■ FOREST FOUNDATION PHILIPPINES FORGES PARTNERSHIP WITH CANADA TO DRIVE CLIMATE ADAPTATION EFFORTS

MANILA, PHILIPPINES—THE Philippines and Canada recently unveiled a new climate change adaptation program that leverages nature to minimize climate impacts. The Philippines-canada Partnership on Nature-based Solutions (NBS) for Climate Adaptation (PCP4NBS), an initiative led by Forest Foundation Philippines in partnership with the Embassy of Canada, seeks to enhance the climate resilience of communities, empower women, and ensure that the strategies implemented benefit natural resources and promote healthy ecosystems.

PCP4NBS will pilot good practices on nature-based solutions (NBS) in the Philippines by improving the knowledge base for evidence-based decision making, creating platforms for learning exchange and capacity enhancement, and conducting research on the nexus between biodiversity, gender, and climate adaptation. The program will also develop learning modules and implement gender-responsive, communitybased NBS, and co-create policy recommendations to mainstream NBS for climate adaptation. These solutions not only address climate challenges, but also provide valuable ecological services.

NBS are cost-effective actions that protect, regenerate and enhance ecosystems while responding to the needs of the community and safeguarding biodiversity. The fouryear program aims to utilize these solutions by collaborating with communities, civil society, government agencies, private sector, and other stakeholders. This will involve jointly identifying and implementing innovative NBS initiatives tailored to address environmental and social challenges of climate-vulnerable communities in both terrestrial and coastal areas. Implementation will be supported by a robust monitoring and evaluation framework to ensure that resources will be maximized towards achieving the program’s goal.

“PCP4NBS offers a chance to recommit ourselves to science, community involvement, and inclusivity in decision-making. Protecting individuals, communities, and biodiversity is at the heart of NBS,” said Edwina Garchitorena, Chairperson of the Board of Trustees of Forest Foundation Philippines.

“This partnership, in championing solutions designed by and for local communities, will make a lasting contribution to the health of ecosystems and livelihoods in areas of high biodiversity in the Philippines,” emphasized David Hartman, Ambassador of Canada to the Philippines.