NEDA signs agreement on climate change adaptation with UP
The National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) and three University of the Philippines (UP) units recently signed memoranda of agreement (MOA) to conduct programs and projects amounting to some PhP11 million for climate change adaptation.
Through the MOA, NEDA will tap the academic expertise of various UP units to deliver three outputs – sectoral climate change vulnerability and impact assessments, a climate change monitoring and evaluation system, and a compendium of good and innovative climate change adaptation practices.
The sectors that will be covered for climate change adaptation are agriculture, forestry including biodiversity, health, and water. The health sector will be handled by UP Manila, the water sector by UP Diliman, and the agriculture and forestry sectors by UP Los Baños.
The projects under the MOA will be undertaken through the Joint Programme on Strengthening the Philippines’ Institutional Capacity to Adapt to Climate Change, which is a program funded under the Millennium Development Goal Achievemrnt Fund (MDG-F) of the Spanish government.
In addition, the concerned academic institutions would also build the capacities of line agencies on climate change adaptation.
Also present at the signing were representatives from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), a partner in the joint programme.
“As we sign this MOA, we are taking deliberate actions to cope with the effects of climate change. Through these agreements, we ensure that we have a proper assessment of the impact of climate change, a proper monitoring and evaluation system, and documentation of good practices so that we do not have to reinvent the wheel,” said NEDA Deputy Director-General Rolando Tungpalan.
The programs under the MOA would allow government agencies to adapt and manage vulnerabilities coming from the risks or externalities of climate change such as extended droughts and floods. Climate change adaptation refers to initiatives and measures to reduce the vulnerability of natural and human systems against actual or expected climate change effects.
The NEDA official added that “at the end of the day, it’s really how we cope with the externalities of climate change in a more cost-effective and sustainable way that we can say we are succeeding in adaptation. The outputs should result in desired outcomes.” (PID-NEDA)
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