Philippine-Germany Climate Consultation
MESSAGE
SECRETARY MARIA ANTONIA YULO LOYZAGA
Department of Environment and Natural Resources
18 April 2023, 3:00 p.m.
Dusit Thani Hotel, Makati City
Her Excellency, Ms. Jennifer Lee Morgan, State Secretary and Special Envoy for International Climate Action, Ambassador Anke Reiffenstuel, Mr. Immanuel Gebhardt, country director, GIZ Regional Office – Philippines and Pacific, Dr. Bjorn Surborg, GIZ Cluster Coordinator for Climate Change and Disaster Risk Management,
Key national government agencies present (list of confirmed attending agencies to be handed prior to the event), distinguished guests, colleagues, ladies and gentlemen.
It is my great pleasure to welcome you all to the 1st PH-German Consultation on Climate.
Ladies and gentlemen,
Addressing climate change is a priority of the Philippine President. In the President’s State of the Nation Address in June 2022, he said that “although a minor contributor to climate change globally, we have an unfortunate distinction of being one of the most vulnerable to the effects of climate change. For the welfare of our people, it is incumbent upon us to alleviate the effects of that vulnerability.” A failure to address climate change will render all economic gains useless.
Earthquakes and typhoons cause, on average, USD 3.5 billion per year (over 1.0% of the country’s Gross Domestic Product or GDP) in direct losses to public and private assets. In the next 50 years, the Philippines is estimated to have a 40% chance of experiencing losses from natural disasters that will exceed USD 33 billion, and a 20% chance of losses that will exceed USD 53 billion wherein private losses are expected to account for 96% of annual total losses. [As reported by the Department of Finance, citing data from Office of Civil Defense, in the former’s position on climate finance for COP27].
Data from the Office of Civil Defense show that annual damages in agriculture of US$4.07 billion, infrastructure of $2.07 billion, and private property of $1.05 billion are brought about by tropical cyclones from 2011 to 2021.
The Philippine Development Plan for 2023 to 2028, under Chapter 15 “Accelerate Climate Action and Strengthen Disaster Resilience” provides the goals to achieve climate-resilient development. These are to increase climate and disaster risk resilience of communities and institutions, enhance ecosystems resilience, and enable low carbon economy, while improving governance and intersectionality of climate change and natural hazards.
To accelerate progress on disaster risk reduction by sharing good practices and knowledge in the region, and forge partnerships in this regard, the Philippines is hosting the 2024 Asia-Pacific Ministerial Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction.
During the COP27 in November 2022, the Philippines strongly supported the position regarding the importance of protecting our biodiversity and our ecosystems that would help in avoiding and reducing risks from climate impacts while at the same time, serve as carbon sinks in achieving the goals of the Paris Agreement. The country also endorsed the stance on addressing the interconnected global crises of climate change and biodiversity loss in a comprehensive and synergistic manner.
The Philippines acknowledges the incremental progress toward the Global Goal on Adaptation, which aims to establish a clear framework and guidance for countries in dealing with the consequences of the climate crisis. These discussions are expected to conclude at COP28 in the United Arab Emirates this year, where the Standing Committee on Finance will play the major role in doubling adaptation finance. The Philippines participated in the deliberations on the new collective quantified goal on climate finance taking off from USD 100 billion per year that will fund meaningful mitigation actions while ensuring transparency on implementation based on needs and priorities of developing countries.
As the Philippines’ contribution to global mitigation action,we have recently finished our Greenhouse Gas Inventory Reports for our various emitting sectors for the years 2015 and 2020. We are fast tracking efforts in the formulation of our National Adaptation Plan, and even the NDC Implementation Plan, with Investment Strategy.
The work on climate action and disaster risk reduction is supported by several enabling policies and plans, including the Sustainable Finance Framework and Roadmap, National Climate Risk Management Framework, National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Plan.
The creation of a national geospatial database for natural resources is being pursued in the Philippines to serve as the planning and decision platform for our environmental governance. To accurately value natural resources and the ecosystem services they provide, the roadmap for natural capital accounting has been approved.
In order to promote policy level, improve water services, and ensure investment coordination, our President announced the establishment of the Water Resource Management Office. This will implement the River Basin Master Plans for major river basins adopting an integrated water resources management.
However, these actions need to be accelerated to ensure the country’s climate resilience amid uncertainties in current climate projected scenarios. As projected, the Philippines is expecting a spatially warming trend across the country, with reduced rainfall. Furthermore, tropical storms are also expected to increase frequency and intensity.
We acknowledge the importance of climate consultations and dialogues with developed countries like Germany that would be instrumental in helping us effectively implement our climate actions. In previous years, the German Government through the GIZ engaged the DENR in “Mainstreaming Ecosystem-based Adaptation (EbA) in the Philippines” introduced methodological approaches and field-tested tools for mainstreaming adaptation in relevant planning and policy processes while taking into account EbA measures. This was part of the “Support to the Philippines in shaping and implementing the international climate regime” (SuuportCCC).
We express our gratitude to country partners who are willing to provide the means to enable us to achieve the outcomes of our climate actions.
The Philippines is participating in collaborative project undertakings with Germany such as the Transformative Actions for Climate and Ecological Protection and Development (TRANSCEND) Project which generally aims to support the Philippines in achieving the NDC and post-2020 Biodiversity Framework targets. The project specifically focuses on Biodiversity, Ecosystems-based Approach (EbA), Energy and Transport Policy, while adopting an integrated landscape approach. We hope that with this project, we can continue strengthening the multi-level partnership between the Philippines and the German government.
We also aspire that this partnership through the TRANSCEND project will continue beyond the project timelines and scope as international cooperation encompasses our environment, our biodiversity, our natural resources, our consumption and production, and our sustainable development goals. We express support for sustained partnership for both of our governments in accelerating our climate actions.
Once again, welcome and may we all have a fruitful consultation and conversation. Thank you and Mabuhay!
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