The Philippines is seeking ways to bolster efforts to mitigate the effects of climate change in the wake of stronger typhoons and more destructive floods.
The Climate Change Commission (CCC) stressed the the importance of loss and damage mechanisms in advancing transformative climate actions at a recent special event of the Asia-Pacific Ministerial Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction (APMCDRR).
CCC Deputy Executive Director Romell Antonio O. Cuenca described climate change as “the governance challenge of our generation.”
With the Asia-Pacific region home to 4.7 billion people—60 percent of the global population—Cuenca said climate change impacts, including stronger typhoons and rising sea levels, are creating significant economic and non-economic losses across borders. “Addressing these losses requires going beyond mitigation and adaptation,” he said.
Cuenca cited the Santiago Network and the Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage (FRLD) as key milestones in global climate governance. “These mechanisms are essential to support particularly at-risk developing countries, which bear the brunt of climate impacts despite contributing the least to global greenhouse gas emissions,” he said.
Cuenca said the Philippines’ role as host of the FRLD Board was an opportunity for the Asia-Pacific region to lead efforts in addressing the irreversible impacts of climate change.
He said the FRLD’s implementation would provide much-needed resources and technical assistance to vulnerable countries, in alignment with disaster risk reduction, climate change adaptation and sustainable development goals.
“The operationalization of the FRLD offers an opportunity to integrate climate action into our development goals,” Cuenca said, adding the initiative will strengthen institutional capacities and foster collaboration among governments, civil society, and the private sector.
Cuenca also stressed the need for financial support from global sources to help developing nations cope with increasingly severe climate-related disasters. He affirmed the CCC’s commitment to ensure that the FRLD delivers tangible benefits, while emphasizing the role of international partnerships and knowledge exchange.
“In operationalizing this Fund, we have the potential to integrate loss and damage into our national climate commitments, such as the Philippines’ Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) under the Paris Agreement,” Cuenca said, calling for a united effort to address the climate crisis for the benefit of future generations.
The APMCDRR is Asia-Pacific’s primary platform for monitoring and advancing regional cooperation on the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030.
