Thursday, August 11, 2011

Cities seen key to climate change measures

Tonette Orejas in the Inquirer (Philippines): A climate field school for farmers in Dumangas in Iloilo, a child-centered disaster risk reduction program in San Francisco in Cebu, a climate change academy in Albay, a river rehabilitation project as a flood-control measure in this Pampanga capital and climate proofing of schools in Digos and Alaminos cities.

These initiatives are among those that the Philippines is highlighting to show that about 70 local governments are striving to develop disaster-resilient provinces, towns and cities with the help of the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR), the acting chair of the Union of Local Authorities of the Philippines (Ulap) said.

City of San Fernando Mayor Oscar Rodriguez, Ulap acting chair and president of the League of Cities of the Philippines, spoke on the crucial role of cities before leaving on Monday for the World Cities Scientific Development Forum, which starts in Chengdu, China, on Aug. 10. Over 40 million Filipinos, or half of the country’s population, live in 122 cities, Rodriguez said.

He said his presentation in the forum focuses on the need to carry out sustainable development as an approach to strengthening the capacity of poor people to prepare for disasters, minimize the harm on them or cope with its impact. “It must also be said that possibly due to scarce resources and uneven access to technical assistance, most human settlement areas and human systems have low adaptive capacities to climate threats,” Rodriguez said....

NASA satellite image of the Philippines

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