Background and Objectives
UN-HABITAT in the Philippines worked with the UN-System in the country and the national government in developing a Joint Programme on Climate Change. The Joint Programme (JP) was approved and supported by the Spanish Government through the MDG Achievement Fund Thematic Window on Environment and Climate Change. The main task of UN-Habitat in the JP is to contribute to the delivery of Outcome 3 which is to demonstrate "improved coping mechanisms through pilot adaptation project". Specifically UN-Habitat will showcase a climate change resilient human settlement in Sorsogon City (pilot site) following initial consultations with partners namely Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC), National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) and UNDP. The MDG-F JP project is being implemented in complementation to UN-HABITAT's Cities and Climate Change Initiative (CCCI).
Project Specific objectives are:
- Create synergies and links on climate change policies founded on global/ regional best practices;
- Introduce the urban dimension into national climate change policies/strategies anchored on global/regional best practices;
- Design and develop appropriate social and physical infrastructure for Sorsogon City to become climate change resilient City through implementation of a climate change responsive city shelter plan;
- To pilot innovative climate change mitigation and adaptation technologies and mechanisms in the urban/coastal setting;
- To codify a set of adaptation options for vulnerable human settlements.
Activities
The main activities include:
- Identification and mobilization of global/regional partners and documentation of good practices for sharing to national and local government;
- Development of the national and city climate change profile with highlights on their adaptive capacities and vulnerability to climate change impacts;
- Capacity building of stakeholders;
- Demonstration of innovative mechanisms to increase resilience of urban coastal settlements to Climate Change;
- Documentation of learnings and knowledge sharing at the national level and across cities;
- Development of policy recommendations / guidelines to increase and support sustainable urban governance vis-a-vis climate change impacts.
Results
- Documented national situation analysis on Climate Change related good practices, policies, partnerships, tools and gaps;
- Formed Sorsogon City Technical Working Group on Climate Change;
- Conducted local government-wide climate change briefing and information dissemination;
- Youth Climate Change Agenda developed through a Youth workshop on Climate Change;
- Developed Climate Change Vulnerability and Adaptation Assessment Tool;
- Developed Sorsogon City Climate Change Vulnerability Assessment (VA) Report;
- Conducted Focused Group Discussions with communities identified as hotspots resulting to asset profiling;
- Developed community enumeration tool and survey report on 5 identified urban coastal hotspots;
- Formed Issue Working Groups on identified urban system priority area for climate change adaptation;
- Drafting of the Sorsogon City Shelter Plan with Climate Change elements and parameters
- Developed (for further study) climate resilient settlement design;
- Developed criteria for selection of demo site for model "climate resilient" human settlement/ community;
- 4 Issue Working Groups established, each prepared an action plan for climate resilience demonstration regarding: Shelter retrofitting, livelihoods (utilising shelter retrofitting), energy and transport mitigation, and strengthening disaster risk reduction through "safer schools"
- Establishment of City GIS unit/office, with training support Developed City IEC Plan on Climate Change
- Conducted capacity building interventions to the City Technical Working Group on Climate Change
- Facilitated the development of the Urban Stakeholders Action Agenda on Climate Change adopted by the Philippine Urban Consortium;
- Mainstreaming the climate change urban planning experiences into the national statutory Comprehensive Land Use Plan and City Development Planning processes through Department of Interior and Local Governments (DILG) and Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board of Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC)
- Replicating the experiences in 3 new cities nationally through DILG
- Shared and Sorsogon experience in developing local climate assessment and plans in national, regional and international events;
Development Partners / Partners
Development Partners: UNDP
Partners: National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA), Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC), and Sorsogon City
- UN-HABITAT and IPADE Joint Country Programme on Water and Sanitation
- Strengthening Philippine City Capacities to Address Climate Change Impacts
- Citizens Action for Local Leadership to Achieve MDGs
- Family-Based Actions for Children and Their Environments in the Slums
- Integrated Shelter Recovery Project in Albay
- Integrated Approaches to Poverty Reduction at Neighbourhood Level
- National Facility for Adaptation and Replication - Local Environmental Planning and Management
- OPERATIONALISING THE NATIONAL URBAN DEVELOPMENT AND HOUSING FRAMEWORK - THE PHILIPPINE URBAN FORUM (Completed)
- UPSCALING POVERTY-FOCUSED CITY DEVELOPMENT STRATEGIES IN THE PHILIPPINES (Completed)
