Bohol has responded to the national call for local economic strength against the worsening risks of climate change and disasters that have observably gone berserk elsewhere on the planet.
It accepted the challenge by sending its disaster management man, Anthony Damalerio, to the training on Building Resilient Local Economy in Changing Climate in Metro Manila last week.
Conducted by the Local Government Academy (LGA), the training even made Bohol, through Damalerio, share its own capacity and best practices from which other areas in the country might learn.
Damalerio is the chief of the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office (PDRRMO), Bohol government’s newest essential department.
Bohol itself could learn from LGA’s climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction management (CCA-DRRM) initiatives toward a greener, resilient economy, according to Damalerio.
The LGA is a competent capability-building institution of the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG).
Damalerio said the initiatives could advance sustainable development and defeat poverty as they are intended to make the local economy resilient against serious climate threats.
LGA Exec. Dir. Marivel Sacendoncillo cited the need for adaptive capacity and resilience to the impacts of climate change and disasters on the local economy.
Only 13 other provinces participated in the highly-essential activity which ran for four days, namely, Zambales, Pampanga, Nueva Vizcaya, Quirino, Benguet, Abra, Isabela, Cagayan, Laguna, Rizal, Ilocos Sur and Nueva Ecija, all in Luzon, and Iloilo which is in the Visayas like Bohol.
Damalerio was selected to speak on appreciating the Local Economic Development (LED) framework for the local government units (LGUs).
Erika Orro of the Climate Change Commission (CCC) spoke on Philippine national climate change adaptation policies, laws and programs.
Another important resource person, Juliet Aparicio of Tanggol Kalikasan, Inc., talked on understanding vulnerability and risks, among others.
Communicating climate risks and economic resiliency actions were articulated by Amor Maclang, risk-crisis-reputation strategist of the GeiserMaclang Communication.
The very roles of the LGUs in CCA-DRRM and LED were highlighted in the training, which likewise aimed at capacitating the non-government stakeholders.
Damalerio was made to highlight Bohol’s CCA-DRRM initiatives, sustaining growth through LED, socio-economic indicators, and even basic facts about the province. (Zjem Kisha Rasonabe Arigo)