Agenda of the next president: Climate change

Starting Feb. 9, 2016, the Inquirer is coming out with a 10-part series on pressing national concerns that should be high on the agenda of the five contenders in the May 9 presidential election. The series should help Filipinos choose wisely the country’s next leader.

In line with our “ThINQ. Vote.” advocacy, we have asked the presidential candidates to outline their concrete plans of action in dealing with 10 decades-long issues—poverty, economy and jobs, food security, peace and order, corruption, healthcare, foreign policy, traffic, climate change and Internet connectivity.

The Philippines and 23 other small countries made the strongest call for a sharp cut in carbon emission at UN climate talks in Paris last year. They won, with agreement reached on limiting temperature rise to 1.5 degrees C by 2100. The devastation caused by Supertyphoon “Yolanda” in 2013 is a lesson for the Philippines. How will the next administration deal with the impact of climate change?

INQUIRER.net is publishing verbatim the candidates’ action plans to combat climate change. For the summary of the 10 pressing issues, go to our special Elections 2016 website.

Jejomar Binay

Being in the Pacific ring of fire and in the typhoon belt of the western Pacific, the Philippines is vulnerable to climate change. As a result, it is ranked as the third most disaster-prone country in the world.

It is essential that the Sustainable Forest Management Act, which will clearly delineate protected and productive forests, be passed and enacted into law. Complementing this, the country should likewise pursue alternative tenurial arrangements for identified productive forest areas such as usufruct.

There is a need to formulate policies/programs that would strengthen national government and the resilience of local government units (LGUs) to address issues on climate changes. There is also a need to strengthen or reform existing laws involving land-use and related laws, such as the Building Code, to make the country’s infrastructure disaster-resilient. In schools, disaster mitigation and preparedness must be included in the educational curriculum.

There is likewise a need to develop financing schemes to ensure sustainable financing for climate change projects, such as investing on a national carbon trading scheme, to benefit the LGUs by encouraging them to invest in green businesses, such as provincial biomass plants and increasing energy efficiency.

Flood Prevention

A key climate change issue is our vulnerability to flooding and this relates to damaged watersheds, massive illegal settlers living in danger zones and a neglected drainage system. There is already an existing flood plan: “Flood Management Master Plan for Metro Manila and Surrounding Areas,” which is envisioned to solve the Metro Manila flooding problem. However, it appears that the release of the funds for the individual projects and the implementation of the 11 identified flood-control projects have been painstakingly slow.

For the major river basins, a master plan was developed as early as 1982 for flood mitigation. However, the number of projects implemented under this plan has been limited. A Binay presidency will ensure the implementation of these essential infrastructure projects.

Rody Duterte

• The Philippine environmental policy is sustainable development. This can be amended to make climate change adaptation measures to be institutionalized apart from the climate change law.
• We cannot conserve and protect what we do not use. Much of our food comes from the environment. Therefore strict implementation of our environmental and land use laws is vital. Food crop areas should be maintained.
• A climate adaptation fund must be developed per region to enable adaptation in agriculture and food production, which is vulnerable to climate change.
• Climate-smart technologies will be implemented, such as rainwater impoundment and collection regulations.
• While the Philippines is not a significant contributor to greenhouse gases, we still need to pursue a policy that will prevent it from being one even as we industrialize.

Grace Poe

We shall increase the resilience and adaptive capacity of natural ecosystems and communities, especially vulnerable sectors, to respond to climate change. We shall achieve this through the following strategies:

