Philippines adopts National Climate Change Action Plan

PRESIDENT Benigno S. Aquino III convened the Climate Change Commission to adopt the National Climate Action Plan in compliance with the country’s international commitments especially to the United Nations Framework for Climate Change Convention.

President Aquino chairs the Climate Change Commission, an independent and autonomous body that has the similar status of a national government agency.

Albay Gov. Joey Salceda, who met President Aquino at the Palace Tuesday, said the plan is about adaptation to climate change and mitigating its impact particularly on the economy.

The action plan will also become the basis of any assistance that will come from industrialized countries in Europe and the US, which are being blamed for global warming because of massive use of fossil fuels in their industries.

The national action plan will be presented to the climate change conference to be held in Durban, South Africa, and it will be the basis of compensatory measures that rich countries have committed to pay.

Included in the national plan are the guidelines and framework on how the country can use the assistance once it is approved in Durban.

The Philippines will join other countries in pushing for financial assistance to fight climate change as the country’s negotiators leave late this month for Durban.

Last December, negotiators agreed to create a green climate fund that could be accessed by vulnerable countries like the Philippines. They are expected to tackle in the Durban meeting the way to get the money once the fund is approved. (PCOO)

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