RP to get initial P5-billion fund for climate change projects

MANILA, Philippines –  The Climate Change Commission (CCC) announced that by next year, the Philippines will be able to access an initial P5 billion of the P30-billion fast start fund under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

“We are hopeful that an initial amount will be released next year so that it can be used to support adaptation program for communities vulnerable to the effects of global warming,” Alvarez said in a recent news briefing in Quezon City.

The Philippines has gained access to the $30-billion fast start fund after submission by the Philippine delegation of the country’s national framework on climate change to the UNFCCC.

The climate change funds, while not for emergency relief measures, shall be accessible to support medium and long-term programs.

Alvarez said the country could avail of the funds to rehabilitate and develop the Philippines’ river systems - the Cagayan River Basin and 12 other river basins nationwide.

To effectively address the devastation caused by typhoons, Alvarez cited the need to manage the country’s river basins.

The Cagayan Valley region supplies one third of the country’s grains requirement and 40 percent of Metro Manila’s supply.

Farmlands in the region draw its irrigation system from the 25,469 square kilometer Cagayan river, the biggest of its kind in the country.

Alvarez also disclosed that the Philippine delegation to the climate change meeting recently arrived from Tianjin, China. The Tianjin meeting was the last negotiation session before the scheduled climate change conference next month in Cancun, Mexico.

A highlight of the Tianjin talks is the setting up of a new $100-billion Climate Change Fund initiated by United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and which was supported by the United States, the European Union, Japan and other developed countries.

The fund is to support enduring adaptation programs of developing countries to reduce the risk and impact of global warming.

This is separate from the $30-billion fast start fund which is for access until 2012.