.

Localizing visions and dreams Climbing from a 5th class to 3rd class municipality within a decade, Camotes’ noteworthy feat grabbed attention and made people wonder how the change began. “The changes started when we made the people understand why these new programs and goals are important,” recounted Arquillano. He said that massive information and education drives remolded attitudes, led to action and eventually redefined development.

An interesting feature of SanFran is that the people have translated into their vernacular the Millennium Development Goals and Hyogo Framework of Action, which are on posters displayed in every school and Purok Hall. These big words of goals and frameworks would mean nothing to the community if they did not understand what they meant, but apparently they do. These signs also serve as reminders of the vision of SanFran: “A place to live and a place to visit.” Aside from the MDGs and HFAs, every barangay also has a hazard map.

Beyond response, bracing for the future It has been two years since the municipality won the esteemed Sasakawa Award. What’s next?

In partnership with the CCC and the DRR-CCA Learning Consortium, the LGU is currently integrating climate change and disaster risk reduction into its local development plan by pursuing alternative pathways to climate change adaptation. This process will ensure that climate and disaster risks are addressed in crafting the town’s comprehensive development plan, comprehensive land use plan (CLUP), as well as its annual investment program, thereby spending the scarce resources of the municipality in a climate-smart manner.

Commissioner Saño of CCC says, “Climate change and development are intrinsically linked. The impacts of climate change affect development in profound ways and many factors that affect development have stark implications on how communities are able to adapt. Our partnership with SanFran is intended to demonstrate that integration of climate change into development planning relies hugely on the strength of people’s empowerment.”

The project has a community-based

COMM. YEB SAÑO: SPEAKING FOR THE PLANET... continued from page 5

4

5

6

7

bad deal? The Adopt a Negotiator Project.

Retrieved from http://adoptanegotiator. org/2012/12/08/no-money-no-ambition-noequity-another-cop-another-bad-deal/ Casey, Michael. (2012, December 6). Poor countries demand action at UN climate talks.

Yahoo! News. Retrieved from http://news. yahoo.com/poor-countries-demand-actionun-climate-talks-111017014.html UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. (n.d.) Background on the UNFCCC: The international response to climate change.

Retrieved from http://unfccc.int/essential_ background/items/6031.php UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. (n.d.) The Doha climate gateway.

Retrieved from http://unfccc.int/key_steps/ doha_climate_gateway/items/7389.php Centre for International Sustainable

Development Law. (2002). The principle of common but differentiated responsibilities: origins and scope (CISDL Legal Brief for the World Summit on Sustainable Development 2002, Johannesburg, 26 August). Retrieved from http://cisdl.org/public/docs/news/brief_ common.pdf 8 UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. (n.d.) An introduction to the Kyoto Protocol Compliance Mechanism. Retrieved from http://unfccc.int/kyoto_protocol/ compliance/items/3024.php 9 Hermeling, Sven & Eckstein, David. (2012, November). Global climate risk index 2013: Who suffers most from extreme weather events? Weather-related loss events in 2011 and 1992 to 2011 (Briefing paper).

Germanwatch. Retrieved from http:// germanwatch.org/fr/download/7170.pdf

participatory risk assessment, which includes the identification of hazards exposure, sensitivity, vulnerability and adaptive capacity. After a thorough identification of the extent of these risks, the community will formulate programs and a plan of action to address these risks and increase their adaptive capacity.

People make places Instead of having an attitude of resignation to the overwhelming impacts of climate change, the LGU considers the challenge as an opportunity to transform their communities for the better. As a budding learning hub for CCA-DRRM actions, SanFran hopes

to inspire other local governments with their humble story.

Truly, people make places as has been demonstrated by the residents of SanFran. Their willingness to serve breathes integrity into the character of the community. SanFran has become what it is now because of its people’s working together towards realizing their vision of sustainable development.

-------------------Ms. Desiree Llanos Dee and Mr. Rene Clemente are both staff under the office of Commissioner Naderev M. Saño. They work for the greener good primarily by building community resilience at the grassroots level. Email the authors at deslldee@gmail.com.

ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSION: MARCOS... continued from page 11 ily entail efficient enforcement of our existing laws and a significant change in our discipline and outlook as a people. We already have a host of good laws to address land use planning and climate change; we already have the government offices that are mandated to implement such laws, like the National Land Use Committee (created

by Executive Order No. 770), the local government units (LGUs), the Center for Land Use Policy, Planning and Implementation (CLUPPI), the DENR, HLURB, DPWH, MMDA and others.

We have to ensure that these laws are efficiently enforced and implemented by them. In fact, in 2010, the DENR formulated the Philippine Strategy on Climate Change Adaptation for 2010-2022. We must channel our efforts and resources to implement such a national strategy. To simply pin the blame on the perceived inaction of Congress is like blaming the proverbial missing horseshoe nail for the loss of the kingdom.

Lastly, we should also understand that the NLUP bill carries with it concerns that are just too substantial and far-reaching in their effects that they cannot and should not be disregarded. To give an idea of the extent of

its coverage, the NLUP bill is almost a hundred pages long, containing 80 provisions, and impacting on at least 20 existing important laws, policies, and other government rules and regulations. It also proposes to create another government office that will of course entail funding for its maintenance and operations and will add yet another layer in our bureaucracy. Worse, more than a mere policy law, the NLUP bill also is a penal law. The impact of this legislation is just too great that the public deserves that the law be given a hard and serious second look.

To end, I assure you that I will work hard with my fellow senators to finally enact the National Land Use law. The bill has already been re-filed in the 16th Congress. Newly-elected Senate President Frank Drilon has just announced that it will be one of his legislative priorities. At the proper time, I will submit all my proposed amendments—all ninety-plus of them—in order to adequately address the important issues discussed above.

-------------------Senator Marcos earned his Master in Business Administration from the Wharton School of Business. Email him at inquiry.bbmoffice@gmail.com.

