THE Climate Change Commission (CCC) said its disaster-risk reduction project has prepared some maps and guides on climate/disaster risk and vulnerability assessment, which will aid local planners in preparing their contingency plans. In a recent meeting in Tuguegarao City, Cagayan Valley, the CCC presented the outputs identified under the project.
Implemented by the CCC, Project Resilience Capacity Building for Cities and Municipalities to Reduce Disaster Risks from Climate Change and Natural Hazards Phase 1 (ReBUILD) aims to assess the disaster vulnerabilities of the cities and municipalities surrounding the Cagayan River Basin in Cagayan Valley in northeastern Luzon and the Jalaur River Basin in Iloilo province in Western Visayas to geological, meteorological and meteorologically induced hazards due to climate change.
The results will provide the basis for priority mitigation actions, such as community-based and managed early-warning systems and integrated contingency planning and mobilization. The project is being administered by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) with financial support from the New Zealand Aid Programme.
Among its accomplishments in 2014 was the generation of climate-adjusted flood inundation maps, along with the development of a practical guide on climate/disaster risk and vulnerability assessment, which will aid the local planners for better prepositioning in relation to climate-change impacts and disasters.
Joy Goco, deputy executive director of the Climate Change Office, said the climate-adjusted flood inundation maps not only show areas which are often flooded when the Cagayan and Jalaur rivers overflow, but also provide information on the depth of flood at specific locations.
“The maps will aid local planners in drawing up their respective contingency plans,” Goco said.
Guided by the map, the planners can identify elements exposed to risk, such as population, infrastructure and production areas. It can also be used in planning out evacuation procedures, which may include the route to be taken going to an evacuation center, Goco explained.
In collaboration with its local partners, Project ReBUILD is also implementing the Climate and Disaster Exposure Database (ClimEx.DB), which was developed by the CCC under one of its earlier undertakings, Project Climate Twin Phoenix, also an UNDP/Australian Agency for International Development-assisted project.
ClimEx.DB is an android-based application designed to help identify the most vulnerable population, infrastructure and economic/commercial/production areas, thus, providing valuable inputs to local government units’ land use and development planning while incorporating preventive measures to adapt to the effects of climate change.
Goco also explained that the intention of the CCC is to demonstrate what is workable and what is not, and develop policies or guidelines from documentation and lessons learned from its implementation.
It also intended to standardize the methodologies or processes used in building up the project’s exposure database under ClimEx.DB with other existing monitoring and survey mechanisms.
“The methodologies used by the Commission are science- and evidenced-based. There is a process observed in gathering data for the database,” Goco said, adding that the CCC will push this process to other government agencies.
“That is why, the Commission made it a point that relevant government agencies are represented and consulted in the process of its development,” she said.
UNDP Country Director Maurice Dewulf said Project ReBUILD is clearly a best practice, “a project that achieves.” He also expressed his support to its upscaling and in looking for donors to fund its remaining activities.