Provincial Government of Albay and the Center for Initiatives And

Home , Albay, Bicol Region, Burias Pass, Camarines Sur, Joey Salceda

Strengthening Climate Resilience Provincial Government of Albay and the SCR Center for Initiatives and Research on Climate Adaptation Case Study Summary PHILIPPINES

Which of the three pillars does this project or policy intervention best illustrate?

Tackling Exposure to Changing Hazards and Disaster Impacts Enhancing Adaptive Capacity Addressing Poverty, Vulnerabil- ity and their Causes

In 2008, the Province of Albay in the Philippines was declared a "Global Local Government Unit (LGU) model for Climate Change Adapta- tion" by the UN-ISDR and the World Bank. The province has boldly initiated many innovative approaches to tackling disaster risk reduction (DRR) and climate change adaptation (CCA) in Albay and continues to integrate CCA into its current DRM structure. Albay maintains its position as the first mover in terms of climate smart DRR by implementing good practices to ensure zero casualty during calamities, which is why the province is now being recognized throughout the world as a local government exemplar in Climate Change Adap- tation. It has pioneered in mainstreaming “Think Global Warming. Act Local Adaptation.” CCA in the education sector by developing a curriculum to teach CCA from -- Provincial Government of Albay the primary level up which will be imple- Through the leadership of Gov. Joey S. Salceda, Albay province has become the first province to mented in schools beginning the 2010 proclaim climate change adaptation as a governing policy, and the Provincial Government of Albay schoolyear. Countless information, education and communication activities have (PGA) was unanimously proclaimed as the first and pioneering prototype for local Climate Change been organized to create climate change Adaptation. Ms. Nileema Noble of the UNDP Millenium Development Goal Fund also stated that awareness in the province. Albay has "Albay is a model province for climate change adaptation." The Albay Agenda set aims to improve on the proactively partnered and cooperated environment, education and economy, and is a framework for other national climate change initiatives. with educational institutions, various The Albay Strategy is devoted to economic development, social development and socio-economic government agencies and departments, growth. The province has launched the Albay in Action on Climate Change (A2C2) program scientific organizations, international and and embedded disaster risk reduction to promote climate-proofing and disaster-proofing into its devel- local NGOs, private/business sectors to opment. Through it, the province has spearheaded several programs and activities on promoting and implement climate change adaptation mainstreaming disaster risk reduction (DRR) and climate change adaptation (CCA) into its develop- actions all over the province. Albay continues to invest in strengthening its ca- ment plans; climate smart programs on information and awareness raising; climate smart programs for pacity to use modern technology for health, quality education, housing for resettlement, water, sanitation and hygiene; resilient livelihood climate forecasting, early warning, and programs and agriculture, fishery and forestry support; and local policy building. The Philippines’ Cli- land use planning. The province has also mate Change Act of 2009 took inspiration from the Albay Declaration, the outcome document successfully integrated resilient liveli- of the First National Conference on Climate Change Adaptation in 2007 which the Albay hood into its climate change adaptation province initiated, calling for “the passage of a policy prioritizing climate change adaptation in the na- strategy through programs like "river tional agenda”. The Albay Declaration catalyzed the mainstreaming of climate change into the local and and canal clean-up" coupled as a "food national development policies as both Congressional houses recognized the declaration as the national for work" activity. It has actively sup- framework for the mainstreaming of global warming leading to climate change adaptation. In 2009, the ported changes in policy to support CCA and contributed to calls for the Second National Conference on Climate Change Adaptation has seen the turnover of the 2009 Manila enactment of several bills on climate Declaration on Climate Change Adaptation to the country’s former President Gloria Arroyo. change at the national level.

the east by the Pacific Ocean, Ocean, Pacific the by east the province of Albay. Albay. of province the in initiatives and