14 UP FORUM Volume 14 No. 3 May-June 2013

A Tale of Two Towns Frances Fatima Cabana and KIM Quilinguing

N

o one is spared in the age of climate change. Whether you live in what would seem like a tropical paradise facing the West Philippine Sea, or a surfing destination nestled between the Pacific Ocean and the Philippine Trench, you can’t escape the fast-changing weather patterns and ever-evolving environmental phenomenon.

Photo from the UP SIO

Having the proactive approach A rising tourist destination with what locals claim to be a 14-kilometer stretch of white sand beaches under coconut trees, San Vicente, Palawan is a first class municipality in the northwestern side of the country’s last frontier. Locals take to farming and fishing, with rice, coconut and seafood as chief produce for local consumption as well as livelihood.1 Despite its location outside the country’s typhoon belt, the town has had its share of the effects of climate change. According to environment management specialist Ian Echanes of San Vicente, they have experienced unusual amounts of rainfall, irregular weather patterns, as well as instances of coral bleaching in the waters off the town.

In anticipation of the possible adverse effects of the changing weather patterns and the effects of climate change on marine biodiversity, the people of San Vicente decided to acquire access to critical information and capacity-building programs. The result was a Memorandum of Agreement with the Climate Change Commission (CCC), which provided for training and technical assistance in the creation of programs geared towards climate change adaptation and mitigation.

With the assistance of the commission and its partners, the local government of San Vicente headed by Mayor Maria Carmela Alvarez assessed the vulnerability of their town, launched an information and education campaign among the townspeople, and conducted programs which would limit the adverse effect of human consumption, economic acSan Vicente's Tourism Officer Lucylyn Panagsagan (left) and tivities and climate change Environment Management Specialist Ian Echanes (right) explain their town's efforts to address the adverse effects of climate change. on the environment.

Aside from training and information campaigns, Echanes said the town has also conducted trials on the use of new rice varieties which can withstand harsh weather as well as possible sea-level rise in the coastal areas. A wave breaker was also constructed in anticipation of violent waves coming in from the West Philippine Sea during heavy rains or a storm.

Echanes added that while San Vicente has not had any violent experiences with weather phenomena in the past, they appreciate the proactive approach in their partnership with CCC. As the model “ecotown” in Palawan, theirs is setting the standard in climate change adaptation and mitigation for other towns not only in Palawan but also in other parts of the country. (An eco-town is a locality certified by the commission to have adopted climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies.)

Adapting to the changes While the town of San Vicente prepares for the effects of climate change, the municipality of Del Carmen in Surigao del Norte does all that it can to adapt to heavier rains and scorching summers.

Situated in the southwest portion of surfer’s paradise Siargao Island in Surigao del Norte, Del Carmen is a fifth-class municipality, having one of the highest concentration of mangroves in the country.

Out of Siargao’s 8,620 hectares of mangrove forests, at least 4,200 hectares of mangroves are in Del Carmen.2 Being at the easternmost edge of the country, Siargao Island is among those areas in the country usually hit by storms coming in from the Pacific Ocean during the rainy season. And in recent years, Del Carmen locals have observed that aside from the storms’ bringing in heavier rain, the usual rains on ordinary days are also no longer usual. In the sum-

mer months, they have also observed that the heat has been more intense than before.

While the locals have observed these changes in the climate for some time, Mayor Alfredo ”JR” Coro II said it has not been easy for Del Carmen to get the attention and assistance that it needs.

And this, he said, is due to the municipality’s location, difficulty in regular transportation services, as well as the culture of isolation.

Banking on Siargao Island’s reputation as the country’s surfing capital and a prime tourist destination, Coro approached national government agencies capable of addressing the concerns of his town and constituents. The result was several partnerships with institutions like the CCC, the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), Oxfam and several other government and non-government organizations (NGOs).

Del Carmen’s partnerships with government agencies and NGOs continued on page 15

UP FORUM Volume 14 No. 3 May-June 2013 15

Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation Strategies in San Vicente, Palawan and Del Carmen, Siargao Island, Surigao del Norte resistance from communities situated in the areas which need to be preserved and protected. Among those she has encountered in the pursuit of her duties are people who live near mangrove areas as well as those who chop mangroves and sell them as firewood.

Barquilla, however, added that the information and education campaign on climate change has helped more locals appreciate the risks they face. As a result, several of these coastal residents have been relocated to sites in other parts of the municipality. And along with their relocation, alternative modes of livelihood have been introduced to them by people’s organizations in their new communities.

Photo from the UP SIO

The “eco” in eco-towns The eco-town framework is one of the institutional responses of CCC to build the adaptive capacities of women and men in their communities, increase the resilience of vulnerable sectors and natural ecosystems to climate change, and optimize mitigation opportunities towards gender-responsive and rights-based sustainable development.

Eco-towns are municipalities or groups of municipalities located within and around the boundaries of critical key biodiversity areas, which are at risk to the effects of climate change based on the climate scenarios done by the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa).

Being part of the Siargao Islands Protected Landscapes and Seascapes Areas and home to the largest contiguous mangrove cover in the Philippines, the municipality of Del Carmen embraces the eco-town framework and embraces it firmly. It is a structured process of addressing the multitude of challenges they are facing: isolation, lack of food security, susceptibility to flooding and tsunamis, and high poverty incidence. The objective is to aggressively address these problems and deliver direct, immediate, substantial and sustainable results. Mayor Coro recognizes the vulnerability of the poor communities and emphasized this by saying, “You have to give it [solution] directly to the poor and you have to give it ALL NOW.” So what has Del Carmen done so far? It has been trying to develop Mayor Alfredo M. Coro II earned his bachelor's degree from UP Los Baños. He products that can is shown in this photo discussing with UP Forum editor Frances Cabana Del match the town’s Carmen's characteristics that make it an eco-town. brand value as one of the world’s best surfing spots according to CNN.com. Isolation and having Type II climate make it difficult to reach the market geographically and financially. Sellers of raw fruits and vegetables need to traverse a large body of deep ocean water with whirlpools to be able to reach the city of Surigao del Norte. Consequently, transportation is very expensive as they have more cancellations than actual travel. Bringing a normal hand-carried bag when you ride a lantsa (inter-island ferry) would even cost you 20 pesos or the equivalent of half a dollar.

