The Cebu Provincial Government spearheaded a multi-sectoral meeting aimed at sharing perspectives on climate risk and resilience strengthening for Bantayan Island last November 13, 2018, at Capitol Central Hotel and Suites.
The coordination meeting, titled Shared Perspective on Critical Climate Risks and Resilience Strengthening: Bantayan Island, was led by the Cebu Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (PDRRMO) headed by Baltazar Tribunalo.
“Impact (of disasters) depends on our capacity. With the increasing vulnerability, Integrated Risk Management or IRM is [a] key approach to resilience strengthening,” said Anat Prag, Cordaid Country Director for the Philippines.
IRM is the systematic integration of disaster risk reduction, climate change adaptation, and environmental management and restoration, and is founded on the analysis that risks are evolving causing increased disaster frequency and magnitude as climate change exacerbates hazards as do unabated ecosystem degradation.
An innovative approach–IRM prioritizes people at risk, building on local and traditional resources and knowledge. It also links humanitarian and development domains by focusing on livelihoods, addressing risk at landscape levels to manage and restore ecosystems, and integrating disciplines and approaches to encompass different risks.
PDRRMO and Cordaid, as a member of Partners for Resilience (PfR), promote IRM as a key approach to resilience strengthening.
The partnership started in January 2017 when the PDRRMO, Cordaid, and the local government unit of Santa Fe implemented IRM in Kinatarcan Island, followed by a participatory disaster risk assessment in the towns of Sante Fe and Bantayan. This was supported by the Archdiocese of Cebu-Recovery and Rehabilitation Unit.
In early 2018, Santa Fe used the results of risk mapping in formulating the Local Climate Change Action Plan with Climate Change Adaptation Framework. The town also conducted further studies on water resource as a critical element at risk and on Slow Onset Event with the Institute for Climate Sustainable Cities and Visayas State University
Initial recommendations from the study stated that addressing the risk should be for the entire Bantayan Island.
The Humanitarian Disaster Preparedness and Response Unit of the Ramon Aboitiz Foundation, Inc. (RAFI-HDPR) contributes to the effectiveness and efficiency of the disaster preparedness and surge capacity of the Local Government Units.
