The process of Nominations for membership in the Climate Change Commission’s National Panel of Technical Experts is now open. The Climate Change Commission formally invites government agencies and offices and other relevant stakeholders to nominate professionals on each of the following fields of expertise : a. Climate investment and finance - covers expertise on financial risk analysis and climate risk investment; economic modelling of climate change impacts; economic analyses of regulatory climate change-related policy instruments b. Sustainable energy - covers expertise on how climate intersects with energy industry in terms of energy regulation, efficiency, and sustainability c. Civil or environmental engineering - covers expertise on any of the impacts of climate change; resilience for climate adaptation; hydrologic modeling and dynamic simulation; coastal processes and engineering; remote sensing of the environment; advanced water treatment processes; industrial ecology and techno-economic assessment; resource recovery; development of environmental remediation techniques; or sensing of pollutants in the environment d. Climate policy and environmental law - covers expertise on laws, regulations, agreements, and common law that governs management of natural resources, protection of the environment, and regulation of climate change impacts Potential candidates for the Panel must be nominated by an academic or research institution, government agency, civil society group or private organization duly registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission and should meet the minimum requirements as follows: a. Filipino Citizen b. Has a proven credible track record in his/her field of expertise, preferably with at least ten (10) years of experience in his/her field of expertise c. Has consistently supported the development of his/her field of expertise in the country d. Preferably has an advanced relevant university degree e. Preferably has relevant peer-reviewed research publications in the last 10 years The recruitment and selection of members of the NPTE are carried out with the utmost professional and ethical standards observed by the Climate Change Commission. Moreover, the evaluation process and results prior to the appointment of selected members are considered confidential. The Commission welcomes your nominations and extends its warmest regards for your continued support towards promoting urgent action in the face of climate emergency. Deadline for submission of nomination letters is on 16 October 2019. Please contact the NPTE Secretariat at (02) 364-1204 or send an email to npte.secretariat@gmail.com for further inquiries.
PANDAN, ANTIQUE September 11, 2019—Northern Panay will the first region in the Philippines to benefit from a climate knowledge-sharing, support and advocacy consortium of national government agencies, local government units (LGUs), and higher education institutions (HEIs). The Northern Panay Climate Change Consortium (NPCCC) was officially launched at the end of the five-day Climate Resilience Field School Capacity Building Training for the Province of Antique conducted in the Municipality of Pandan. “Risk assessment is fundamental in coming up with a science and risk-based local climate change action plan and other local plans. The event today is symbolic, because we are collaborating with national government agencies and the academe to really serve the LGUs and the local communities who are actually in the frontline of climate change impacts,” CCC Secretary Emmanuel De Guzman during the launch. The CCC facilitated the establishment of the NPCCC to further strengthen the cooperation between national and local governments and the science and academic community on mainstreaming climate change adaptation and mitigation in local development planning in the Northern Panay Region. The NPCCC will model the way for the formation of more regional multi-stakeholder partnerships that will accelerate the delivery of capacity building and technical assistance to LGUs, the private business sector, and other entities in key vulnerable areas in the country. Members of the NPCCC agreed that bringing climate science closer to communities to inform their policies drives relevant and tangible actions, both at the national and grassroots level. “Coming-up with a risk-based and evidence-based assessment entails strong commitment from the partners, and the LGUs as beneficiaries of the intervention to gather numerous data development of vulnerability and risk maps and analyzing the assessment result to properly allocate their very limited financial resources to programs and projects that would directly or indirectly respond to or mitigate climate change and its impacts,” Engr. Carmelo Orbista, Regional Director of Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) Region VI, said. “We hope to expand the DILG’s partnership to other HEIs and SUCs in the region given their expertise in sciences and research,” he added. “The role of HEIs is to prepare the society to adapt to the impacts of climate disruptions through our research and education on adaptation strategies. Higher education should also take the leadership role in climate mitigation and adaptations. HEIs should make the fundamental contributions to climate adaptation efforts by identifying the most pressing climate impacts related to specific communities, especially in relation to the most vulnerable populations in our society,” said Dr. Anna Mae Relingo, Vice President for Academic Affairs of the Aklan State University. The NPCCC is composed of the CCC, DILG Region VI, Commission on Higher Education Region VI, Department of Education Region VI, Ms. Remelyn Recoter, Department of Agriculture Region VI, Northwestern Visayan Colleges, Aklan State University, and University of Antique.
MANILA CITY, 9 September 2019 – Miss Earth 2017 Karen Santos Ibasco officially joins the first ever United Nations Youth Climate Summit in New York City happening on September 21. The historic event will gather 500 young climate action leaders from countries all over the globe to showcase their unique climate solutions at the UN, and have a dialogue with decision and policy makers on climate change. This will be the largest gathering of young climate leaders at the UN in history. Selected participants to this event demonstrated their firm commitment to address the climate crisis and displayed leadership and initiative in advancing solutions towards development. “Youths play a crucial role in addressing climate change. We are the voice of this generation in spreading awareness on the importance of preserving and cultivating what is left of the planet. We are the ones who will experience its irreversible impacts if the world will not act sooner. The invitation to the upcoming UN Summit came as an honor and opportunity for me to raise the voice and empower more youths as we continue to call for action,” Ibasco said. The Youth Climate Summit will feature a full-day of programming that brings together young activists, innovators, entrepreneurs, and change-makers who are committed to combating climate change at the pace and scale needed to meet the challenge. It will be action oriented, intergenerational, and inclusive, with equal representation of young leaders from all walks of life. Ibasco is a physicist and a known active environment advocate before she won the prestigious Miss Earth title in 2017. She recently joined the Climate Change Commission as its Youth Ambassador for Climate Action and advocates the promotion of energy conservation and utilization of renewable energy across the country which shall further contribute to the global call to limit the global average temperature to 1.5 degrees Celsius. “With her background and innate passion for change, we are optimistic that she will be able to encourage more young people to do more and to do better in our fight against the enormous challenge of climate change,” CCC Secretary Emmanuel De Guzman said.