Sorsogon on the south. It is bounded on on bounded is It south. the on Sorsogon better climate risk adaptation; and support mitigation projects projects mitigation support and adaptation; risk climate better

inces of Camarines Sur on the north and and north the on Sur Camarines of inces plore concrete policy studies that will support support will that studies policy concrete plore ex and conduct adaptation;

ince of Albay is located between the prov- the between located is Albay of ince se of the province on climate change change climate on province the of se knowledge-ba interdisciplinary the hance

which annually hit the country. The prov- The country. the hit annually which the province; en- province; the in institutions nical tech and vocational tertiary, secondary, mary,

suffers the brunt of tropical cyclones cyclones tropical of brunt the suffers in the basic academic curricula for the pri- the for curricula academic basic the in adaptation change climate mainstream groups;

region where Albay province is located located is province Albay where region aptation by enhancing resilience of the most vulnerable vulnerable most the of resilience enhancing by aptation ad risk climate promote change;

mate variability and extremes. The Bicol Bicol The extremes. and variability mate capabilities of farmers and fisherfolk to adapt to climate climate to adapt to fisherfolk and farmers of capabilities the enhance climate; changing a

pines has a long history of adapting to cli- to adapting of history long a has pines ess of the various sectors of the threats by by threats the of sectors various the of ess awaren enhance to aims Centre the Specifically,

vulnerable to climate change. The Philip- The change. climate to vulnerable gion, with comprehensive ties to other local government units and educational institutions. institutions. educational and units government local other to ties comprehensive with gion,

ral ecosystems and local communities are are communities local and ecosystems ral when it comes to climate change in the re- the in change climate to comes it when authorities leading the of one now is CIRCA

pines showed that water resources, natu- resources, water that showed pines

the country. Recent studies in the Philip- the in studies Recent country. the lenges due to climate change. change. climate to due lenges

change will exacerbate existing stresses in in stresses existing exacerbate will change agriculture, forestry, fisheries, energy and eco-cultural tourism in the light of growing chal- growing of light the in tourism eco-cultural and energy fisheries, forestry, agriculture,

million people. It is expected that climate climate that expected is It people. million strengthen the capacity for research and project/program implementation in sustainable sustainable in implementation project/program and research for capacity the strengthen

asters killed or disrupted the lives of 35 35 of lives the disrupted or killed asters ability of Albay residents and Filipinos in general to cope with climate risks. It also aims to to aims also It risks. climate with cope to general in Filipinos and residents Albay of ability

matically. From 1990 to 2000, natural dis- natural 2000, to 1990 From matically. change adaptation. Its goal is to enhance the the enhance to is goal Its adaptation. change climate with deal to up set Region Asian east

asters in the Philippines has increased dra- increased has Philippines the in asters institution of its kind not only in the Philippines but also in the South- the in also but Philippines the in only not kind its of institution first the is CIRCA

The risk to human life due to natural dis- natural to due life human to risk The

Government of Albay. Albay. of Government

Los Banos (UPLB), and the Albay in Action on Climate Change (A2C2) of the Provincial Provincial the of (A2C2) Change Climate on Action in Albay the and (UPLB), Banos Los

Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF), Bicol University (BU) and the University of the Philippines Philippines the of University the and (BU) University Bicol (ICRAF), Centre Agroforestry

2015. 2015.

institution, in collaboration with the Environment Management Bureau (EMB), World World (EMB), Bureau Management Environment the with collaboration in institution,

opment Goals targeted to be achieved by by achieved be to targeted Goals opment

in 2008, a living research and training training and research living a 2008, in (CIRCA) Adaptation Climate on Research

in line with the country's Millenium Devel- Millenium country's the with line in

The provincial government of Albay established the the established Albay of government provincial The Center for Initiatives and and Initiatives for Center

its programs, activities and strategies are are strategies and activities programs, its

CIRCA CIRCA

seeks to ensure that the province, through through province, the that ensure to seeks

opment) Office, the Albay MDG Office Office MDG Albay the Office, opment)

disaster risk reduction strategies. strategies. reduction risk disaster

(social and socio-economic devel- socio-economic and (social buhay”

Disaster Coordinating Councils (LDCCs), (LDCCs), Councils Coordinating Disaster

technical support to LGU’s and NGOs on on NGOs and LGU’s to support technical

"Albay Maybuhay May Hanap- May Maybuhay "Albay the Formerly

safety in coordination with the Local Local the with coordination in safety

ties; and many others. It also provides provides also It others. many and ties;

of disaster risk management and public public and management risk disaster of

coordination of disaster response activi- response disaster of coordination

. . Office (MDG)

delivery of services to the public in terms terms in public the to services of delivery

mitigation; overall administration/ overall mitigation;

