MANILA, Philippines – President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Tuesday, October 15, urged delegations at a regional conference to put more investments and funding into disaster risk reduction efforts.
“We must significantly increase our investments and develop financing mechanisms in disaster risk reduction. Sustained and predictable data and financing would help address disaster risks better,” Marcos said during the opening ceremony of the Asia-Pacific Ministerial Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction (APMCDRR).
The President said developing countries, particularly least-developed countries, landlocked countries, and small island developing states must be provided greater access to such financing.
Marcos’ speech comes three months after the Philippines was selected to host the board of the Loss and Damage Fund, the global fund meant to help vulnerable nations deal with the adverse effects of climate change.
Environment Secretary Toni Yulo-Loyzaga earlier said the Philippines will host the next board meeting in December.
“We are hopeful for a Fund that will benefit climate vulnerable countries, many of whom are in our region,” Marcos said on Tuesday.
Loss and damage finance
Nations agreed at the last United Nations climate change conference or COP28 to operationalize the Loss and Damage Fund.
They also agreed on who will host the Santiago Network, which aims to connect vulnerable developing countries with providers of technical assistance needed to address loss and damage.
The Santiago Network, which was established at COP25, is meant to complement the Loss and Damage Fund.
Climate Change Commission Assistant Secretary Rommel Cuenca said the two are crucial for vulnerable countries like the Philippines.
“We see having a dedicated fund, which will benefit especially the most vulnerable countries, as very important mainly because then, vulnerable countries will not have to have to make a choice between pursuing the government pathways and having to rehabilitate or recover because then there is already a dedicated fund for the loss and damage aspects of when a cataclysmic event happens,” Cuenca said during a panel on loss and damage on Monday, October 14.
Tetet Lauron, who is part of the Advisory Board of the Santiago Network as representative of the women and gender constituency, said for both the fund and the network to be effective, they must be simple, accessible, and based on the needs and priorities of developing countries.
“It should be coherent and complementary by aligning technical assistance with the efforts to build capacity, and they should also support programmatic approaches of the fund and the funding arrangements,” said Lauron, who is also a consultant with the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation.
‘Pace too slow’
However, Lauron said both the Santiago Network and the Loss and Damage Fund have “grossly inadequate resources to carry out the scale of work expected of them and sustain it.”
For instance, out of the $40 million pledges made to the Santiago Network, she said only $7 million translated into actual contributions.
She also pointed out that only $700 million have been pledged so far to the Loss and Damage Fund “when the needs are in the trillions of dollars.”
“It is clear that the pace of action is far too slow and not commensurate with devastating climate impacts,” said Vanuatu’s Climate Change and Adapatation Minister John Salong, who was on the same panel as Cuenca and Lauron.
Vanuatu, among the most vulnerable to climate change and disasters, was the first country in the world to request technical assistance from the Santiago Network.
The Philippines is hosting the APMCDRR, the main platform in the region to monitor and review progress on the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction
The regional conference will run until Friday, October 18, at the Philippine International Convention Center. – Rappler.com