• We will strongly push for the signing of the Paris Agreement under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change on April 22, 2016. Likewise, we will encourage lobbying efforts for its immediate ratification since it needs 55 State Parties to enter into force. The success of the Paris Conference is most beneficial to high risk countries like ours, through provision of technical and financial assistance to enhance our adaptive capacity, strengthen resilience and reduce vulnerabilities to climate change.
• We shall provide technical assistance to capacitate LGUs in mainstreaming and integrating climate change and disaster risk reduction management plans in their respective local development plans. LGUs should be at the forefront of our fight to address climate change. We shall facilitate sharing of best practices in order to replicate effective mitigation and/or adaptation programs in similarly situated communities.
• The People’s Survival Fund (PSF), created by Republic Act No. 10174 and initially amounting to P1 billion, can be accessed by LGUs and accredited local/community organizations for climate change adaptation programs and projects to study and implement short- and long-term measures that will mitigate the impacts of climate change on residents.
  • We will heighten the awareness campaign on the utilization of the PSF;
  • Ensure transparency mechanisms in the selection of proposals submitted by LGUs or local/community organizations; and
  • Establish a strict monitoring mechanism to ensure that the fund is actually used for climate change adaptation projects.
• We will accelerate the exploration and development of renewable energy sources, including promotion of its efficiency and cost-effectiveness, in order to effectively prevent or reduce harmful emissions. We will prioritize natural gas, waste to energy, solar and wind as energy sources. Our plans for each source of energy are presented below:
  • Natural gas: We will explore and invest in collaborative work with the private sector to explore and develop potential natural gas deposits. In fact, one such deposit was found in Isabela province last year.
  • Waste to Energy: We will work with Congress to draft legislation that will support waste to energy technology. We need to set stringent and socially acceptable standards for the types of technology that can be used and the allowable level of emissions.
  • Renewable Energy (RE): Ensure that our transmission grid is prepared for the specific requirements of RE power plants. We will also issue guidelines on the unimplemented provisions of the Renewable Energy Law, such as the Renewable Portfolio Standard and the Green Energy Option.
• To mitigate the effects of El Niño in Mindanao and other areas suffering from drought, we shall:
  • For water shortage
    • Promote water conservation and conduct water audits to address leaks;
    • Create campaigns meant to increase awareness of water use;
    • Support legislation mandating labels that indicate how much water is being used by certain appliances or consumer products; and
    • Build water catchments to store rainwater in vulnerable areas.
  • For food security
    • Employ the use of hazard mapping to collect data and monitor effects to ensure that the government can immediately respond to the negative effects of the El Niño;
    • Promote upgrade of irrigation systems to make them more water efficient;
    • Initiate education programs for those in the agricultural sector on crop production and food resiliency; and
    • Increase funding for research and development to promote innovation in the areas of agriculture and water conservation.

Mar Roxas

I am for the protection of our environment and I am committed to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases and to mitigate the effects of climate change.

As such, I am open to exploring renewable sources of energy, particularly natural gas, so we can diversify our country’s energy mix. However, until such time that all these alternative sources of energy can efficiently and effectively sustain our growing economy, our country will still have to rely on coal power. As a developing country, we emit a relatively low amount of greenhouse gases at 0.9 metric tons per capita (as of 2011) in comparison with other countries, such as China or the United States of America, that have greater emissions (at 6.7 metric tons and 17 metric tons per capita, respectively), and therefore also have greater responsibility to comply with international regulatory standards.

As our economy develops, we need to harness energy sources that are available to us for as long we do it in strict compliance with the highest standards of safety for communities and the environment. Definitely, we will require more energy to fuel the development of important sectors such as manufacturing, which can generate stable, reliable and long-term sources of income for Filipinos.

Miriam Defensor-Santiago

There is an urgent need to streamline climate change and disaster risk governance through institutional change, so as to clarify the mandate and accountability of government agencies. As president, I will:

• Lead the creation of an independent disaster risk reduction and management (DRRM) agency to enhance the capacity of government and communities to prevent, mitigate, prepare for, respond to and recover from the impact of disasters;
• Appoint a Cabinet-level official as head of the independent DRRM agency to ensure that he or she has the requisite authority to orchestrate the different actors, policies and programs involved in DRRM;
• Interface DRRM implementation with the private finance sector, particularly the insurance industry, to enable a functional risk financing mechanism for disasters;
• Invest in community-based programs on climate change adaptation and disaster preparedness programs; and
• Launch citizen-led hazard mapping and risk reduction efforts.

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