Mainstreaming climate change adaptation and mitigation measures in the Local Climate Change Action Plan. Photo from the presentation of Ms. Sandee G. Recabar, Chief of Implementation oversight Division of the Climate Change Commission.

MANILA, 16 August 2021 — The Climate Change Commission (CCC) successfully convened its first-of-three series of webinars on Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Inventory for Local Government Units (LGUs) via Zoom Teleconference and CCC Facebook live last August 11-13, 2021.

The webinar series, organized in partnership with the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) - Local Government Academy (LGA), aims to build the knowledge and information of LGUs on formulating their GHG inventories and climate mitigation measures and strategies as part of their Local Climate Change Action Plan (LCCAP) process.

The virtual training gathered more than 600 participants from local planning, environment and natural resource, agriculture, and disaster risk reduction and management offices of various LGUs in Luzon.

House Deputy Speaker Loren Legarda, Bohol 1st District Representative Edgar M. Chatto, CCC Vice Chairperson Emmanuel M. De Guzman, and DILG Undersecretary for Local Government Mario L. Iringan delivered their messages of support during the program.

“Many LGUs can be a model of climate resilience, regardless of where they are located, as long as the government and the community join hands and commit to bring change. For the past years, the CCC and DILG have shown their dedication to guide our local leaders by providing them technical assistance in formulating their GHG inventories. We hope to continue to scale-up these efforts to help our vulnerable communities adapt to and help mitigate the changing climate,” said Deputy Speaker Legarda, three-term Senator who authored the Climate Change Act and is a UN Global Champion for Resilience.

In his remarks, Rep. Chatto, Chair of the House Committee on Climate Change, urged LGUs that with a climate emergency upon us now, "let us heed this call and be the spark that the planet needs to burn bright and be the guiding light that others may follow."

“Human insatiability brought us here, and human compassion, human solidarity in action, will shift our trajectory. There is too much at stake. The climate emergency has become all too personal for every one of us. May we channel all our energies to listen, join forces, and ultimately, act with desperate urgency,” said Vice Chairperson de Guzman.

“This webinar aims to strengthen the knowledge and information of LGUs in creating their GHG inventories and mitigation strategies as a section of their local climate change action plans. It is the objective of these webinars for us to have more understanding, and therefore a better appreciation of what we need to contribute in order to make amends to our planet,” said Undersecretary Siringan.

The three-day webinar covered essential topics on greenhouse gas inventory. GHG mitigation expert Mr. Leandro Buendia, a member of the CCC's National Panel of Technical Experts, presented the basics of climate science and GHG inventory. Ms. Angela Monica Salud B. Mamuyac from the Local Development Planning Division of the Bureau of Local Government Development of the DILG Central Office discussed the link of climate change mitigation in local development plans; and Mr. Oliver Gonzales, Environment and Natural Resources Officer from Batangas City shared their LGU’s experience on GHG inventory and accounting.

The LGU participants are introduced to the GHG inventory by sector: Agriculture, Waste, and Industrial Processes and Product Usage, Transportation, Forestry and Land Use Change, and Energy. They are also trained on the GHG inventory tools and data requirements.

The webinar for the Visayas cluster will be held on August 18-20, 2021, and the Mindanao cluster on August 25-27, 2021. This activity seeks to extend the technical assistance of CCC to many more LGUs, aiming to contribute to an increase in the submission of LCCAPs.

Interested participants may register here for free:

Visayas Cluster: https://bit.ly/GHGIWebinarVisayasReg
Mindanao Cluster: https://bit.ly/GHGIWebinarMindanaoRegistration

For more information about the webinar on Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Inventory for Local Government Units (LGUs), visit the Facebook page of the Climate Change Commission at www.facebook.com/CCCPhl or website at https://climate.gov.ph/newsroom/updates-and-advisories.