Imagine bringing sacks of root crops from Del Carmen to Surigao City. The local government realized this and developed a value chain which focuses on organic farming and product development using non-toxic materials for increasing shelf life. One of these products is hopyaw with surfer athletes and tourists as its target consumers. Hopyaw is like hopia but uses payaw instead of munggo (mung beans). Palaw or payaw is a native root crop similar to gabi or taro and it is cooked with flour to make hopyaw. The production of hopyaw is part of Del Carmen’s “One Basket” project, meaning it is small enough to fit in a basket, given the limited baggage of tourists. Other products and services developed by communities include coco products, dried fish, cassava chips, and purified drinking water. They now see enterprise development as the next rational step to capitalize on these products.

Siargao is now known as a surfing and game fishing destination. However, these activities are highly dependent on climatic conditions, such as the presence of waves or sea temperature. It is also for these reasons that the local government recognizes the effects of climate change and consciously uses these changes to create climate-proof tourism opportunities. Development of tourism infrastructure was modified and improved to minimize environmental impact. They give utmost importance to their mangroves, locally called bakhaw, and how these can essentially address climate change and protect lives and livelihoods in the face of climate shifts already underway.

“Preserving mangrove forests can help regulate rainfall patterns, reduce the risk of disasters from continued on page 16

A TALE OF TWO TOWNS... continued from page 14 have resulted not only in the conduct of information and education campaigns on climate change, but also workshops, seminars and training on livelihood programs, maternity and child care, education, as well as solid waste management and renewable energy power generation.

With mangroves being the most dominant environmental feature of Del Carmen, the local government decided to anchor its climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies on their preservation, promotion and protection. The locals also consider the mangroves as their greatest asset in adapting to climate change and mitigating its effects. Emphasizing their importance, Coro said, “One hectare of mangroves can feed a family of five and afford a good quality of life.”

But protecting the mangroves has not been easy. Del Carmen MENRO designate Gina Barquilla said one is bound to encounter

16 UP FORUM Volume 14 No. 3 May-June 2013 Artwork by Tilde Acuña

Power

A TALE OF TWO TOWNS... continued from page 15

The preservation of life While climate change studies, as well as those of related fields like biodiversity conservation and disaster risk reduction and management have focused much on the destruction brought about

by the changing weather phenomena on economic and public infrastructure, the underlying motivation according to UP College of Social Work and Community Development (CSWCD) Instructor Romano Antonio V. Wamil is still the preservation of life.

Adding to what Wamil stressed, CSWCD Assistant Professor Lenore De la Cruz said communities should do away with the attitude of acting only after a disaster has struck. She said that while it takes generations before a cultural practice gets erased from the consciousness of a community, in recent years the impact of climate change has affected how communities perceive climate change and DRRM programs.

Summing up what Wamil and De la Cruz said, CSWCD Professor Elmer Ferrer said DRRM programs as well as climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies can only be successful if there is also a corresponding change in lifestyle among the people in a community.

It is through lifestyle change that the efforts of public servants like Mayors Alvarez and Coro; and environment officers like Echanes and Barquilla are deemed essential. Much remains to be seen though as the efforts are still in their early stages. But it will be the commitment of these officials in preparing their communities for climate change which will determine how either San Vicente or Del Carmen will be able to adapt to the rapidly-changing climatic environment.

The efforts undertaken by both towns in cooperation with the CCC and GIZ have been exemplary, resulting in both towns’ earning the appellation eco-town or model towns from which other municipalities and cities can take inspiration in their climate change

strategies. It is hoped that the examples of San Vicente and Del Carmen will be replicated by other towns and cities all over the country.

Though differing in terms of social, geographic and economic challenges, the people of San Vicente and Del Carmen are united in being able to adapt to and mitigate the effects of climate change.

--------------Email the authors at forum@upd.edu.ph.

NOTES:

1 Brief account of the Municipality of San Vicente.

Retrieved July 24, 2013 from http://www. sanvicentepalawan.com.ph/modules/news/ index.php?storytopic=2 2 The Mangroves of Del Carmen. Retrieved July 24, 2013 from http://www.delcarmen.gov.ph/ mangroves-of-delcarmen/

Photo from the UP SIO

extreme weather and sea level rise, provide breeding grounds for fish and capture carbon dioxide in the atmosphere to slow climate change,” according to Julia Marton-Lefevre, head of the International Union for Conservation for Nature (IUCN), at the recent World Conservation Congress in South Korea.

During this year’s town fiesta, Del Carmen celebrated with the theme “Kabakhawan at Kalusugan Pag-ingatan para sa Ika-uunlad ng ating Bayan” (Mangroves and Health: Caring for the Keys to our Town’s Progress) to remind its people of the blessings and importance of their mangrove forests.

As a fifth-class municipality, Del Carmen has a long way to go to meet its key infrastructure requirements. But together with the eight other towns in Siargao Island, they also recognize their small size and have agreed to build only one domestic airport, one university, and one sanitary landfill in the island.

They are well aware of their carrying capacity and do not aspire to become like Makati City or the next Boracay.

They know that they are distinct; they are Siargao.

The island of Siargao is currently connected to the National Grid powered mainly by Hydropower. The maintenance of the submarine cable to deliver energy to the island is very costly. Other small islands are not even connected to the main grid. As a result, the local government is looking for new energy sources to reduce their dependency on external energy sources. Currently, they are piloting solar energy in off grid areas, reviewing biomass as a source and gathering data to look into the feasibility of utilizing wind energy.

Siargao Island has a Type II climate, which, according to Pagasa, has no dry season with a very pronounced maximum rain period from December to February. There is not a single dry month in Siargao and they are taking advantage of this by installing traditional rain harvesting technologies—one for washing and one for drinking. This also tries to address the island’s limited water source.

