Climate Consciousness Year

IT is a serial, recurring event.

And it is the cruel-kind - exheme, extended drv spells
parchirg the larrd, ta king tums with savase t!,phoon s6asAnof
relenlless rains that unlEash floods arLd laniiilides
The cause of the environmen ta I disasl.er is still the subiect of
an irnsettled debate among scientists and other experts.
But we, as citizens of a c6un try rieh t smack in what is ouite
arguably Cround Zero of naturil dsasters, should arm bur-
selves with two basic delensive capabilities - awareness and
preparedness .
And soa key congressiona lclimatecampaisner. Albav Reo_
Jogy Salte Salceda,-has recently fiJed Ho'use"Resoluticin 535
askmgCongress to decla re2020as Disaster and ClimateEmer_
gency Awareness Year, a calJ to con tinuous public caution on
dangers. brought by increasirgly deadly' weather events
spawned by climate change.
Salceda' s call came follbwing a recen t visit to the House bv
members of the Phjlippine Couicilor's Leazueafter Lheir Fi rit
PCL ConJerence on Climate-Disaster ResilYence and Ferieral-
ism Govemance in Quezon Citv.
The I'CLleaders,.ledby Aibaf Board MemberJesciel Richard
^
Salcedq, urged the lawniakers, includ ine Hous6 Speake;Afi
Itl.er Cayetano, to consider the wor-kiie ouhrut of the pCL
c tim a Le ch ange conferen ce - the decla iati6n of2020 as Disaster
and Climate Change Awareness year.
Salceda, designired by the UN as SeniorGlobal Chamoion
lor DRR-CCA, laid the" courrtry has been sufferins frdm;
"disasterand climateenGrgencf which now compel# whole_
of-govemment ard whole-"of-nition policv,"rpo'ni" iL u"tl.l_
pate, halt, reduce, reverse, address jnd a'dapi to its impacts,
consequences and causes",
pCL,s challenge ard ca s h.is
,IJis l-tR.535 responds to the
coueagres m congress tosupportand actonit. Thedeclaration
a rms to tughlighL the role of the LGUs in ]eadins the
orocess of
tran-sform ati on and a dap ta tion I o clim ate ch an"ge a nb d isa s te r
reslLence, along with business communities a;d other stake_
holders.
Thelawmaker uged his fellow lesislators to:
. Declare 2020 asDisaster and Cliinate Emergency Aware_
ness Year:
o Conduct contin uous ihquiries
ir aid of lesislation6nd in
reiationto ils oversighl. ftmctions, on measurts beins imple_
mented by a1l concemed national aqencies and jocal"sovem-
menl. uni tl-to address the impacld,of disasters and "climate
cnange on the fundamental riehts of Filioinos:
. Ensure Lhe full htegrationind conveis.enceoIdisasterrisk
reduction and climatdcharge adaptatioi and mitieation ef_
lorts *u. ough the passage of ihe Departrnent of Disaiter Resil_
rence b.dl- as an u_rgent policy respcinse; and
_
. L-nioin a whole-of-gbvemmeni whole-of-nation and whole_
_oi-society mobitzation on disaster and climate emereencv. in
behar
behall otol chate-vuherable
climate-vulnerable communities, I GI ts ,ia
communities. LGUs aid oiher
stakeholders inthe country. . f^.^ _ tt^'ri.,