Amb Beaufils asks media to

‘pressure’ for Climate Change

TAGBILARAN CITY, Bohol, Nov 9 (PIA) –British ambassador to the Philippines, Laure Beaufils calls on the local journalists to help spread the news about investing in climate change adaptation measures to exert more pressure to policy makers, leaders and governments to walk the talk.

In a press conference at the Amarela Resort, November 4, the ambassador, who separately met with Congressman Edgar Chatto and Governor Erico Aristotle Aumentado to discuss areas of potential cooperation and alliances on climate change, cited a World Bank report that paints a grim scenario if governments continue its disregard plans for adaptation and mitigation.

This report finds that “on a business as usual trajectory, unless there are significant changes made in terms of budgeting and policies and programs on adaptation, the cost of climate change to the economy would be 7.6% of the Gross Development Products by 2030, and by 2040, its 11.4% of the GDP,” the ambassador who is in her first visit to Bohol stressed.

Visibly impressed at what she was witnessing and hearing about Bohol’s initiatives on environment preservation and conservation, Ambassador Beaufils said that if more than 10% of the GDP is spent on adaptation-related costs, some development priority areas would definitely have reduced budgets, if things continue on a business-as-usual scenario.

This means, instead of funding more projects, the allocated funds could go to repair, rehabilitation and response, when the damage triggered by climate would have been reduced, if the LGU has invested on adaptation.

While Bohol has in its recent Executive Legislative Agenda crafting steered towards climate-smart agriculture and infrastructure, the bold step needs to be followed through and through as traditional budgeting policies has a way of nixing with these new policy directions, an observer of the newly crafted plan commented.

“If you choose to adopt now, and invest on adaptation now, you can reduce the cost on the GDP, but it requires action,” she emphasized adding that the journalists here can play a great role in writing news about this, exerting pressure on to leaders and policy makers to act on the issue and walk the talk.

Several leaders and policy makers however think that the all-encompassing issue of climate change has been over-rated and is just a creation of the mind.

In Bohol, the issue has pushed Bohol Congressman Edgar Chatto, House of Representatives Chair for the Committee on Climate Change to encourage local government units to declare climate change emergency.

This as several of the province’s islets have already experienced sea levels rise and never been experienced before tidal surges that have breached their homes.

Typhoons have also become more powerful, which the unusually heavy rains off its season, have caused massive flooding and damaged crops, infrastructure and claimed lives.

And if LGUs continue to scoff at climate change and keep on to their business as usual attitude, in a decade, their budgets for development would be less than 11%, and this goes to unprecedented costs of post disaster response, which could have been prevented had the LGUs invested more on adaptation measures.

With this, the ambassador for the United Kingdon to the Philippines, who has identified herself as somebody strongly biased to sustainable environment through protection and conservation suggests LGUs to invest in climate resilient agriculture, disaster mitigation, investing in reforestations, addressing illegal mining and illegal deforestation, putting in place mangroves and moving communities when appropriate.

This however takes so much more in guts than the glory it would cause in the future.

Several of these adaptation measures take huge budgets, strong political will and innovative governance.

Relocation of high disaster-risk communities entail LGU investments on the resettlement site, on making the area habitable, connecting it to markets and highway access, and other infrastructure support.

While these also entail funding support, the British Government revealed its potential funds for projects in climate change adaptation side. (rahc/PIA_7/Bohol)

INVEST IN ADAPTATION NOW. British ambassador Laure Beaufils met Gov Aumentado and Bohol environment officials to discuss possible areas of cooperation between the British Government and the province in furtherance of its environment protection and conservation efforts. (RAHC/PIA_7/Bohol)