Bigger budget for climate change sought

MANILA, Philippines - The floods that battered the Philippines in recent weeks have underscored the need for a bigger government budget for disaster mitigation and climate change adaptation, the country’s budget chief said.

According to the Aquino administration’s P2.06-trillion expenditure program for 2013 prepared by the Department of Budget and Management, the total budget for climate change mitigation and adaptation has been increased to P13.305 billion, significantly higher than this year’s budget of P4.505 billion.

“We’ve had significant increases. We are increasing the budget to bolster the readiness and resilience of communities to climate change,” Budget and Management Secretary Florencio Abad said in a recent interview.

Under the Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation Program for next year are nine initiatives with higher budgetary allocation.

One initiative is the greening program to be implemented by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR). The government will plant trees over 300,000 hectares of land, with a higher budget of P5.888 billion in 2013 from a budget of P2.710 billion this year.

Another initiative is forest protection wherein the government will ensure the protection of 4.7 million forestlands. The program’s budget is higher at P1.001 billion for 2013 from P977 million this year.

The geo-hazard assessment and mapping program, meanwhile, involves implementing necessary coastal geo-hazard assessment with a higher budget of P281 million from P94 million.

The government will also do unified mapping on 5.4 million hectares of land to update the country’s topographic map series, with a budget of P1.546 billion for 2013 from zero-budget in 2012.

Another initiative is the titling of alienable and disposable land with a budget of P79 million for 2013 from zero, as well as the implementation of the national operational assessment of hazards of Project Noah, with a budget of P500 million.

The market transformation through the energy efficient e-trike project is yet another initiative under the Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation program. The government has allotted P3.096 billion for this project.

The government will also push for the rehabilitation and development of esteros, with a budget of P360 million in 2013 from P173 million for this year.

The last project under the government’s Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation Program is flood control and drainage systems, with a budget of P554 million from P551 million this year.

Higher budget for climate change mitigation and adaptation program is becoming increasingly necessary now that environmental degradation has become a serious problem.

World-renowned economics professor Jeffrey Sachs, during his visit to the Philippines in May for the 45th annual meeting of the Asian Development Bank Board of Governors, underscored the need for a bigger climate change adaptation fund.

He said countries should pool together a climate change adaptation fund, which would depend on their respective carbon footprints.

This is the right answer toward reducing carbon emissions as he warned that environmental degradation, and not economic policies, is the biggest problem the world is facing now.

“There should be a global assessment based on how much global emissions each country has and that should create an international fund to help countries adapt to climate change. That is an excellent idea,” Sachs said in an interview.

But while the Philippines raised the budget for climate change adaptation for next year, there is still a long way to go in addressing the problem.

The policy-making Climate Change commission, which is attached to the Office of the President, said a bigger budget is needed to build the country’s resilience to a changing environment.

In an interview with The STAR, Climate Change commissioner Naderev Sano said climate change is a dynamic process.

He said as climate change is expected to overtake efforts in massive terms, the resources the government allocates for it never becomes enough.

“The Climate Change Commission works to ensure that the budget of every national government agency, local government unit, or government instrumentality contributes to building resilience against climate and disaster risks,” he said.

He said the commission strives to ensure that the whole national budget becomes a climate-sensitive budget that manifests in every sector – agriculture, infrastructure, water, environment, transport, energy, health, industry, education, social welfare, labor, etc.

“Climate-proofing and climate-resilient expenditure is the new order,” he said.

The Climate Change Commission works with local communities and other government agencies to mobilize resources for climate change adaptation.

Among the possible pre-emptive measures and defense systems that may be put in place are community-based early warning systems, automatic weather stations, Doppler radars, flood level sensors, and systematic observation technologies and systems, Sano said.

The commission is also pushing for comprehensive land use planning, removing people and assets out of harm’s way, and promoting equitable access to resources.

“The capacity of local government units and communities must be enhanced to enable them to plan and implement climate-resilience measures on the ground. The country must also build its knowledge of the enemy and gain foresight on how climate change will impact on every aspect of our society,” Sano said.

On the global front, Sano said countries continually fail to find the global political will to stop climate change through serious cuts in greenhouse gas emissions.

He is hoping that international funding mechanisms will put pressure on each country to do its part in cutting emissions.

The Green Climate Fund, established in 2010 under the United Nations Framework Convention for Climate Change, is one such mechanism. It is envisioned to grow to more than $100 billion by 2020, Sano said.

“The Philippines fought hard for the establishment of this fund and hopes to be able to access it to respond to our adaptation needs,” Sano said.

Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima, for his part, said the Philippines also proposed a mandatory insurance pool, with the premium to be based on each country’s share of carbon footprint.

“If someone’s hit by catastrophe, they can draw down on that fund. For that to work, a lot of countries will have to be part of it, so that’s just an idea. We’ve been espousing it because the Philippines is among the top countries in disasters,” Purisima said.

On Aug. 7, torrential rains caused heavy flooding in various parts of the country. The death toll from the floods has breached 100, according to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC).

Indeed, disasters such as floods are getting worst and countries in the Asia Pacific region are particularly vulnerable.

Purisima said during the ADB conference that the Philippines may have a good year but disasters are a big setback.

Sano said there is no single solution to this complex challenge. “It will be a tapestry of solutions. With increasing risk to disasters and climate impacts accelerating, the Philippines needs to get its act together and treat this challenge as if it is going to war,” he said.

Unfortunately, this requires a higher budget, which means that the government needs to boost revenues to be able to respond to a serious issue such as climate change.

This year, the government expects a budget deficit of P279 billion or 2.6 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) and P241 billion in 2013 or two percent of GDP.