Traveling within the island is not cheap. Diesel fuel is more expensive in Siargao Island, roughly twice the price of fuel in Manila. During the monsoon season, they have no fuel delivery. But it is not practical to have a fuel depot because of their low consumption. The local government tried to reduce their dependency on fuel in the transport sector by introducing “e-Trikes” or electricpowered tricycles. Their performance is now being tested given the island’s terrain and for people’s acceptance and how it supports their economic activities. Concurrently, the use of bicycles for short trips is highly encouraged.

These are some of the characteristics and efforts of Del Carmen that make it an eco-town—a planning unit that pursues green and climate-smart developments. It is a town that ensures the enhanced adaptive capacity of communities, resilience of natural ecosystems, and sustainability of built environment to climate change. The “eco” in the eco-town framework not only means becoming ecologically stable but also economically resilient.

Del Carmen is home to the largest contiguous mangrove forest in the Philippines.

This single forest block is the habitat of rare and endangered species of flora and fauna, such as the crocodylus porosus.

UP FORUM Volume 14 No. 3 May-June 2013 17

Switch

Reconsidering Renewable Energy Arbeen Acuña

G

ravely disappointed” with Benigno Aquino III’s echoing of “antiquated arguments that the coal industry uses to slam renewable energy (RE),” Greenpeace has urged the president to “change his tune, ditch his outdated fossil fuel playbook.”1 During his State of the Nation Address, Aquino said that REs are “more expensive—from the cost of building the plants to the eventual price of energy.”2 According to the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) desk study “RE in the Philippines: Costly or Competitive,” fossil fuels cost more compared with RE in terms of its impact on health and the environment.

Less expensive than fossil fuels, “some RE technologies like hydro and geothermal” are already broadly competitive. But “strong political commitment and policy support mechanisms” may prevent the use of “other RE resources [that] still encounter economic barriers.”

in the electric industry,” regulates rates and services. Moreover, “the electricity unbundling,” a reform EPIRA introduced, aims “to make the customers of distribution utilities (DUs) understand how much they would be paying for generation, transmission, distribution and other benefits or charges.”

However, according to IBON Foundation’s assessment5 of EPIRA, EPIRA “has allowed for the deregulation of electricity prices” and ERC “has been reduced to a mere approving agency for electricity rates.” After EPIRA, a select few powerful companies and families,

benefit from RE technologies not just as austerity measures, but also as good public relations,9 in line with the socalled “corporate social responsibility.”

Larona added that “before DOE gives final approval for an RE project to be ready for commercial development, the developer has to secure permits/ approval from host communities” like “environmental compliance certificates and for projects located in indigenous people’s (IP) areas, a Free and Prior Inform Consent (FPIC).” Recently, the DOE issued “guidelines in the selection and awarding of certificates.”10 Track

“drafting a ‘Sustainable Energy Roadmap’ designed to shift the country’s fuel system and increase RE by 100-percent capacity in response” to the government’s “2011 National Renewable Energy Program” meant “to encourage low-carbon development.”12 This ‘sustainability’ effort is reminiscent of Rio + 20 Conference where the world’s advanced capitalist nations, according to Kalikasan People’s Network for the Environment’s (PNE) National Coordinator Clemente Bautista, try “to save face after 20 years of global ecological destruction and socio-economic cri-

most “believed to be close business allies of past and current administrations,” monopolize the power industry. Thus EPIRA “articulated how the government will rely primarily on the profit-seeking private sector, including foreign investors, for the country’s electricity needs.”

The National Power Corporation (NPC) “owned or controlled some 90 percent of the country’s generating capacity before privatization.” ALECO in Albay is about to suffer the same fate.6 Let us reconsider the implications of GIZ’s claim that REs “already dominate investments in the electricity sector.”

According to Larona, any “RE resource that will be developed will be first enjoyed by the Filipinos because it will be fed through our grid or, in case of solar roof-top installations, will be used directly by the homeowner.

The RE development companies are also required to be 60 percent owned

by Filipinos.” With the RE Act that “aims to accelerate the exploration and development of the country’s RE resources by providing fiscal and non-fiscal incentives to private sector investors and equipment manufacturers/suppliers” (Larona 2013), shifting from “dirty” to “clean” energy appears to primarily benefit profit-motivated developers, enjoying an initial seven-year income tax holiday and duty-free importation of machinery, among other rewards.

By providing green jobs7 with the Department of Energy (DOE) formulating guidelines as regards job safety,8 RE developers shall also relish good publicity; while other industries going “green” will also

records show that aforesaid permits seemingly legalize multinational mining companies’ environmental plunder and IP displacement;11 the potency of applying supposed checks-and-balances to RE development remains to be seen.

Shifting to RE reduces import-dependence and increases self-sufficiency, which “will not totally substitute imported coal and oil—especially for transport—but will contribute to energy security—the country will be less affected by world events e.g. trouble in middle east which can result in spike in oil price and constricted supply),” according to Larona. He added that “the country has very limited oil, gas and coal resources, but we have relatively good RE potential which should be developed.” But it must be noted that the Oil Deregulation Law gives oil cartels limitless “democracy” to rationalize price hikes,” in the same way that the Mining Act, EPIRA and RE Act, in effect, tolerate monopolies of respective industries they “regulate.” Also, IBON held the view regarding our country’s RE potentials, but noted that we have “an estimated 138 million barrels in proven oil reserves and 3.48 trillion cubic feet of natural gas reserves.”

