Dipolog City, a 3rd-class component city in Zamboanga del Norte Province, is the Philippine Winner of the World Wide Fund For Nature’s 2021-2022 One Planet City Challenge. Photo shows the Pagsalabuk Circle or the Dipolog Rotunda, a symbol of diverse culture representing the Muslim, Subanen, and Christian people of the city. (Photo from the Dipolog City Government)

This article first appeared in WWF Philippines. 

Dipolog City in the Southern Philippines is the national winner of the  World Wide Fund for Nature’s (WWF) 2021-2022 One Planet City Challenge (OPCC). Representatives from Dipolog attended the OPCC Global Awarding Ceremony in Helsingborg, Sweden last June 2 to receive the city’s award.

Rounding up the list of Philippine national finalists were Quezon City in Metro Manila and Davao City also from the Southern Philippines. Other country qualifiers for the 2021-2022 OPCC included Baguio, Batangas, Cagayan de Oro, Legazpi, Makati, Ormoc, Pasig, San Carlos,  San Fernando (La Union), Santa Rosa, Tagum, Zamboanga, and Vigan.

Participating cities were judged against comprehensive criteria, including ambitious climate targets, bold leadership, ability to meet upcoming challenges, and a holistic climate action plan that is well balanced towards their goals.

The international judges of the OPCC Core Team hailed Dipolog City’s bold emissions reductions plan which aligns with the global goal of limiting global warming to 1.5°C. Additionally, Dipolog showcased various innovative and impactful action plans to achieve its mitigation and long term co-benefit targets.

One Planet Cities Project Manager for WWF-Philippines Imee Bellen hopes that more Philippine cities will participate in OPCC in the future. “This is an example that shows OPCC is not about being the most advanced city, but it’s about how holistic the local governments plan for their cities towards low-carbon development,” she said.

One Planet City Challenge is a friendly global competition initiated by WWF to recognize cities for their climate actions and ambitions and assess whether they align with the goals outlined in the Paris Agreement in limiting climate change to 1.5 °C. Since its inception 10 years ago, close to 600 cities from 53 countries on 5 continents have already participated in this challenge.

Read the full article HERE.