MANILA 3 June 2020 – The Climate Change Commission (CCC) and the Office of Deputy Speaker and Antique Congresswoman Loren Legarda will host a virtual forum, “Conversations with the Champion,” which will discuss what the Philippines has accomplished thus far and what remains to be done to protect the environment and build resilience to climate change, as we seek to recover from the pandemic in a more sustainable manner.
 
The online forum, which will be livestreamed via Facebook Live on Friday, June 5, 10:00 am, is organized in celebration of World Environment Day, and the Philippine Environment Month this June.
 
It will feature ten landmark Philippine laws for environmental protection and climate risk governance, as well as ten exemplary adaptation solutions by local communities in adapting to climate impacts.
 
Deputy Speaker Loren Legarda will share her personal stories and insights on the laws she has authored or sponsored, as well as her leadership to advance environmental protection and climate action in the country and the world.
 
While being the country’s foremost advocate for the environment and climate change, Legarda is also a United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) Global Champion for Resilience and Asia Pacific Champion for Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change Adaptation, UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Global Champion for National Adaptation Plans, Commissioner of the Global Commission on Adaptation, and Member of the Green Climate Fund Board.
 
The forum will feature messages from global experts, including Global Optimism founder and former UNFCCC Executive Secretary Christiana Figueres; International Strategy for Disaster Reduction forerunner Salvano Briceño; United Nations Environment Programme’s (UNEP) Climate and Clean Air Coalition Secretariat Head Helena Molin-Valdez; Green Climate Fund Director for Mitigation and Adaptation Dr. Jerry Velasquez; World Meteorological Organization (WMO) Climate Prediction and Adaptation’s Former Director and Weather and Climate Extremes Journal Editor-in-Chief Dr. Mannava Sivakumar; and one of the Filipino authors in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, University of the Philippines Los Baños Professor Dr. Rodel Lasco. 
 
Conversations with the Champion will be livestreamed through the Facebook accounts of the CCC and Congresswoman Loren Legarda.