MANILA, 6 October 2020 — The Climate Change Commission (CCC) has slated several sessions this October for the Accelerated Climate Action and Transformation (ACT) Local Online Conference, a four-part virtual discussion of the ACT Local Program to provide technical assistance to Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) on climate science, issues, vulnerabilities, and risks, as part of the agency’s Communities for Resilience (CORE): Convergence Initiative.

The ACT Local Online Conference will feature experts who will orient sixteen (16) participating HEIs on climate science; CORE Initiative; Rationalized Planning System and Enhanced Local Climate Change Action Plan (ELCCAP) development; Greenhouse Gas Inventory; Climate Change Expenditure Tagging; and accessing the People’s Survival Fund.

Participating HEIs have previously partnered with the CCC and expressed interest and support by providing technical assistance to their respective local government units (LGUs) on the development of risk-informed local plans, including the LCCAP. They are the following: Bulacan State University, Visayas State University, University of the Philippines Los Banos, Sulu State College, Palawan State University, Aklan State University, University of Antique, Northwestern Visayan Colleges, University of the Philippines Visayas Tacloban College, Eastern Visayas State University, Leyte Normal University, Philippine Science High School Eastern Visayas Campus, Palompon Institute of Technology, Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA), Mapua University, and Baliuag University.

The schedule of the ACT Local Online Conference will be held every Tuesday of October (October 6, 13, 20, and 27) at 10:00AM. In view of ensuring the Commission’s continuous program implementation and delivery of services in this pandemic, the sessions will be held via Zoom and will be streamed live on the Facebook page of the CCC.

The first session will feature discussions from the members of the CCC’s National Panel of Technical Experts, Dr. Carlos Primo C. David and Dr. Glenn Roy Paraso; as well as messages from Secretary Emmanuel M. De Guzman and House Deputy Speaker and Lone District of Antique Representative Loren Legarda.

The ACT Local Program aims to formalize a sustainable partnership between the national government, academe, and the private sector in providing technical and/or financial resources to LGUs on climate action.

Through ACT Local, relevant stakeholders will be capacitated to assist and contribute to efforts that will generate information, boost capacity development, promote cooperation and convergence, facilitate vertical and horizontal alignment for development planning, and access to climate financing windows toward climate resiliency.

The ACT Local Program will serve as the overarching partnership program of the Commission for the delivery of its CORE Orientation and Training Program through the established climate change consortiums.

For more information about the ACT Local Online Conference and ACT Local Program, visit the Facebook page of the Climate Change Commission at www.facebook.com/CCCPhl.