Thus, the crisis of skyrocketing prices of energy, whether “clean” or “dirty,” apparently lies in ownership and control of the power industry—the conflicting interests between public service and corporate profit.

sis under the banner of sustainable development.”13 The push for ‘green economy’ puts “a price on ecological services, resources and knowledge—paving the road for the financialization of nature,” said Kalikasan party-list Secretary-General Frances Quimpo. The shift to ‘clean energy’ is part of what Quimpo called “green-washing on a global scale,” with the World Bank (WB) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) managing the finances.14 Moreover, “in the ensuing decade,” WB that ironically “monitors global environmental measures” also “invested more than fifteen times as much in fossil-fuel projects” as in RE.15 British Petroleum employed the same strategy of salvaging its public image by shifting to solar, after breaking “ranks with the oil industrial complex in 1997 declaring that man-made climate change was indeed a threat.”16 Having “diluted the whole progressive concept of sustainable development,” greening of economy poses two problems, according to IBON: (1) aiming “for growth rather than social welfare and people’s needs;” and (2) ignoring “the current consumption pattern as a subset of the current growth pattern.” This, in effect implies that “the goal of [this] growth will eventually only require more resources, more sinks, more waste,” contrary to the supposed function of economy “to fulfill human needs and to advance human well-being.”17 According to Prof. Lenore dela Cruz of the UP College of Social Work and Community Development (CSWCD), continued on page 19

RE-charged Policies Among the policies that have UPCSWCD professors and members of the CSWCD DRRM Research Cluster (from left to right): Romano Antonio Wamil, Lenore De la Cruz, and Elmer Ferrer.

paved the way for RE are the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA)3 of 2001 and, the RE Act4 of 2008. In an interview with UP Forum, Ferdinand Larona, GIZ senior adviser for RE, said that EPIRA’s goal is “to ensure energy supply security and provide reasonable power rates to both the investors in the power industry and the electricity consumers.” According to Larona, the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC), “a purely independent body performing the combined quasi-judicial, quasilegislative and administrative functions

RE in GREEN Commissioner Heherson T. Alvarez of the Climate Change Commission (CCC) said that the Aquino-led CCC is

18 UP FORUM Volume 14 No. 3 May-June 2013 de Acuña

Artwork by Til

Making the change to s ave t h e planet neta

illo Lla Celeste Ann Cast

dir, it is practically tra ste sa di a of e ak w In the for the devto pass the blame tion for the public the personal ten downplayed is astation. What is of stitutions— e smallest social in element. Yet it is th al—that mily and individu the community, fa country le in enabling the play the greatest ro at e weather events th to face the extrem . the norm have now become able Change is inevit and our ographic location Because of our ge ost if not weather events, m e m tre ex to ty ili the efvulnerab ng steps to adapt to ki ta y ad re al e ar all Filipinos m. global climate syste fects of a changing to climate change se on sp ges as a re an ch le ty es lif k in “I th id Lenore P. De active or both,” sa re or e at er lib de cial Work and can be e UP College of So th at r so es of pr , la Cruz opment. ay or Community Devel ple, farmers who m am ex r fo s, ea ar l In rura imate change of the concept of cl may not be aware s in temperancing the increase are directly experie ods, and are ng droughts or flo ture and the resulti shared how ingly. De la Cruz rd co ac g tin ap ad fore dawn thus to wake up well be ed us o na da in M in the rising farmers . Now, because of on no til un s ld fie r am, to work thei work until 9 or 10 to le ab ly on e ar s heat, the farmer er. wake up even earli requiring them to liberate nor made de er ere neith “These changes w

because of climate change. It is something the farmers just learned to do.

They simply adapted to this phenomenon we call climate change.”

Lifestyle changes that are made as unplanned adaptive reactions to new experiences happen all the time, though they usually happen at a glacial pace, especially for changes that run counter to cultural beliefs and practices. However, climate change and its manifestations may just be what we need to speed things up.

“From these experiences, the knowledge will follow. It’s said that there is a delay between experience and learning, that it takes several generations for learning to happen and to conform with policies,” said De la Cruz.

Unfortunately, the planet cannot afford to wait that long.

“That is what we can thank disasters for,” De la Cruz added with a smile.

With disasters hurrying us on, learning new knowledge and practices takes place at a faster rate.

Common but differentiated responsibility When it comes to making lifestyle changes in light of climate change, class distinctions do matter.

“The lifestyle that we’re actually trying to appeal to would be the lifestyle of those in the middle and upper classes,” said Sec. Mary Ann Lucille Sering, vice-chairperson of the Philippine Climate Change Commission. “They are smaller in number, but their consumption is greater.”

De la Cruz agrees. “The urban areas are more wasteful compared to [the rural areas]. And if you ask if this question has a class character, then yes, definitely, because whose lifestyle is more wasteful?”

In terms of carbon-footprint sizes, the urban and rural poor cannot compare with the middle and upper classes.

“The lifestyle of the urban poor, even the marginalized poor in the rural areas, is already efficient as it is,” said Sering. “The poor, for example, do a lot of recycling. Even before the 3Rs (reduce, reuse, recycle) were trending, they were already doing a lot of that out of necessity, because of poverty.”

When assigning accountability among the socio-economic classes, Romano Antonio Wamil of the UPCSWCD cited the principle of “common but differentiated responsibility,” the principle that informs the Kyoto Protocol. Scaling down to the level of society, the principle still holds.

“The question is the same: Why would you hold those whose consumption is lesser to the same level of responsibility and accountability as those whose consumption is greater and thus produces more waste?” said Wamil. The urban and rural poor have fewer choices when it comes to consumption. Under this principle then, the middle and the upper classes, who have a wider range of consumption choices, must shoulder a greater degree of responsibility for helping the planet.

Education may indeed play a part in making an individual more aware of his/ her choices, but only to a certain point.

“For people who have options, you need education to transform individual decisions and values,” said De la Cruz.

“We’ve become so used to [choosing] whatever is convenient and efficient.

But again, not all people make choices based on these criteria alone. While it is true that through education, we’ll be able to make an informed decision, for many people, given the disparities in society between the poor and the welloff, this isn’t enough, because their own options are even more limited to what they can afford economically.”

Wamil also mentioned the need to question the kind of socio-economic system that encourages or even necessitates the production of more wastegenerating products.

“You can look at it from the production-consumption dimension. If we really want to cut down on our consumption and simplify our lives, would we still produce these goods that later turn into more waste? If there is an over-production of a certain product, this encourages a certain consciousness among the people—that if it’s okay to over-produce, then it’s okay to over-consume. And these consumed products will then turn to waste.”

Ultimately, to get people to change their behavior, they must be presented with better alternatives. This goes for all socio-economic classes.

