By Prince Golez
The Climate Change Commission (CCC) welcomed the decision of the Green Climate Fund (GCF) to approve the grant US$26.3 million to the “Adapting Philippine Agriculture to Climate Change” (APA) project.
The APA aims to improve the resilience of rural agriculture men and women in climate-vulnerable areas and transform the country’s agriculture sector to be more climate resilient.
In a press release, CCC Vice Chair and Executive Director Robert Borje said the project will help farming communities, as well as the government and private sector, understand and manage climate risks and adopt climate resilient agriculture (CRA) practices.
Domestic resources totaling US$12.98 million will be used to co-finance the project, bringing the total project value to US$39.3 million.
The project will serve at least nine provinces in five regions, namely Regions II, V, X, and XII and Cordillera.
The project will have three (3) main outcomes:
* Increased institutional capacities for the development and provision of climate information and CRA services
* Farmers (female/male) adopt CRA through CRA enterprises; and
* Enabling Environment for mainstreaming and scaling up CRA.
“At least 1.25 million poor farming household members are expected to directly benefit as farmers improve awareness of risks and risk reduction measures and incorporate climate-resilient and low emission technologies into agricultural practices,” the CCC said.
“Over five million people living in the area will also benefit indirectly from enhanced information systems and strengthened institutional capacity that will create an enabling environment to promote the widespread adoption of CRA,” it added.
According to Borje, high impact, climate-resilient agriculture initiatives like the APA may significantly contribute to the country’s socioeconomic development while also improving agricultural systems’ adaptive capacities to climate change.
APA will be implemented this year until 2030 and will reduce 1.86 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent over a 20-year period as a result of CRA practices and better land use.
The APA project, a submission by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, with the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Science and Technology-PAGASA as executing entities, was approved by the GCF Board during its 35th Meeting in Songdo, Korea on March 13, 2023.
The Philippines is currently part of the GCF Board, represented by the Department of Finance.
