ICLEI SEA with participants of the third leg of the Climate and Disaster Risk Assessment (CDRA) capacity-building workshop for the local government of Legazpi City, Philippines last August 27-29, 2024 at Hotel Sentro, Legazpi City.
ICLEI Southeast Asia (SEA) continues to support six cities in the Philippines in building their capacity to assess climate and disaster risks and develop their Local Climate Change Action Plan (LCCAP) under the Climate Resilient Cities (CRC) project.
The CRC project aims to improve urban climate resilience in the Philippines by strengthening the capacity of six cities—namely, Batangas, Borongan, Cotabato, Iloilo, Legazpi, and Zamboanga—to adapt to, mitigate, and manage the impacts of climate change and disasters through a consultative and collaborative approach.
ICLEI SEA supports the CRC project by helping build the aforementioned local government unit’s (LGU) capacity for climate information generation, analysis, and use; and climate change adaptation (CCA) and climate change mitigation (CCM) planning.
Specifically, ICLEI SEA’s training program includes a series of workshops and writeshops that aim to develop a city’s Climate and Disaster Risk Assessment (CDRA) report and LCCAP, respectively.
ICLEI SEA recently conducted a writeshop for Zamboanga City last August 2024, which produced a draft of the city’s updated CDRA report, detailing the city’s climate change and hazard information and its potential impacts; exposure database to assess to the risk and vulnerability of five key aspects in a city (Population, Urban Use Areas, Natural Resource-based Production Areas, Critical Point Facilities, and Lifeline Utilities); CDRA for each aspect; and a summary of findings on priority decision areas identified by the LGU, including their determined climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction measures and policy options based on the findings.
Aside from the Zamboanga City LGU, the LGUs of Borongan City and Iloilo City have also completed the writeshop in July 2024 and November 2023, respectively. These three cities are scheduled to undergo the LCCAP workshops next.
In August 2024, ICLEI SEA also concluded the last CDRA capacity-building workshop for Legazpi City and Batangas City, which will be followed by a writeshop for each city.
As for the Cotabato City LGU, ICLEI SEA is scheduled to continue their CDRA training in 2025.
CDRA, LCCAP training
ICLEI SEA’s CDRA training sessions focus on enhancing the LGU’s technical capacity to conduct a CDRA, primarily using the methodologies and processes provided by the Philippine Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development (DHSUD).
Sessions of the training include discussions and activities on collecting and organizing climate change and hazard information; scoping the potential impacts of climate change and hazards; determining risks and vulnerabilities and generating CDRA maps and tables; mainstreaming CDRA findings in development planning; monitoring and evaluating the CDRA; and developing a CDRA communication plan.
Meanwhile, LCCAP training sessions focus on climate change adaptation and mitigation actions, including how to undertake community-level greenhouse gas (GHG) inventory accounting; prioritization of adaptation and mitigation actions, especially nature-based solutions, and the interdependency of these actions; and budgeting climate actions and developing a climate finance mobilization strategy.
Strengthening community resilience
By enhancing the capacity of the LGUs to update and improve their CDRA reports and LCCAPs, they can better fulfill their role as leaders in strengthening community resilience to climate change and the safety and development of their localities.
Funded by the US Agency for International Development (USAID), CRC is a five-year project implemented by a consortium led by Catholic Relief Services (CRS), with Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI), Philippine Disaster Resilience Foundation (PDRF), Conservation International (CI), and the Manila Observatory (MO).
The CRC project is currently in its third year of implementation.