“Some say that it’s hard to do lifestyle changes,” Sering said. “How can you ask someone who’s used to using an air-conditioner 24 hours a day to switch to an electric fan just to save the planet?”

However, such a switch is achievable, even for people entrenched in the “convenient and efficient” lifestyle.

“What’s the difference between awareness and consciousness? For me, the difference is that awareness is more passive, while consciousness entails action. This is what we want—for people to be conscious of how they can help the planet individually. Even if it is a small thing, it actually contributes to the greater whole.”

The fruits of disaster Clearly, the gap between passive awareness and proactive consciousness must be addressed.

However, there have been improvements at the individual, community and local government levels, as people’s awareness of climate change's impact slowly but surely transforms into a will to change.

“They say Ondoy was the best teacher of waste management and disaster preparedness,” said UPCSWCD Professor Elmer Ferrer, who, together with De la Cruz and Wamil are part of the college’s Disaster Risk and Reduction Management Research Cluster. As an example, a community that suffered great losses from Typhoon Ondoy has now put into place an effective system for coping with disasters, including a river waterlevel monitoring system consisting of lines drawn on the bridge support, a system of warning sirens, pre-assigned evacuation centers and rescue teams with trained personnel.

For her part, Sering cited the ban on retail plastic bags enforced by many cities in the NCR as an example of positive changes at the level of local government, while Albay, under the leadership of Governor Joey Salceda, takes pride in its provincial disaster risk reduction program.

As for the academe, she noted the efforts of Xavier University – Ateneo de Cagayan in Cagayan de Oro City to set continued on page 19

UP FORUM Volume 14 No. 3 May-June 2013 19

MAKING THE CHANGE... continued from page 18

THE CASE OF DENGUE AND MALARIA... continued from page 20

up a Relief Center for the many victims of Typhoon Sendong.

Wamil also credited climate change for triggering an observable change in the production of knowledge within universities, leading to more multidisciplinal research initiatives.

“For example, in UP, opportunities for collaborative thinking and knowledge production on climate change and disasters really opened up, creating more opportunities for social scientists and natural scientists to collaborate on research undertakings...and how they can publicize the scientific information and transmit it to the communities.”

On the level of the personal, De la Cruz mentioned the practice of waste segregation, with more and more people giving conscious thought to sorting their waste as recyclable, non-recyclable and reusable.

“While the question of making lifestyle changes appears to default to the personal level, lifestyle changes should be addressed at the societal level as well,” said Ferrer.

De la Cruz agreed. “It’s a combination of structures. The individual practices have to be supported by enabling political structures. You have to have a working government that provides the essential services that you need.”

munities while the 12 other patients came from outside Los Baños. There has not yet been any reported case as of July 2013.

Laying the foundation According to Sering, the CCC is undertaking a massive, multimedia information and education campaign, and is working with the Department of Education on a youth empowerment campaign called the Greeneration.

The CCC has also entered into collaborative agreements with universities such as UP to tap into the wealth of research generated by these universities.

“The government should do its part in enabling an environment of change. The community must be aware and be conscious, so that you demand [services] from the government. And then maybe the media can also help in laymanizing some of the terms so that they are best understood. There should be a concerted effort,” said Sering.

For Ferrer, De la Cruz and Wamil, deciding what lifestyle changes to make stems from our concepts of life, death and what makes a full life. It comes with deciding what ultimately matters.

“We need to reflect on these concepts, because [when it comes to making] lifestyle changes, we need to talk about where we are going,” said Ferrer. “The experience of the world says that we are all inter-dependent, and this interdependence was well-demonstrated during Ondoy. The reason people were saved during Ondoy was that they in turn saved their fellow human beings.

They recognized that their salvation is your salvation is your neighbor’s salvation. Our discussion on lifestyle changes must hinge on this thought.”

-------------------Email the author at forum@upd.edu.ph.

UP Baguio The UP Baguio Health Service Office headed by Dr. Linda P. Macalalag gathered recent data from the Baguio Health Department showing a total of 489 dengue cases in 2011. An increase in number was seen for 2012 with 521 cases. As for UP Baguio Health Service, Dr. Macalalag said that there was no reported case or admission of dengue H-Fever in 2011, while in 2012, there was only one documented case in January and none thereafter.

-------------------Email the author at forum@upd.edu.ph

POWER SWITCH... continued from page 17 shifting to RE is a question of scale during the advent of large-scale globalization, when the belief that ‘the bigger the scale, the more efficient’ is not always the case. She posed the question that if we opt to “think globally, act and operate locally,” on what scale are we willing to operate, with regard to RE? CSWCD Prof. Elmer Ferrer added that between big-scale projects and the ones at the human-level scale, breakdowns in the former are more difficult to control. Solar energy, for instance, may be used for small machines like radios to reduce consumerism; while community-based RE systems, added CSWCD Prof. Romano Wamil, may be used by off-grid communities for purposes that they themselves determine.

Wamil said that IPs utilize RE for lighting up the community and for post-harvest activities—and not for watching TV or for surfing the internet. Decentralized RE systems work well, but massive ones pose dangers. For example, once a commercial tidal plant in Occidental Mindoro operates to supply power to MIMAROPA, the micro-system of energy generation in Mindoro will be disrupted. Moreover, a significant portion of shares in commercial power plants are owned by foreign investors—such is the case in mining, and other major industries. Dela Cruz said that local investors shall be tapped so that they may be held responsible, unlike foreign companies who may withdraw stocks and run off, once problems arise.

Aquino may be correct in saying that RE “cannot provide the base load—the capacity required to make sure brownouts do not occur.”18 According to Richard Smith, scientists skeptic about RE’s base load potential “have called for a radical shift to nuclear power as the only way to get 24/7 power in the near future.” Due to health hazards among many other risks, going nuclear shall not be an option to solve the overproduction problem that in turn demands more energy generation. Smith suggests moderation, i.e. imposing “non-market limits on electricity production and consumption, enforce radical conservation, rationing, and stop making all the unnecessary gadgets that demand endless supplies of power.”19 Simply put, Gandhi advises living “simply so others may simply live.”

