Jack Enrile: Climate change threatens 23 million urban poor with hunger

“FOOD insecurity is aggravated by climate change. While it affects both urban and rural poor, those in urban areas may be worse off than their rural counter parts,” United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) candidate for senator and incumbent Cagayan Rep. Jack Enrile.

According to the report made by the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) on “Urban Poverty, Food Security and Climate Change,” climate change can cause widespread hunger among the urban poor.

Whenever food production is disrupted, close to 23 million urban poor are at risk of hunger because they do not have direct access to food,” Enrile said in a statement.

An advocate of Food Sovereignty, Enrile’s landmark bill, HB 4626 or the Food for Filipinos First Act, calls for the creation of a national food requirement plan to determine the needs of provinces and regions and their capability in food production.

“The whole production and distribution process, from farm to market, is vulnerable to climate change. That is why aside from developing climate change mitigation among our food producers, the access of the urban poor to adequate, nutritious and affordable food should be improved by providing them with better opportunities for jobs, livelihood and low-interest loans,” Enrile concluded.