PHL bags $52M from climate fund, one of largest in region
THE Philippines continues to receive one of the largest allocations in Southeast Asia from the Global Environment Facility, according to GEF CEO and Chairman Carlos Manuel Rodriguez.
Under the 8th replenishment cycle of GEF (GEF-8), the Philippines will have a total allocation of $52 million (about P2.831 billion at current exchange rates). While the latest amount is a 38-percent increase from the last replenishment cycle, it’s a drop in the bucket compared to the total $5.33-billion made available for GEF-8.
Rodriguez made the announcement through a recorded message for participants of the GEF National Multi-stakeholder Dialogue who gathered last January 18 at a hotel in Taguig City. The dialogue was organized by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) in preparation for the country’s portfolio of environmental projects for consideration under the GEF-8. These projects will be implemented during the 4-year cycle covering 2023-2026.
According to Rodriguez, the Philippines has had over 120 projects and programs totaling over $700 million to date
National commitments
THE Philippines has been “heavily involved ” in global projects from artisanal mercury mining to agrochemical pollutants, according to Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Maria Antonia Yulo-loyzaga.
Loyzaga said the fund would be used to “build resilient, inclusive and sustainable communities post-pandemic.”
Prior to the dialogue in Taguig, the GEF Secretariat paid a courtesy visit on the DENR Secretary on January 17.
Loyzaga said the Philippines “deeply values the consultative process in designing integrated approaches necessary to address the intersectionality of development, climate change, biodiversity and disaster resilience and adopt a comprehensive risk management approach that integrates a system lens and optimizes the resources available to improve quality of life.”
The latter, she said, “will ensure that no community and ecosystem is left behind.”
Loyzaga said the Philippines shall work with the GEF in strengthening national commitments and institutionalizing capacities to translate these commitments to meaningful actions to support sustainable development since the GEF-8 calls for a systematic and transformational strategy that responds to the urgency of raising global climate ambition.
Tackling the drivers
IN GEF-8, member countries are encouraged to move more of their programming through 11 Integrated Programs, including food systems; landscape restoration; clean and healthy ocean; circular solutions to plastic pollution; elimination of hazardous chemicals from supply chains; net-zero, nature-positive accelerator; sustainable cities; greening infrastructure development and wildlife conservation for development.
By implementing Gef-funded projects, the DENR “hopes to advance the country’s efforts to address environmental challenges by tackling the drivers of ecological degradation, supporting integrated approaches, ensuring that programs are inclusive and are prioritizing the most vulnerable, strengthening the country’s commitments to multilateral environmental agreements and contributing to global environmental benefits.”
Since 1992, the GEF has become one of the major driving forces supporting the country to achieve global environmental benefits embodied in various international environmental agreements.
In the Philippines, a total of 128 Gef-funded projects across the five focal areas of biodiversity, climate change mitigation, land degradation, chemicals and waste and international waters have been approved since the pilot phase up until its Seventh Replenishment Cycle (GEF-7).