-------------------Email the author at forum@upd.edu.ph NOTES: 1 Greenpeace Philippines. (2013, July 23). Greenpeace statement on the 2013 State of the Nation Address of President Benigno Aquino III. Retrieved from http://www.greenpeace.org/seasia/ ph/press/releases/On-the-2013-State-of-the-Nation-Address-of-President-Benigno-Aquino-III/ 2 State of the Nation Address of Benigno S. Aquino III. (2013, July). Official Gazette. Retrieved from http://www.gov.ph/2013/07/22/english-benigno-s-aquino-iii-fourth-state-of-the-nation-addressjuly-22-2013/ 3 National Economic Development Authority. (n.d.) RA No. 9136 (EPIRA). Retrieved from http://www.neda.gov.ph/references/Ras/RA9136.pdf 4 Department of Energy. (n.d.). Renewable energy act. Retrieved from http://www.doe.gov.ph/doe_files/pdf/Researchers_Downloable_Files/EnergyPresentation/renewable_energy_act.pdf 5 IBON Foundation. (2011, June 8). EPIRA: Failed promise of affordable electricity. Retrieved from http://ibon.org/ibon_features.php?id=150 6 Ugalde, Manly M. (2013, July 30). Aleco finally disconnected. Business Mirror. Retrieved from http://www.businessmirror.com.ph/index.php/en/news/regions/17193-aleco-finally-disconnected 7 Abad, Anna. (2013, June 29). Jobs from renewable energy. Philippine Daily Inquirer. Retrieved from http://opinion.inquirer.net/55533/jobs-from-renewable-energy8 http://www.doe.gov.ph/ issuances/department-circular/1686-dc2012-11-0009 9 Wallis, Victor. (2011, April 23). Beyond "green capitalism". KASAMA Project. Retrieved from http://kasamaproject.org/en/environment/3191-23earth-day-to-may-day-beyond-green-capitalism 10 Remo, Amy R. (2013, June 3). Rules on renewable energy projects selection OKd. Philippine Daily Inquirer. Retrieved from http://business.inquirer.net/124961/rules-on-renewable-energyprojects-selection-okd 11 Peta, Donna Rabang. (2012, March 20). Mining confab declares: “Philippines is not for sale”. Bulatlat. Retrieved from http://bulatlat.com/main/2012/03/20/57612/ 12 Ugalde, Manly M. (2013, July 31). Albay power restored after Aleco pays part of P67-million bill. Business Mirror. Retrieved from http://www.businessmirror.com.ph/index.php/en/news/ regions/17251-albay-power-restored-after-aleco-pays-part-of-p67-million-bill 13 KALIKASAN People's Network for the Environment. (2012, June 20). At the Global Day of Action on Rio+20: People and planet over profits, not public-private plunder! Retrieved from ttp:// www.kalikasan.net/press-release/2012/06/20/global-day-action-rio20-people-and-planet-over-profits-not-public-private 14 Silverio, Ina Alleco R. (2012, June 21). ‘Greening’ of economy, a business ploy. Bulatlat. Retrieved from http://bulatlat.com/main/2012/06/21/greening-of-economy-a-business-ploy/ 15 Wallis, Victor. (2011, April 23). Beyond "green capitalism". KASAMA Project. Retrieved from http://kasamaproject.org/en/environment/3191-23earth-day-to-may-day-beyond-greencapitalism 16 Smith, Richard. (2011, March 11). Green capitalism: the god that failed. Real World Economics Review. Retrieved from http://paecon.net/PAEReview/issue56/Smith56.pdf 17 Guzman, Rosario Bella. (2012, June). Green economy and the road to Rio. IBON Foundation. Retrieved from http://www.ibon.org/ibon_features.php?id=237 18 State of the NationAddress of Benigno S.Aquino III. (2013, July). Official Gazette. Retrieved from http://www.gov.ph/2013/07/22/english-benigno-s-aquino-iii-fourth-state-of-the-nation-addressjuly-22-2013/ 19 Smith, Richard. (2011, March 11). Green capitalism: the god that failed. Real World Economics Review. Retrieved from http://paecon.net/PAEReview/issue56/Smith56.pdf

ERRATUM In the article by Sen. Antonio "Sonny" Trillanes IV, which appeared on page 3 of the UP Forum March-April 2013 issue on Philippine territory, the first sentence of the fourth paragraph should read: "For now, I think we should defer to the wisdom of the Administration for choosing the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) as the avenue for presenting its case as regards the West Philippine Sea."

R

Available at UP Forum Online (www.up.edu.ph) What do Filipino farmers and fisherfolk do to adapt to or mitigate the effects of climate change? What is UP doing to help promote a culture of climate change and environmental awareness among our farmers and fisherfolk?

UP Los Baños College of Agriculture dean Dr. Domingo Angeles and Dr. Nestor Garcia, and UP Visayas Institute of Fisheries Policy and Development Studies professor Dr. Merlina N. Andalecio, discuss how Filipino farmers and fisherfolk deal with climate change, and what the UPCA and the UP College of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences are doing to help them.

