Legarda Hails EO on Climate Change

MANILA-Senator Loren Legarda today hailed the President’s move to task the various agencies of government to work together towards addressing climate change and building the country’s resilience.

Legarda, Chair of the Senate Committee on Climate Change, expressed her support to President Benigno Aquino III’s Executive Order No. 174, which institutionalizes a greenhouse gas inventory management and reporting system, and tasks the Climate Change Commission (CCC) to lead the formulation of climate change adaptation and mitigation policies and strategies.

“As a nation that is among the most vulnerable to disasters and climate change, this Executive Order gives us the assurance that the government is serious in addressing climate change. This serves as a marching order not only to the agencies of government, but even to the local government units, private sector and citizens to do their part in building a climate-resilient nation,” she explained.

Legarda, UN Champion for Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change Adaptation for Asia-Pacific, said that convergence among government agencies is crucial to make the system work.

Under the EO, the CCC will provide the direction in accounting and reporting greenhouse gas emissions; develop a system for archiving, reporting and evaluating inventories; and facilitate continuous capacity-building initiatives.

Meanwhile, other agencies of government, including the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Energy, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, and the Department of Transportation and Communications, must ensure that the respective sectors they oversee are heading towards a climate-resilient and sustainable pathway.

“Climate change affects every aspect of our life. It threatens our basic human rights – food, potable water, shelter, decent livelihood and life itself. In order to effectively mitigate and adapt to it requires the convergence of government agencies and all sectors. We must also ensure that all our environmental laws, including the Ecological Solid Waste Management Law, the Climate Change Act, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management, and the People’s Survival Fund Act, are faithfully implemented down to the local level,” Legarda concluded.