PIA Press Release
Sunday, November 27, 2011
by Ben Moses Ebreo
LEGAZPI CITY, Nov 27 (PIA) -- Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Ramon Paje has committed here an initial fund of P5 million for Albay’s Climate Change Academy(CCA) for local government units in the country .
Speaking at the first National Media Conference on Climate Change Adaptation, a Pre-Conference of Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) at the Bicol University(BU), Paje said the funding assistance will be released next year to help finance the requirements of the CCA.
“We must first understand climate change before we can adapt to it, and this can only be done by consciously advocating this understanding through the use of the academy and its facilities. Funding this will make it move forward,” he said.
Paje said funding the CCA will help push its mission of promoting climate-change adaptation and mitigation in the country through the help of the Center for Initiatives and Research on Climate Change (CIRCA) at the provincial capitol here.
Albay has been chosen as the host province for the CCA because of its rich history of coping with disasters and its adoption of innovative measures on disaster risk reduction and climate-change adaptation.
CCA aims to support the mainstreaming of the climate-change adaptation and risk-reduction framework down to the local government units.
Proponents added that the CCA will not only provide theoretical moorings for climate-change adaptive communities but will also serve as a venue for sharing experiences and best practices on disaster risk reduction and climate-change impact management.
Specifically, CCA aims to develop and strengthen the theoretical knowledge and practical skills of major stakeholders on climate and disaster risk assessment, focusing on characterization and evaluation of climatic hazards, vulnerabilities and adaptive capacities, disaster/climate risk reduction and management and climate change adaptation, disaster risk management, planning and programming.
Proponents of the CCA are the provincial government of Albay, the Millennium Development Goal Fund (MDGF), Agencia Espanola de Cooperacion Internacional para el Desarollo, Embajada De Espana En Filipinas, CIRCA, and concerned national government agencies under the Office of the President. (BME, PIA 2-Nueva Vizcaya)
_________________________________________________________