The UP FORUM Dr. Clarita R. Carlos UP College of Social Sciences and Philosophy Dr. Edna A. Co UP National College of Public Administration and Governance Dr. Emil Q. Javier UP President (1993-1999)

BOARD OF ADVISERS Dr. Orlando S. Mercado UP National College of Public Administration and Governance Dr. Jaime Galvez-Tan UP College of Medicine Sec. Oscar G. Yabes Senate of the Philippines

Prof. Luis V. Teodoro UP College of Mass Communication Dr. Dante M. Velasco UP College of Mass Communication Sec. Gen. Marilyn B. Barua-Yap House of Representatives

J. Prospero E. De Vera III Editor-in-Chief Frances Fatima M. Cabana Editor Flora B. Cabangis Managing Editor Luis V. Teodoro Copy Editor

Arbeen R. Acuña Frances Fatima M. Cabana Stephanie S. Cabigao Fred E. Dabu Andre P. Encarnacion Celeste Ann Castillo Llaneta KIM G. Quilinguing Writers

Arbeen R. Acuña Graphic Artist Celeste Ann Castillo Llaneta Layout Artist KIM G. Quilinguing Webmaster: Forum Online Sol R. Barcebal Researcher

Bong Q. Arboleda Misael A. Bacani Jun M. Madrid Photographers Cristy M. Salvador Obet G. Eugenio Alice B. Abear Tom M. Maglaya Victor D. Imbuido Administrative Staff

U P S ystem Inform ati on Of fice  M ez z anine F lo o r, Qu e z on H a l l , U P D i l i m an, Q ue z on C i ty  Te l e fa x 9 2 6 - 1 57 2 , tru nk line 9 81-85 0 0 lo c . 2 5 5 2 , 25 49 , e-mail: fo r um@up.edu.ph

THEUP UP FORUM 20 FORUM Volume 14 No. 3 May-June 2013 University of the Philippines Diliman, Quezon City, Philippines, 1101

APPROVED PERMIT NUMBER/INDICIA Business Mail Permit No. 2ND-07-010-NCR Entered as Second class mail at the U.P.P.O. Valid until June 30, 2013 Subject to Postal Inspection (for printed matter only)

Health Impacts of Climate Change

The Case of Dengue and Malaria Stephanie S. Cabigao

F

Artwork by Tilde Acuña

ocusing on the health impacts brought about by climate change, an interview with the ‘mosquito expert’, entomologist and public health professor Dr. Lilian A. De Las Llagas highlights the fact that vector-borne diseases are the most important public health problems confronting the nation today. These mosquitoborne diseases, particularly dengue and malaria, are the major health problems of the country and other tropical regions of the world.

To better understand the current sensitivity and vulnerability of human health to these diseases, De Las Llagas referred to the spectrum of A.J. Michael’s Global Environmental Change and Human Population Health (1993).

De Las Llagas said environmental problems reflect the systemic overloading that the earth system can no longer carry, and which emanates fon exploitative industrial practices and land exhausting Dr. Lilian A. De Las Llagas agriculture, among others.

“Climate change will influence the distribution and endemicity of these two diseases,” said De Las Llagas, empirical data one can preadding that “these two mosquito-borne dict that in localities where diseases (MBD) are directly influenced the fluctuation is happening; by climate. Malaria and dengue are seaan increase or decrease in sonal in nature; thus, there are high and these climatological readlow peaks in their transmission. ings will directly affect “Climate affects two major types of the mosquitoes’ biological biological relationships in malaria and activities such as developdengue transmission. The mosquito and mental growth, emergence, the infectious agent, as well as humans mating, laying eggs and and the infectious agent are the two biting humans. systems that are linked together in a “One locality that has circuitous manner. been previously experienc“Humans create the best environment ing a cooler climate might for mosquito breeding, and the mosquibe susceptible to disease to (infected and non-infected) requires transmissions. Malaria- free humans to propagate its species. When areas might experience rethese two relationships are at an equitransmission. Dengue might librium, disease transmission follows. be explosive as a result of Equilibrium is achieved if the climatocrowding and defective walogical factors of rainfall, temperature ter system, thus enhancing and relative humidity are optimum for breeding.” a stable level of mosquito density and In terms of adaptation and disease transmission.” mitigation, Public Health To illustrate this, De Las Llagas professor De Las Llagas recommended pointed out that “mosquito population anticipatory care as the best modality, growth is at its highest, when relative as well as the mitigation of risks and humidity is between 80-84 percent; the proper and timely health promotion temperature is 27 to 29oC; and rainfall practices. A forecasting model of disis not less than 5mm/day. With these ease prevention and promoting appro-

priate health policies should also be in place.

The UP Dengue Mosquito Group which integrates the efforts of UP campuses in Manila, Diliman and Los Baños will disseminate a predictive-dengue transmission model. Forecasting dengue transmission is essential in preparing communities against these types of communicable diseases through sustained community engagements in cooperation with local government units.

In a conversation with the UP Forum, Dr. Hilton Lam of the UP College of Medicine–Manila, the former executive director of the UP-NIH Institute of Health Policy and Development Studies, acknowledged that the UP-NIH is now re-defining its health research agenda given

the immediate needs of the Filipinos aligned with global imperatives, which may be useful for local government units and other government agencies.

In making policies adaptive to climate change, the government can re-visit the

Philippine health situation in the context of climate change. Questions about dengue and malaria can be answered by, among others, the available national figures that can be used as bases for the efforts to assess the country’s place in the global community.

Dengue Cases in the UP System Students, faculty, staff and individuals residing within and around UP are not immune to dengue. There have been reported cases of dengue H-Fever admitted to the various UP Health Service (UPHS) units.

UP Diliman According to Dr. Jesusa T. Catabui, head of the Public Health Unit and acting-director of the UP Health Service in UP Diliman, Quezon City is one of the largest areas in the National Capital Region with a high incidence of dengue H-Fever and a population of dengue mosquitoes.

A report by Dr. Catabui shows that there were about 33 confirmed cases of dengue H-Fever admitted from June to August 2012. According to Catabui, 14 of these patients, or 42 percent, were eventually transferred to tertiary care hospitals since the UPHS in Diliman is only a 50-bed primary hospital capable of handling simple, uncomplicated and stable medical conditions.

Also, 11 out of the 33 cases came from nearby communities such as Culiat, Old Balara, Cainta, Batasan Hills, Ateneo Campus, Loyola Heights, Libis, Xavierville, Teachers’ Village and UP Village.

UP Los Baños According to Marilyn M. Palma-Reano, M.D., M.P.H., Director of UHS-UPLB, a number of suspected dengue cases this year was admitted at the University Health Service in UPLB. From her latest report, the number of probable dengue H-Fever patients in Los Baños reached a total of 138 from January to June of 2012, 25 of which were admitted at the UPLB Health Service.

They came not only from UPLB but also from nearby and surrounding comcontinued on page 19