Era Leads Climate, Disaster and Waste Management Study for Sasakawa Peace Foundation

There need to be clear guidelines on what we should follow because if there are no guidelines released, the local government will just do what the existing law or guidelines say… If they [do] not release clear guidelines, it will be difficult to harmonize.

 This was the situation shared by a local government employee of Lian, Batangas when asked about the challenges involved in efforts to blend national laws that seek to build resistance in communities. The discussion was part of a newly completed study entitled “Climate Change, Disaster Risk and Waste Management in the Urban and Rural Coastal Communities in the Philippines (INTRAMURAL Project)” undertaken by the DLSU Social Development Research Center as commissioned by the Ocean Policy Research Institute of the Sasakawa Peace Foundation. Team members Marlon de Luna Era, an SDRC research fellow, Nagisa Yoshioka of Sasakawa’s OPRI, and Daisuke Sasaki of the International Research Institute of Disaster Science, Tohoku University looked into the interplay of climate, disaster and waste management at the national and regional levels based on the perspective of local stakeholders and communities. These stakeholders included government employees and community residents from the cities of Biñan and Santa Rosa in Laguna and the municipalities of Lian and Calatagan in Batangas as survey respondents, and local experts representing the City and Municipal Planning and Development Office, City and Municipal Environmental and Natural Resources Office and City and Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office who participated in a focus group discussion.

A follow-up to the study “Toward Integrated Approach for Climate Disaster Risk and Waste Management: A Comparative Vulnerability Assessment of Urban and Rural Coastal Communities in the Philippines,” the INTRAMURAL project attempts to derive inputs from the ground on how policy to synchronize the themes of climate change, disaster risk and waste management can be developed at the national and regional levels. It was conducted remotely during the pandemic with the assistance of field researchers from October 2020 to March 2021.

The study reveals that community residents as well as local government employees and officials have high levels of awareness and behavioral engagement in relation to the themes of climate change adaptation, disaster risk reduction, and solid waste management. In addition, due to the realization of overlapping roles, functions, and responsibilities of offices currently handling CCA, DRR, and SWM, the LGU officials observed the need to harmonize the three themes. For some areas, there are already observed efforts and initiatives for harmonization. A perceived potential harmonization effort of the officials includes the building of mainstreaming programs for CCA, DRR, and SWM. For current efforts, it includes the mandates from the national government.

 The main objective in building resilience from the communities means that making international agreements work locally or even nationally is a major concern. The local experts in this study agreed that the Department of Interior and Local Government is the key agency in cascading the international frameworks locally. However, while the results show that the level of perception on laws referring to global frameworks on Climate Change Adaptation, Disaster Risk Reduction, and Solid Waste Management are high, efforts on harmonization practices are still low. The study thus emphasizes the need to further plan and integrate initiatives as well as strengthen current efforts in harmonizing the three themes.