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IN the
face of mounting calls for countries to adopt green
policies, the National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB)
has identified a six-point strategy to improve
statistical standards in order to efficiently measure
the effect of climate change in the Philippines.
In a
technical paper titled “Gearing a National Statistical
System Toward the Measurement of the Impact of Climate
Change: The Case of the Philippines,” the NSCB presented
the mechanisms and structures deemed conducive to
involving the Philippine Statistical System (PSS) in the
measurement of the impacts of climate change, with
particular attention to the social impacts.
The
agency said these strategies are the integration of
climate-change issues into national and local
development plan and policies; the development of a
statistical framework and indicator system in
measuring/monitoring climate-change impacts; designation
of climate-change statistics; creation of standards and
classification systems; enhancement of the partnership
among government agencies, academe and research
institutions; and provision of additional research and
training.
The NSCB
said that while it is a known fact that climate change
adversely affects the country in the same way it affects
other developing economies, there are not enough quality
statistics available to measure these effects.
“Environmental statistics and, in particular, statistics
on climate change and its impacts are generally lacking
both in terms of quantity and quality, particularly in
developing countries. Part of the reason is that
national statistical agencies have not been sufficiently
involved in the generation of these statistics, not only
because of resource constraints but also because of lack
of subject-matter expertise,” the NSCB technical paper
stated.
In the
Philippines, the NSCB admitted that data on climate
change are few and face many challenges, such as the
lack of a statistical framework. There is difficulty
encountered because it cuts across sectors and requires
different types of expertise; and funding is not enough.
The
agency also said the coordination structure is
inefficient at the subnational level for the generation,
collection, compilation, reporting, dissemination and
utilization of climate-change and impact statistics.
The NSCB
traced this difficulty partly to the fact that some
government agencies like the Philippine Atmospheric,
Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa)
and the National Water Resources Board (NWRB) do not
have subnational offices. “Lack of coordination among
these agencies at the subnational local level may hinder
the collection of climate-change impact statistics,” the
NSCB said.
In this
regard, the NSCB recommended the inclusion of climate
change in national and local planning and policies. The
agency cited the need to create a national statistical
development cooperation program that will document key
data/capacity and deficiencies in the impact of
climate-change data generation and compilation.
The NSCB
said the program will include local database development
and vulnerability assessment to assist communities;
capacity building for the Department of Environment and
Natural Resources; and training of vulnerable
communities in conducting assessments, data gathering
and monitoring, as well as planning and decision-making
for risk management.
“Climate
change is a very complex issue. It is multidisciplinary
and interdisciplinary in nature. Policymakers need an
objective source of information about the causes of
climate change; its potential social, economic and
environmental consequences; and the adaptation and
mitigation options to respond to it,” the NSCB said.
Meanwhile, the NSCB said developing a statistical
framework would also help measure and monitor climate
change. The framework would provide the set or sets of
indicators to be measured in different points.
This, it
said, would provide a scale to be used to measure the
level of impact, adaptation and mitigation of climate
change.
The
technical paper was prepared for the International
Conference on Climate Change held from April 14 to 16 in
Oslo,
Norway.
The technical paper was coauthored by NSCB secretary
general Romulo Virola, assistant secretary general
Estrella Domingo, information technology officer II
Glenita Amoranto, and statistical coordination officer
IV Edward Lopez-Dee. |