Millenium Development Goal Development Millenium a

administers and supervises the systematic systematic the supervises and administers

training and public awareness on disaster disaster on awareness public and training

in the world to establish establish to world the in first the is Albay

It It Albay. of Council Coordinating Disaster cial

on geo-strategic interventions; community community interventions; geo-strategic on

In line with this, this, with line In mortality. and health and

Provin- the support to arm administrative

tance to cities; policy development, policy policy development, policy cities; to tance

cation; gender equity and empowerment; empowerment; and equity gender cation;

serves as the technical secretariat and and secretariat technical the as serves

in LGUs, road safety and technical assis- technical and safety road LGUs, in

treme poverty and hunger; universal edu- universal hunger; and poverty treme

ized as an independent department that that department independent an as ized

administration; education & training / drills drills / training & education administration;

formulation of its CCA strategies on ex- on strategies CCA its of formulation

lished in 1994, the APSEMO was organ- was APSEMO the 1994, in lished

and mapping, research & planning for crisis crisis for planning & research mapping, and

change which has greatly influenced the the influenced greatly has which change

Estab- (APSEMO). Office agement

assessment; documentation of risk areas areas risk of documentation assessment;

analysis of the potential impacts of climate climate of impacts potential the of analysis

Public Safety and Emergency Man- Emergency and Safety Public

operations, and recovery, such as hazard hazard as such recovery, and operations,

Development Goals (MDG) as the basis of of basis the as (MDG) Goals Development

Albay Albay the as known now is what into ized

disaster risk reduction, disaster response response disaster reduction, risk disaster

The province has adapted the Millenium Millenium the adapted has province The

been institutional- been since has PDMO The

er risk management, management, risk er disast / risk climate

Albay MDG Office Office MDG Albay

on disaster preparedness & mitigation, mitigation, & preparedness disaster on

ized office to coordinate such tasks. tasks. such coordinate to office ized The APSEMO performs various activities activities various performs APSEMO The

more efficient management. management. efficient more

province in Bicol that has an institutional- an has that Bicol in province

dination of the various institutions for for institutions various the of dination

and recovery. Albay is the the is Albay recovery. and and only only and first to coordinate such tasks. tasks. such coordinate to

ment and strengthened the effective coor- effective the strengthened and ment

preparedness and emergency response response emergency and preparedness management office at the provincial level level provincial the at office management

province’s programs on disaster manage- disaster on programs province’s

rvention on disaster disaster on rvention inte efficient an mote Bicol that has an institutionalized disaster disaster institutionalized an has that Bicol

ent body has ensured the continuity of the the of continuity the ensured has body ent

ordinates the various stakeholders to pro- to stakeholders various the ordinates communities. Albay is the only province in in province only the is Albay communities.

Albay. The establishment of this independ- this of establishment The Albay.

in Albay effectively co- effectively Albay in (PDMO) Office tion and rehabilitation of disaster-stricken disaster-stricken of rehabilitation and tion

capability of the provincial government of of government provincial the of capability

Provincial Disaster Management Management Disaster Provincial The

and NGOs. It also facilitates the restora- the facilitates also It NGOs. and

disaster management management disaster the strengthened has

PDMO and APSEMO APSEMO and PDMO PHIVOLCS, PAGASA, Governor’s Office Office Governor’s PAGASA, PHIVOLCS,

APSEMO as one independent department department independent one as APSEMO

The institutionalization of the PDMO into into PDMO the of institutionalization The Institutional Initiatives in DRR and CCA and DRR in Initiatives Institutional

Albay Action on Climate Change (A2C2)

Albay has implemented a pioneering programme on climate change adaptation called the “Albay in Action on Climate Change (A2C2).” It aims to embed disaster risk reduction to enforce climate-proofing and disaster-proofing of development. It does so by spearheading local initiatives to address problems related to climate change. The initiative not only localizes the responses to the problems of climate change but also helps inform the public of the negative impacts of climate change on their lives and communities.

