DAVAO ORIENTAL – In the face of the climate change, local officials and key agencies have taken steps to ensure that communities here become more disaster-resilient and are able to adapt to this global phenomenon which already has observable effects on the environment.
Just recently, the Provincial Government through its Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office conducted a five-day Local Climate Change Action Plan (LCCAP) Workshop, which is the initial stage in coming up with a comprehensive plan that bids to help local government units in lessening the impacts of climate change in the communities.
During the workshop, participants who are composed of representatives of various provincial offices and national agencies were guided through the steps in the formulation of the plan as they were made to assess their areas’ risks and vulnerabilities, set targets, and identify local priority actions.
Resource person from the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) Region 8 Boris Pascubillo underscored the importance of mainstreaming disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation in the development plans of Local Government Units.
He said that while the realization of LCCAP is mandated under the law for LGUs to comply with, they are responsible of making sure that communities’ vulnerability on disasters is reduced. “The plan aims to lessen impact of hazards,” he said.
He added that LGUs should also involve and collaborate with the communities in the planning process so that the communities themselves will take initiatives to mitigate and lessen impacts of disasters brought by climate change.
While the Province of Davao Oriental has now been considered an area prone to disasters given its geographic location that faces the Pacific Ocean, having the longest coastline, and recent history of the occurrence of disasters such as the typhoon Pablo in 2012, DILG Provincial Director Yvette T. Sunga emphasized the need for proactive disaster preparedness as she underlined the role of the local officials here in disaster mitigation.
“Through this workshop we are capacitating and ensuring that the said plan is mainstreamed in the LGU. But it is the LGU and other stakeholders who should form part in the formulation and give the rightful data,” she said.
“Everything is really how well our officials are doing in terms of governance,” she added.
Following the workshop, a series of activities is expected to be conducted in the following months before the final plan will be approved. Activities include is the creation of a database, gathering and analyzing information, creation of concrete LCCA plan, and budgeting. The province hopes to have the plan approved before the year ends.
