MANILA, PHILIPPINES 11 February 2019 – The Climate Change Commission commends the Local Government of Davao City for the creation of a Climate Change Technical Working Group that will facilitate the updating of the city’s Local Climate Change Action Plan (LCCAP).

“This move shows the resolve of the city government to mainstream climate change mitigation and adaptation in the city’s local development plans, and to adopt methods for monitoring carbon emissions from its various sectors through a local greenhouse gas (GHG) inventory system,” Climate Change Secretary Emmanuel De Guzman said.

The Climate Change Act of 2009 requires all local government units (LGUs) to craft an action plan to build the adaptive capacity and resilience of communities to the impacts of climate change. However, according to the data from the Department of Interior and Local Government-Bureau of Local Government Supervision, only 1,073 out of 1715 local government units have LCCAPs as of 2018.

“More than being a requirement of the law, creating an action plan should be a moral responsibility for local leaders. Non-action on climate change is an injustice to the poor and the most vulnerable who are the most affected by disasters and the long-term impacts of the planet’s warming,” De Guzman noted.

Davao City’s recent efforts to update its LCCAP are expected to strengthen ongoing climate actions in the city, particularly the projects under its Memorandum of Understanding with the City of Kitakyushu in Japan on the establishment of a Green Sister City Cooperation.

The partnership aims to develop both cities as world-class communities through effective and mutually beneficial cooperation on clean and green initiatives, such as resource cycling and capacity building.

“The Commission lauds Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio for her leadership in pursuing the kind of development for Davao that will lead its rapidly growing economy and urbanized population towards resilience and sustainable development,” De Guzman said. “We encourage more cities and municipalities to follow suit and intensify their efforts on building strong and climate-smart communities,” he added.