Legarda Sponsors PHL Resolution on Reg’l Cooperation on Climate and Disaster Resilience at 26th Asia-Pacific Parliamentary Forum
January 20, 2018
Senator Loren Legarda, Head of Philippine Delegation, today sponsored the Philippine-initiated “Resolution Calling for Regional Cooperation on Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) and Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation (CCAM)” at the 26th Annual Meeting of the Asia-Pacific Parliamentary Forum (APPF) in Hanoi, Vietnam.
The Resolution acknowledges that climate change is an urgent and growing threat common to all nations and requires international cooperation for coordinated response.
Legarda, Chair of the Senate Committees on Foreign Relations, Finance and Climate Change, noted that the Asia-Pacific region continues to be the world’s most disaster-prone region, accounting for 91 percent of the world’s total deaths due to disasters in the last century[1] and that due to climate and disaster risks, the region is expected to bear 40 percent of global economic losses from disasters from 2015-2030[2].
“As citizens of a region that bears the brunt of disaster and climate impacts, we need to take greater and more ambitious climate action—such that inspires the rest of the world to do the same. We need to transform our region from being climate-vulnerable to being climate-smart and climate-resilient,” said Legarda, UNISDR Global Champion for Resilience and UNFCCC National Adaptation Plan Champion.
“We have to further integrate CCAM and DRR into our respective country’s development agenda, plans, policies, programs, and investments at the national and local levels. We need to draw strength from each other, to intensify cooperation in the aspects of finance, technology, and capacity-building, with the view of mobilizing resources, leveraging knowledge, and exchanging best practices in CCAM and DRR,” she explained.
The Philippine Resolution states that aside from respective governments’ national efforts, there should be regional cooperation particularly in mobilizing stronger and more ambitious climate action in line with the inter-related global frameworks—the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015–2030, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and the Paris Agreement.
It also stresses the critical role of parliamentarians in building disaster and climate resilience through the areas of national legislation, budgetary allocation, oversight of government performance, and in safeguarding the integrity and domestic implementation of international agreements.
“As one region, we need to work towards a long-term legislative framework for action on climate change in the Asia-Pacific region in line with the global blueprints for disaster risk reduction, climate change, and sustainable development—including the fulfillment of our commitments in our respective Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) under the Paris Agreement,” said Legarda.
“We need to have one voice, to show our strength and resilience as a region, to inspire the rest of the world to protect and safeguard this one planet we call home,”Legarda concluded.
The Asia-Pacific Parliamentary Forum (APPF) is a forum that provides opportunities for parliamentarians of the Asia Pacific region to identify and discuss matters of common concern and interest and to highlight them in a global context. It was founded in 1993 by parliamentarians from 15 nations, including the Philippines.
The 26th Annual Meeting of the APPF from January 18-21, 2018 in Hanoi, Vietnam carries the theme, “Parliamentary Partnership: Peace, Innovation, and Sustainable Development.”