Forum on CCA-DRR to be conducted in Butuan City

By Jennifer P. Gaitano

Thursday 9th of August 2012

BUTUAN CITY, Aug. 9 (PIA) -- The Regional Forum on Climate Change Adaptation and Disaster Risk Reduction: A Collaboration Workshop for the Agusan River Basin is set to be conducted on August 23, 2012 at Almont Hotel's Inland Resort, this city.

The Office of Senator Loren Legarda, in partnership with the Agencia Española de Cooperacion International para el Desarrollo (AECID) and the Department of the Interior and Local Government through the Local Government Academy (LGA) will conduct the forum, anchored on the theme “Building Climate Adaptive and Disaster Resilient Communities.”

In a statement, Senator Loren Legarda, chairperson on Senate Committee on Climate Change and Regional Champion for Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change Adaptation for Asia-Pacific, said the collaboration workshop will bring together over 300 participants from contiguous local government units (LGUs) in the periphery of the 18 major river basins (MRBs) in the country consisting of 47 provinces.

“It aims to provide a platform for cooperation in addressing the threats of disasters and climate change …. We hope that this workshop will help LGUs to be at the forefront, collaborate and plan their actions towards the attainment of an efficient river basin-based approach for disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation,” said Legarda.

The workshop will also be valuable to Legarda’s proposed Philippine River Basin Administration Act of 2012 as input to its strategic operationalization.

Participants on the workshop already have a working knowledge on the basics of disaster risk reduction (DRR) and climate change adaptation (CCA), and there is a need to emphasize the need for collaboration among the LGUs in MRBs to efficiently address disaster and adaptation issues.

The participants include the governors and vice governors; the chairman of the environment committee of the sanggunian panlalawigan from the provinces; the sangguniang kabataan (SK) provincial federation president; ABC provincial federation president; PDRMOs; private sector (NGOs, CSOs, business, local academic institutions, church representatives from the provinces); and members of the Regional Development Council of the region.

Also, the proposed topics during the one-day workshop are divided into three modules, to wit: Module 1, Harmonizing Initiatives Towards DRR and CCA Mainstreaming in Local Governance; Module 2, Moving Forward Towards a Common Path; and Module 3, Defining the Roadmap for the River Basins: The Way Forward.

The final module solicits the creation of a common action agenda among LGUs in the MRB. It also attempts to draft MRB’s management mechanism, structure, financing scheme, and monitoring and evaluation.

The 18 MRBs per the River Basin Control (RBCO) of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) are Cagayan River Basin, Mindanao River Basin, Agusan River Basin, Pampanga River Basin, Agno River Basin, Abra River Basin, Pasig-Laguna de Bay, Bicol River Basin, Abulug River Basin, Tagum River Basin, Ilog-Hilabangan, Panay River Basin, Tagoloan River Basin, Agus River Basins, Davao River Basin, Cagayan de Oro River Basin, Jalaur River Basin and Buayan-Malungun. (RER/JPG/PIA 13-Caraga)