Legarda: 2011-2016 Medium Term Development Plan Must be Disaster- Resilient

SENATOR LOREN LEGARDA HAS CALLED FOR THE REVIEW OF THE 2011-2016 MEDIUM-TERM PHILIPPINE DEVELOPMENT PLAN (MTPDP) TO FIND OUT IF CLIMATE CHANGE CONSIDERATIONS ARE INTEGRATED IN THE GOVERNMENT’S DEVELOPMENT STRATEGIES.
“The MTPDP outlines the national government’s economic and development priorities for the next six years. Thus, it is incumbent upon Congress to ensure that government policies are well in place to equip the country, especially the most vulnerable poor, for the impact of climate change,” the Senator explained.
In filing Senate Resolution 470, Legarda, Chair of the Senate Committee on Climate Change, pointed out that the government must ensure the achievement of disaster-resilient national progress through a climate change-sensitive development plan.
“Disasters clearly set back economic development, yet making disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation an element of the government’s poverty-reduction strategies can save us billions of reconstruction budget that can be used instead for other government priorities such as education, health, public infrastructure development, or agriculture and rural development,” she stressed.
Legarda said that the World Bank and the United Nations joint report Economics of Effective Prevention revealed that annual global losses from natural hazards could triple to US$ 185 billion by the end of the century, even without calculating the impact of climate change. Climate change could add another US$28-68 billion from tropical cyclones alone.
Moreover, the Asian Development Bank estimates that climate change will eventually cost six percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the Philippines without early adaptation action.
“The Climate Change Act of 2009 declared the integration of the concept of climate change in development plans by all agencies of the government as a State policy. The National Climate Change Action Plan shall be integrated into the MTPDP to harmonize strategies in addressing development gaps and climate impacts,” Legarda said.