A YEAR after typhoon “Ondoy” struck the country, our floodways remain clogged and silted, with informal settlers still thriving on riverbanks and encroaching on critical waterways. Given the enormity of our flood problem, families and communities at risk must be prepared for the worst scenarios brought about by heavy rains due to climate change.
Senator Legarda consults a farmer on the effects of El Niño on their livelihood during a visit to Barotac Nuevo, Iloilo
accelerates the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals, but also enhances the resilience of human societies.”
Laws for nature Being an environmentalist has been a longtime journey for Loren Legarda, starting from her childhood fondness for butterflies through her keen grasp of environmental issues as a broadcast journalist. In her years at the Senate, she has pushed for the enactment of environmental laws such as the Clean Air Act, the Solid Waste Management Act and the Climate Change Law, which established a National Commission tasked to pull together and put into action climate change adaptation programs and projects by the government and its partner stakeholders. As chairwoman of the Climate Change Oversight Committee today, she makes it both her personal and legislative mission to bring the issues of climate change and disaster risk reduction to the forefront of policymaking.
Cited as one of the world’s most disasterprone countries, the Philippines has experienced recurring losses from perennial typhoons, floods and droughts. “But we can no longer deal with calamities by merely reacting to tragedies. We must address the disaster problem at its roots and arrest the conditions that created it. After ‘Ondoy,’ reconstruction and rehabilitation are necessary, but reducing disaster risks is a must to enable us to build our resilience to future disaster threats.” These are the words of Sen. Loren Legarda, the United Nations Regional Champion for Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change Adaptation, during her privilege speech on revisiting the impact of “Ondoy” and other killer typhoons. In a survey conducted by the Nielsen Company and the Oxford University Institute of Climate Change in 2009, the Philippines registered the highest level of concern among 54 countries, where 78 percent of Filipino respondents admitted they are very concerned about climate change. For Legarda, Filipinos have a good reason to feel that way. They have seen for themselves the huge problems brought about by climate change. As the country’s foremost advocate of good environmental governance, the senator knows the gravity of the situation and calls for immediate action.
Global environmental leadership For her global environmental leadership, Legarda was recognized at the World Economic Forum in 2000 as one of the Global Leaders for Tomorrow. She was also named a Laureate by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) in 2001, and was included in the Global 500 Roll of Honor.
“I don’t understand why something so basic which affects our very own survival can be ignored. It is a cross-cutting issue as it affects health, food, the water we drink, and the air we breathe,” Legarda says of the issue. “And sadly, those who are most affected by climate change are those who have the least in life.” In her visits to the country’s disaster-stricken areas, Legarda has met people who are still left dumbfounded by and have yet to recover from their tragedy.
Reducing disaster and climate risks
Cover Story By Michelle Velete
Game Changer of Asia Sen. Loren Legarda:
In the global pursuit for green and sustainable development, the senator challenges the world’s leaders to take action
More extreme weather conditions would set back agricultural production and food security, Legarda warns, citing an April 2009 Asian Development Bank report. The report warns that rice production in the Philippines could drop by
50-70 percent as early as 2020, and that the country could lose as much as 6 percent of its GDP annually by 2100 because of climate change effects. The same study calculates that if the Philippines were to invest 0.1 to 1 percent of its GDP over the next 10 years, it can avert up to 4 percent annual loss in its GDP up to 2100.” After “Ondoy,” the agricultural sector alone lost P29.38 billion covering 30 provinces in seven regions. Total damage and losses amounted to $4.4B or 2.7 percent of GDP. Two million families were affected and nearly a thousand perished (including typhoon “Pepeng’s” casualties). Totally or partially damaged homes numbered up to 256,335, which resulted in the mass displacement of families. These tragedies, according to Legarda, could have been prevented or minimized through properly implemented disaster reduction measures. These include an effective early warning system being made an integral part of national and local development plans as a means for protecting livelihoods, infrastructure investments, and socioeconomic gains. “We can avoid natural hazards from turning into tragedies. Disaster risk reduction cannot be delayed, for with each disaster that we allow to happen, our people are pushed deeper into poverty,” Legarda reasons. The Legarda challenge “Governments must therefore address the ‘deadly trio’ that drives risk and poverty in a changing climate: poor urban governance, vulnerable rural livelihood, and degraded ecosystems,” says the senator. She adds that one way to strengthen governance is by putting a stop to corruption. This means strictly enforcing building codes and zoning policies, and deciding on land use based on geo-hazard maps that identify high-risk areas
Today, she is as passionate as ever in advocating green and sustainable development worldwide. As she meets with heads of state, ministers and parliamentarians, she shares her belief in the need to “rethink conventional frameworks and strategies for socio-economic development,” and to “adopt an innovative, outof-the box approach to tackle effectively the most complex human development problem of the 21st century.”
“My UNISDR mission is all about investing today for a safer tomorrow,” she reveals. “The first line of defense in adapting to climate change is disaster risk reduction, which not only
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Sen. Loren Legarda talks to Sta. Cruz, Laguna farmers who were forced to turn to fishing when a swollen Laguna Lake flooded their ricefields In a meeting in Male on July 12, 2009, Maldives’ President Mohamed Nasheed agrees with Sen. Loren Legarda on the need for immediate bold actions to reduce disaster risks and climate change impacts in vulnerable island nations
She strongly suggests the enhancement of rural livelihoods, which 75 percent of the poor depend on, by improving agricultural productivity and providing better support for farmers, and by addressing issues akin to rural poverty and gender inequality. Moreover, there should be a healthy marriage between economic progress and environmental responsibility. “We are in a vicious cycle of economic boom and bust, with the peoples and environment at the receiving end of a failing model of economic development. This has entrapped the poor and the vulnerable, and has corrupted societies. We cannot continue using Mother Earth as collateral in our economic games of chance,” she contends. Inspired by the Bhutan philosophy of Gross National Happiness, where development pursuit transcends economic gains and promotes social equity, respect for nature and resilience of culture, Legarda explains that disaster risk reduction is part of a redefined development approach that she seeks to mainstream in development planning and policymaking. Changing the game in Asia Now, Legarda is challenging the leaders of the world. As responsible leaders, she believes that they need to depart from business-as-usual and instead pursue the green, sustainable development path for the growth and progress of nations. As a developing nation, the Philippines is by far one of the weakest polluters in the world. Yet it is one of the countries most vulnerable to climate change. “As one of the most vulnerable and disasterprone countries, we lead the way in carrying the torch for climate justice for the peoples of developing nations. This is hardly a blame game. (But) we must ask our friends in the community of nations—the rich, developed nations—to rethink development in a way that helps fledgling economies endure and prosper.” Finally, Legarda underscores the responsibility of the Philippine government to properly utilize its resources, mandate and authority, to implement laws addressing climate change. However, the people must also share the responsibility by complying with the law.
In 2008, she was named by the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR) as its regional champion for AsiaPacific.
She explains: “Our complacency and disregard for nature shapes the disaster risks in our midst—by the way we change our environment and the way we choose to live in it.”
for people, property and industries.
“Climate change has been creeping for decades, and it is killing us slowly,” she maintains. “We must learn the lessons of the past and take them as an important cue to save the world, one disaster-resilient policy at a time.” In this era of climate change, Sen. Loren Legarda challenges everyone: “The time to make that difference is now, for humanity’s future depends upon us. Let us be the change we seek.” • ADVT sundayINQUIRERmagazine
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