Improving community resilience to climate change impacts in the Philippines

Project description

Title: Strengthening Disaster Resilience and Risk Mitigation through Ecosystem-based Planning and Adaptation
Commissioned by: German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection (BMUV) through the International Climate Initiative
Country: Philippines
Lead executing agency: National Economic and Development Authority
Overall term: 2021 to 2025

A river in Eastern Samar. © GIZ/Amor Paredes

Context

The Philippines is highly vulnerable to extreme weather events caused by climate change. Increasing loss and damage from typhoons, heavy rains, and slow-onset sea level rise are increasing poverty, triggering migration and weakening the country’s competitiveness.

Ecosystem-based adaptation (EbA) and risk transfer mechanisms (including climate insurance) could transform climate change adaptation in the Philippines. Integrated ecosystem management (IEM) tools and guidelines are available, but mainstreaming EbA into national planning has been inadequately implemented. There has to be more focus on insurance for “green” infrastructure as a risk management tool, as the market for such insurance products is underdeveloped.

Objective

Ecosystem-based adaptation and climate insurance are building resilience to the negative impacts of climate change in the Philippines.

Approach

The project aims to institutionalise sustainable disaster risk management in the Philippines through explicit use of ecosystem-based adaptation and climate insurance. Implementing partners, local civil society organisations, cooperatives and producer communities will be trained to mainstream EbA into development activities. These include:

  • piloting EbA measures with explicit biodiversity considerations
  • developing a national framework and climate insurance products for financial risk transfer to benefit small and medium enterprises (SMEs), infrastructure, agriculture, and communities.
  • transferring knowledge/experience from implementation into national and international frameworks.

The successes of these activities will extend beyond the project timeframe and serve as basis for scaling-up activities. Long-term dissemination of project results is guaranteed through mainstreaming in relevant planning guidelines.

Last update: March 2022

Additional information