The A2C2 approach includes the implementation of CCA programs in the curricula of all schools, colleges and universities in Albay, IEC drive on climate change, and disaster risk mitigation and policy formulation in addressing the potential impact of climate change. Some of the other programs under the A2C2 initiative include the Rapid Earth- quake Devise Assessment System (REDAS) with Phivolcs; Climate Proofing program under the United Nations De- velopment Program (UNDP) and the formulation of a Comprehensive Land Use Plan (CLUP) for the province and for all towns and cities; and the SMART Infoboard where some 15,000 SIM cards were distributed to village officials for fast disaster information services.

The A2C2 initiative also serves as a local network in the province that would guide officials in crafting policies and legislation on climate change. One of the policies established under this strategy is Special Proclamation Resolution 2007-04 which stipulates that all businesses to be established in the province should be consistent with climate change adaptation otherwise it will not be granted a business permit to operate. Albay, through CIRCA and the A2C2 initiative, hosted two separate national conferences that resulted in the Albay 2007 and Manila 2009 Declarations which has become a tool for the early passage of the Climate Change Act and the creation of the Climate Change Commission which is the sole national-level policy-making body tasked to coordinate, monitor and evaluate the programs and

action plans of the government relating to climate change. Through CIRCA, the province of Albay continues to implement programs on CCA under this initiative.

on the northeast by Lagonoy Gulf, west the province and the Philippines as a and southwest by Burias Pass. Albay has a whole, form in the Pacific Ocean, and land area of 2,552.6 square kilometers. move in a west-northwest direction, many About 50% of its total land area is mainly times the wind intensifying to speeds of devoted to agriculture – with coconut and 200 kph. coco-based products as its major com- modities, followed by corn and rice. As of Each year, circa 198,000 houses are at risk May 2000, Albay has a total population of of destruction from storm surges and at circa 1 million, which makes it the 22nd least 350,000 people need to be evacu- most populous province in the country. ated. Another 300,000 of the population Given its geographical location, Albay are at risk of tsunami. And with an active along with the rest of Bicol region is highly volcano in its midst, three cities and five vulnerable to natural disasters. municipalities are at risk of volcanic erup- tions. An estimated 127 villages or 11,000 Albay is especially vulnerable to tropical to 12,000 families are also at risk of mud- storms and cyclones, which bring destruc- slides and eight municipalities and two tive winds, heavy rainfall and storm cities are at risk of floods. surges several times a year. Typhoons affecting 3

Rivers, Canals, Shorelines project project Shorelines Canals, Rivers,

doing their part during the Linis Kalog or Clean up of of up Clean or Kalog Linis the during part their doing

discussion discussion of the 1st Anniv. of the Natl. Conf. on CCA; Communities Communities CCA; on Conf. Natl. the of Anniv. 1st the of

Climate Change Adaptation roundtable roundtable Adaptation Change Climate ing in Polanqui Bay; First Mayon Trail Run in celebration celebration in Run Trail Mayon First Bay; Polanqui in ing

winner of the Mural Painting competition; Mangrove plant- Mangrove competition; Painting Mural the of winner opment Practitioners on DRR and and DRR on Practitioners opment

in education; First-prize First-prize education; in CCA mainstreaming for teachers

First Scientist and Community Devel- Community and Scientist First ♦ ♦

From topmost right, clockwise: During the training of of training the During clockwise: right, topmost From

and Local Government (DILG)-Albay (DILG)-Albay Government Local and

continued on page 5 5 page on continued

ship with the Department of Interior Interior of Department the with ship

Climate Change Adaptation in partner- in Adaptation Change Climate System (REDAS) Software Training in in Training Software (REDAS) System

tatives of barangays / communities on on communities / barangays of tatives Rapid Earthquake Damage Assessment Assessment Damage Earthquake Rapid ♦ ♦

Training / Workshop for 720 represen- 720 for Workshop / Training ♦ ♦

and training needs. needs. training and

protect the Coastal areas of Albay Albay of areas Coastal the protect needs, food assistance, technological technological assistance, food needs,

