JICA, Phl Climate Change Commission collaborate set eye on sustainable future

The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and the Climate Change Commission (CCC) announced that a study on possible new areas of cooperation on climate change is in the works. 

The study aligns with the Philippine Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) goals in the global climate change agenda. The Philippines has conveyed its NDC to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change which pursues to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by as much as 75% and includes their adaptation measures and efforts, among others. 

Japan has already committed to collaborating with ASEAN countries, including the Philippines, to achieve a decarbonized and resilient society under the ASEAN-Japan Climate Change Action Agenda 2.0.

“Today’s signing ceremony for our Data Collection Survey is an important and great step in moving forward and advancing our partnership on climate action. It should be acknowledged that well-coordinated project formulation process is as important as project implementation,” said JICA Chief Representative SAKAMOTO Takema. “Through this initiative, JICA is keen to identify short- to long-term cooperation with the Philippines so that we can balance climate change mitigation and adaptation efforts, as well as environmental conservation and protection, with growing other sectors like energy, industry, and agriculture. JICA supports Filipino friends in line with the co-benefit approach, which is a win-win strategy aiming to achieve both development and climate benefits realistically.” 

The study or the data collection survey will run until March 2024. JICA has been working with other stakeholders, too, which include the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), Department of Energy (DOE), and Department of Agriculture (DA), among others. Furthermore, it studies issues related to implementing the Paris Agreement and how to further promote private sector engagement in the said co-benefit approach. 

The partnership with CCC is not the first time JICA and the Philippines are working together on climate change measures. Already, they have been working on various cooperation activities including the Comprehensive Assessment and Conservation of Blue Carbon Ecosystems and their Services in the Coral Triangle or BlueCARES, an undertaking with Philippines in a move to conserve blue carbon ecosystems; Forestland Management Project (FMP), an initiative to promote local participation in conserving forests and watersheds; railway infrastructures to dramatically lessen GHG emissions and improve quality of life by means of modal shift; and many other disaster risk reduction and management projects, such as Project for Development of a Hybrid Water-Related Disaster Risk Assessment Technology for Sustainable Local Economic Development Policy under Climate Change in the Philippines and Project for Capacity Development in Coastal Engineering for Disaster Resiliency. For example, the Pasig-Marikina River Channel Improvement Project as well as its related projects, which has a total of over five decades background history as one of the flagship cooperation projects between the Philippines and JICA, has already shown significant achievements and contributions in the field of adaptation with an estimated reduction of approximately one million flood victims due to Typhoon Ulysses in 2020.

JICA’s priority areas on climate change include support for climate policy and institutional development, human resource development through training and scholarship programs, climate resilient infrastructure development, implementation of adaptation measures, and environment conservation and sustainable management. 

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