The La Liga Policy Institute (La Liga) made the call as Typhoon Pedring wrought havoc in Luzon last week, with estimated damage to properties and agriculture, reaching at least P1 billion.
The group, which acts as the convening organization of the Environment Cluster of the Alternative Budget Initiative (ABI) identified budget items with a total amount of at least P1 billion in the 2012 National Expenditure Program as potential climate change-related funds which can be used to strengthen the country’s institutional capacity to adapt to climate change next year.
In particular, La Liga appealed to Budget Secretary Florencio Abad and Environment Secretary Ramon Paje, who is also the head of the Cabinet cluster on climate change, as well as Secretary Lucille Sering of the Climate Change Commission (CCC), the over-all coordinating body when it comes to climate change, to initiate coordination efforts to ensure the accountability of climate-change-related funds and ensure participation of and cooperation with citizens groups for climate-change budget execution, monitoring and tracking.
Jonathan Ronquillo, environment campaigner of La Liga, said the total amount was tagged from different budget line items in 14 departments, agencies and bureaus with climate-change mandates.
The group believes that such budget should be released on time, and used according to its purpose that is to strengthen the country’s adaptive and coping capacity to the worse type of natural and man-made disasters.
“Tagging the climate change-related fund in the annual appropriation gives citizens organizations and national line agencies a guide and handle as to how much funds can be tapped or be made available in the NEP for allocation that will finance the implementation of the National Climate Change Action Plan,” Ronquillo explained.
He said the budget tagged by the group provides an important indicator for local governments to understand how much funds for climate-change initiatives and programs are allocated in the 2012 NEP, which they can maximize as possible sources to co-finance LGU-initiated local environment projects.