Ten Million Mangrove Trees project to to project Trees Mangrove Million Ten ♦ ♦ and fisher folks in their agricultural agricultural their in folks fisher and

form farm clusters to assist farmers farmers assist to clusters farm form

and San Miguel; Miguel; San and tation Program (AIARP) established to to established (AIARP) Program tation

islands of Cagraray, Rapu-Rapu, Batan Batan Rapu-Rapu, Cagraray, of islands Albay Integrated Agricultural Rehabili- Agricultural Integrated Albay ♦ ♦

Cultural Tourism potential of the the of potential Tourism Cultural

CRABS Project to enhance the Eco- the enhance to Project CRABS ♦ ♦ house gas emissions emissions gas house

fossil fuels by rice hull to reduce green- reduce to hull rice by fuels fossil

resilience through climate adaptation. adaptation. climate through resilience tor) is practicing the substitution of of substitution the practicing is tor)

passes ten primary measures to build build to measures primary ten passes Palanog Cement Factory (Business Sec- (Business Factory Cement Palanog ♦ ♦

which encom- which Development tainable

Ten Commandments for Sus- for Commandments Ten theme: the cleanup cleanup

colleges and universities in Albay with with Albay in universities and colleges “food for work” program for river river for program work” for “food

Climate Change Adaptation among among Adaptation Change Climate tion and at the same time to support a a support to time same the at and tion

First Mural Painting Competition on on Competition Painting Mural First ♦ ♦ to promote environmental conserva- environmental promote to

(Clean up of Rivers, Canals, Shorelines) Shorelines) Canals, Rivers, of up (Clean

all provinces across the country. country. the across provinces all LINIS KALOG or the Linis Kanal at Ilog Ilog at Kanal Linis the or KALOG LINIS ♦ ♦

tertiary education to be replicated in in replicated be to education tertiary

Curriculum of primary, secondary and and secondary primary, of Curriculum WARNING MONITORING SYSTEM SYSTEM MONITORING WARNING

Mainstreaming of Climate Change into into Change Climate of Mainstreaming publicly available for the EARLY EARLY the for available publicly

Philippines Los Baños-UPLBFI for the the for Baños-UPLBFI Los Philippines Mobile phone sim pack (SMART) made made (SMART) pack sim phone Mobile ♦ ♦

Albay-CIRCA and the University of the the of University the and Albay-CIRCA

fluorescent Lamp (CFL) Lamp fluorescent established between the Province of of Province the between established

“PALIT-ILAW” promoting compact compact promoting “PALIT-ILAW” Agreement and Understanding was was Understanding and Agreement

Energy Efficient Lighting Systems (EEL) (EEL) Systems Lighting Efficient Energy In line with this, a Memorandum of of Memorandum a this, with line In

tive implementation of its campaign on on campaign its of implementation tive riculum and trained teachers to use it. it. use to teachers trained and riculum

Transformation Project for the effec- the for Project Transformation rated CCA in the basic education cur- education basic the in CCA rated

through its Philippine Efficient Lighting Lighting Efficient Philippine its through the education sector, having incorpo- having sector, education the

with the Department of Energy Energy of Department the with stream climate change adaptation in in adaptation change climate stream

Albay is the first LGU to sign a MOA MOA a sign to LGU first the is Albay Albay is the first province to main- to province first the is Albay ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦

Some Local Adaptation Actions Adaptation Local Some

and Technology-PHILVOCS; Albay Gov. Joey Salceda during the 2nd National Conference on Climate Change Change Climate on Conference National 2nd the during Salceda Joey Gov. Albay Technology-PHILVOCS; and

Use Plan. Plan. Use

aining in partnership with Department of Science Science of Department with partnership in aining Tr Software (REDAS) System Assessment Damage Earthquake

Comprehensive Land Land Comprehensive

ate Change Adaptation Training for Agriculture; Rapid Rapid Agriculture; for Training Adaptation Change ate Clim & Reduction Risk Climate right: topmost From

software for revisiting the the revisiting for software

lnerability Assessments using SimCLIM software. software. SimCLIM using Assessments lnerability Vu and Impacts Change Climate on Training province; in the country using the SimCLIM SimCLIM the using country the in

ence on Climate Change Adaptation initiated by Albay Albay by initiated Adaptation Change Climate on ence Confer National 1st discussion; roundtable Adaptation

ippines. Albay is also the only province province only the also is Albay ippines.

