Australia and the Philippines agreed to strengthen efforts to mobilize funds, speed up climate change actions and reduce disaster risks.
“Australia is working hand-in-hand with Philippine national and local governments to develop strategies and drive actions that build lasting resilience—critical to reducing the impacts of disasters and climate change,” said Australian Embassy Deputy Head of Mission Dr. Moya Collett.
More than 200 leaders and experts from the Australian and Philippine governments, civil society, local communities and development institutions gathered to discuss the practical ways to minimize the impacts of climate change and disasters.
At the 2nd Annual Stakeholders Forum, hosted by the Australia and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), national and local leaders and partners committed to develop the Philippines Resilience Index, which will measure disaster resilience, inform local decision-making and guide policy implementation.
They reached a consensus to streamline the operations of the People’s Survival Fund to ensure funding for local climate change adaptation projects.
The stakeholders also vowed to enhance the capacity of local governments to design and implement risk-informed investments as well establish accessible and localized climate and disaster-related data systems.
The efforts are being implemented through the Strengthening Institutions and Empowering Localities Against Disasters and Climate Change in the Philippines (SHIELD) program, supported by the Australian government and implemented by UNDP. The program covers 10 provinces and two regions in the Philippines, among the most vulnerable to climate change.
“UNDP places climate action and disaster risk resilience at the heart of the Country Programme Document 2024–2028 for the Philippines. Together with the Australian and Philippine Governments, we are delivering concrete, on-the-ground actions through the SHIELD program,” said UNDP Philippines Resident Representative Dr. Selva Ramachandran.
Department of Science and Technology Secretary Renato Solidum Jr. stressed the critical role of Science, Technology and Innovation (STI).
“Amid a vast sea of research information, a pivotal element to building disaster and climate resilience lies not in just building the science, but in widespread and general purpose access and use of the products and services of science — are we truly leveraging this potential? STI must narrow the gap between urban and rural resilience divide and purposely leave no one behind,” Solidum said.
Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) Undersecretary Marlo Iringan noted the importance of local resilience actions.
“The DILG envisions locally-driven resilience. It is within the very communities we serve that the most impacts are felt, and so it is where we should focus our recovery and transformation resilience efforts must begin. I encourage more local champions and concrete actions of our local governments,” Iringan said.
Australia and the Philippines are taking bold steps to address the pressing challenges of climate change, with a shared commitment to empowering communities and creating a more resilient future. UNDP Philippines