DENR gets German funding for flood mitigation
THE Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) had implemented ecosystem-based management on Ilog-Hilabangan in Negros Island and Tagum-Libuganon in the Davao Region, mainly in Davao del Norte, with an aim to reduce their vulnerability to climate change and natural disasters.
DENR and the Deutsche Geselschaft fur Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) signed a technical cooperation agreement for the implementation of the Ecosystem-based Adaptation in 2 River Basins (E2RB) project.
The DENR’s River Basin Control Office (RBCO), the implementation partner of the project, initiated activities in 2021 despite the pandemic.
“A project management committee has already been created. We can start implementation this year after some delays due to Covid-19,” RBCO Executive Director Nelson Gorospe said.
The Philippine government was to receive a grant of 4.6 million euros from the German government for E2RB.
It would strengthen the river basins’ ecosystem services, protect their biodiversity and reduce their vulnerability to climate change as flooding had been experienced in the basins.
“One of the bases for the choice of the site is perennial flooding,” Gorospe added.
The German Federal Ministry of Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety, through the International Climate Initiative, commissioned GIZ to implement the project.
E2RB was in line with DENR’s program on Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation and Disaster Risk Reduction Roadmap 2018 to 2022. It was also aligned with the Philippine Development Plan 2017 to 2022, the Philippine Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan, and the enhanced National Greening Program.
“The effective protection of forests in river basins supports the objectives of the Philippines’
intended nationally determined contributions in the area of mitigation through the contribution of the forest sector to the planned total greenhouse gas reduction of 70 percent in 2030,” stated the DENR-GIZ implementation agreement.