From topmost left: 1st Scientist and Community Development Practitioners on DRR/CRR and Climate Change Change Climate and DRR/CRR on Practitioners Development Community and Scientist 1st left: topmost From

software modeling system for the Phil- the for system modeling software

ment to create a customized SimCLIM SimCLIM customized a create to ment

is proposing to the national govern- national the to proposing is

ses, impact and others. CIRCA in Albay Albay in CIRCA others. and impact ses,

level change, conduct sensitivity analy- sensitivity conduct change, level

create scenarios of climate and sea sea and climate of scenarios create

ture adaptation, adaptation, ture fu and present tigate

tremes, present and future risks, inves- risks, future and present tremes,

climate and current variability and ex- and variability current and climate

It has the capacity to assess baseline baseline assess to capacity the has It

spatial resolution and to attach models. models. attach to and resolution spatial

ize the model for geographical area and and area geographical for model the ize

system which allows users to custom- to users allows which system

CLIM is an open framework modeling modeling framework open an is CLIM

and disaster risk management. Sim- management. risk disaster and

on and mitigation, mitigation, and on adaptati change mate

country to use the SimCLIM for cli- for SimCLIM the use to country

making Albay the first LGU in the the in LGU first the Albay making

ability and change over time and space, space, and time over change and ability

examining the effects of climate vari- climate of effects the examining

ware, a computer model system for for system model computer a ware,

utilize the customized SimCLIM soft- SimCLIM customized the utilize

LGUs were trained to operate and and operate to trained were LGUs

SimCLIM technology in the country. country. the in technology SimCLIM

first application of the world leading leading world the of application first

velopment Goal Fund have initiated the the initiated have Fund Goal velopment

Australia, APN and the Millenium De- Millenium the and APN Australia,

Banos, University of Sunshine Coast Coast Sunshine of University Banos,

University of the Philippines in Los Los in Philippines the of University

and CIRCA in partnership with the the with partnership in CIRCA and

The provincial Government of Albay Albay of Government provincial The ♦ ♦

nism for enforcement; etc. etc. enforcement; for nism

burning” and provision of local mecha- local of provision and burning”

ment law for the banning of “open “open of banning the for law ment

RA 9003 or the Solid Waste Manage- Waste Solid the or 9003 RA

strengthen Sec. 48. Item 3 Chapter 6 of of 6 Chapter 3 Item 48. Sec. strengthen

within 5 years; SP Ordinance to to Ordinance SP years; 5 within

of clean energy for all energy users users energy all for energy clean of

climate change adaptation, and the use use the and adaptation, change climate for Better Governance. Governance. Better for

(CLUP) for disaster risk reduction and and reduction risk disaster for (CLUP) change through Capacity Development Development Capacity through change

Albay's Comprehensive Land Use Plan Plan Use Land Comprehensive Albay's level bearing the brunt of climate climate of brunt the bearing level

pertains to the updating and review of of review and updating the to pertains sectors, from the local to national national to local the from sectors,

as SP Ordinance 2007-51, a policy that that policy a 2007-51, Ordinance SP as which will serve all vulnerable groups/ vulnerable all serve will which

support climate change adaptation such such adaptation change climate support academy on climate change adaptation adaptation change climate on academy

Institutionalization of local policies that that policies local of Institutionalization ♦ ♦ government units. This will be the first first the be will This units. government

Climate Change Academy for local local for Academy Change Climate

the first Disaster Risk Reduction and and Reduction Risk Disaster first the tistics with PAG-ASA-DOST. PAG-ASA-DOST. with tistics

now pushing for the establishment of of establishment the for pushing now Localized Climate Forecasting and Sta- and Forecasting Climate Localized

for Climate Adaptation (CIRCA) is is (CIRCA) Adaptation Climate for Science and Technology-PHILVOCS. Technology-PHILVOCS. and Science