PANDAN, ANTIQUE September 6, 2019 – Local government units (LGUs) in Antique received a comprehensive training on localizing climate information systems and managing Climate Resiliency Field Schools (CRFS) which could help farmers bolster the resilience of their livelihood. Organized by the Climate Change Commission (CCC) and the Rice Watch Action Network Inc. (R1), in collaboration with the Office of Deputy Speaker Loren Legarda, the five-day CRFS Capacity Building Training for the Province of Antique happened in the Municipality of Pandan. The CRFS Training is designed to capacitate municipal agricultural officers in the province to establish climate field schools for farmers in their respective municipalities. Towards the end of the workshop, participants are expected to submit their re-entry and commitment plan to implement CRFS. This will enable the CCC to monitor and assess the effectiveness and impact of the training to the participants Recognizing the important role of climate and weather information systems in helping farmers adapt to climate shifts and extreme weather events, the training will also orient the participants on the Localized Climate Information Systems for Agriculture and Fisheries. On the final day of the training, the CCC will formally launch the Northern Panay Consortium—a conglomerate of agencies and higher education institutions which aims to provide technical assistance for the enhancement of Local Climate Change Action Plans of the seventeen (17) LGUs of Aklan and four (4) LGUs of Antique.
TACLOBAN CITY, LEYTE 27 August 2019 – Local government leaders of the Yolanda Corridor expressed their commitment to respond to the prevailing climate emergency during the Communities for Resilience (CORE) Modular Training Rollout held last August 12-16, 2019 at Tacloban City, Leyte. Together with Climate Change Commission (CCC) Secretary Emmanuel De Guzman, Abuyog Mayor Lemuel Gin Traya, Dulag Mayor Mildred Joy Que, Tolosa Mayor Maria Ofelia Alcantara, and Tacloban City Mayor Alfred Romualdez signed the declaration entitled CORE Resolve of the Local Governments in the Yolanda Corridor to convey their resolve in ensuring an effective and collective response to the impacts of climate change in the country. The local leaders, in particular, vowed to support the strengthening of cooperation between and among the national and local governments and the science and academic community on mainstreaming climate change in local development planning; scale up climate resilience-building efforts at the local community level; and enhance their Local Climate Change Action Plans to become more responsive to the prevailing and emerging needs of communities. The CORE Modular Training Rollout is the CCC’s flagship capacity building program for local leaders and planners on mainstreaming climate change in local development and investment planning. This year, CORE aims to give preferential attention to local communities in the Yolanda Corridor, to coastal communities more vulnerable to rising sea level and salt water intrusion, and to indigenous peoples whose resilience to extreme weather events are compromised by weak and vulnerable livelihoods. “We only deem it fit to re-launch the CORE here in Tacloban, the ground zero of Yolanda. Tacloban, along with other cities and municipalities in the Yolanda corridor, showed us that climate change is no longer a mere specter on the horizon. It is happening now and it will only get worse with business as usual,” Secretary De Guzman said during the opening ceremony of the five-day training workshop. Tolosa Mayor Maria Ofelia Alcantara, meanwhile, expressed their gratitude to the CCC for the CORE rollout in their region. “We are really happy na nandito ang Climate Change Commission kasi ang Tolosa is a small municipality with 15 barangays with 21,000 population. 88 percent of our land area is agriculture, and we have a 76-hectare protected marine sanctuary. But ngayon, because of climate change effects, it has really gone down kaya we want this na mas makagawa ng adaptation programs and interventions para maiwasan na natin ang paglala nito,” she said. More than 39 representatives from the local government units of the Eastern Visayas Region, academic institutions, civil society organizations, and the private sector participated in the event, which included lectures on climate and disaster risk assessment process, greenhouse gas inventory, climate change expenditure tagging, and a workshop on project proposal development for the People’s Survival Fund (PSF). With the goal of widening the scope of technical support to LGUs for accessing the PSF, the CCC also launched the PSF e-learning platform during the workshop. The platform, which runs through an open source learning management system, enables the CCC to conduct a 12-week online course for LGUs and community organizations to enhance their knowledge on climate and disaster risk and vulnerability assessment, the PSF and its approval processes, and other sources of climate finance. There will be two batches per year, which will run from August-October and February-June. Details of the PSF e-Learning Platform and Mentoring Session are available on the CCC website climate@gov.ph, PSF website psf@climate.gov.ph, and CCC’s Facebook and Twitter accounts. For inquiries, interested groups could contact the CCC-CCO PSF Unit at (02) 420-5513 or Telefax at (02) 420-5517, or via email at psf.ccc@gmail.com.