The Center for Initiatives and Research Research and Initiatives for Center The ♦ ♦ partnership with the Department of of Department the with partnership from page 4 4 page from Lessons Learned

The experience of the province of Albay shows the key role that local governments can play in promoting climate change adaptation. Several lessons emerge from their experi- Good Practices on DRR ence. ♦ Organized Local DCCs and redefined ♦ First, provinces which experience frequent and severe climate hazards are more likely functional roles and responsibilities of to be aware and responsive to the need for climate change adaptation. Since Albay is the DCC members and task units already experiencing climate-related disasters, its leadership realizes the importance ♦ Established Policy on Operational of building resilience to climate risks. It doesn’t take a great leap of imagination for Control and Protocol them to see how climate change could make the situation worse. Thus, in prioritizing ♦ areas for implementing climate change adaptation programs, focus should be on those Hazard awareness through Commu- areas already experiencing climatic stress. Aside from being more receptive, they also nity-Based trainings and seminars need assistance in many cases to cope with current climatic stresses. By building their ♦ DRR integration in the Comprehen- resilience through innovation and holistic programming—lessons learnt can be repli- sive Land Use Plan (CLUP) cated and scaled up. ♦ Institutionalization of the Albay PDMO now APSEMO ♦ Second, local government units at the provincial level (meso level) do have resources ♦ Community-Based Early Warning Sys- to commit to climate change adaptation. In a very short period of time, the Albay lo- tem, Communication Protocol and cal government has mobilized significant financial resources from the public and pri- Evacuation Procedures vate sector mainstreaming climate change in the Philippines. An added advantage is ♦ Good working relationship between that the provincial level has the political clout to ensure action at the local level. Since APSEMO, Warning Agencies and the there relatively few provinces (73 in the Philippines) working with at that level could Local Media be the most cost-effective way as opposed to thousands of municipalities and villages. ♦ Established Disaster Operation Cen- In short, the meso level administrative level (such as a province) could provide the ter as the hub of action and the cen- most effective means of mainstreaming climate change. ter for emergency coordination and communication ♦ Third, “champions” from meso level government units such as Albay province could ♦ Cluster Approach on Recovery be key to mainstreaming climate change adaptation in at risk countries. The governor Program of Albay has a very high awareness of climate change issues vis-à-vis sustainable devel- ♦ Conduct of “pre calamity work” opment. He was willing to commit time and resources to prioritize and address by evacuating people in high risk areas climate change not only in the provincial agenda but also in the national development even at the early stage of an impend- and policy agenda. ing hazard event. This practice has met the province’s target of zero ♦ Fourth, there is opportunity to integrate climate change adaptation in existing disas- casualty during a recent hazard ter risk management (DRM) institutions and programs and this provides an opportu- event. nity to build from existing structures and actors to holistically address climate risks.

Resources:

“The Role of Local Government Units in Main- streaming Climate Change Adaptation in the Philip- pines” by RD Lasco, M Rangasa, FB Pulhin, RJ Delfino, World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF), La- guna, Philippines; Centre for Initiatives and Re- search on Climate Adaptation (CIRCA) Albay, Philippines

This case study summary was published through the Strengthen- News / Articles from the website of the Albay ing Climate Resilience programme for the SCR Regional Consul- Provincial Government website at tation in Bangkok, Thailand, 22-23 July 2010. http://www.albay.gov.ph/ For more information on Albay, Strengthening Climate Resilience (SCR) is a DfID funded programme that aims to please contact: enhance the ability of governments and civil-society organisations in developing countries to build the resilience of communities to disasters and climate change as part of their development Centre for Initiatives and work. The programme seeks to develop a ‘climate smart’ approach to managing disaster risk Research on Climate Adaptation and development with the aim to protect society from the threats posed by climate change. Albay Capitol Annex 2, Legazpi City, Albay, Philippines For more information on SCR, please contact Mr. Atiq Kainan Ahmed, Plan International, Asia Regional Office, email: [email protected] Mr. Manuel “Nong” Rangasa Executive Director, CIRCA Phone: (+63-52) 480-3649 / 435-0260 Fax: (+63-52) 480-3444 6