THE Department of Environment and Natural Resources said on Thursday that it is seeking closer collaboration with regional partners to improve the Philippines’ access to disaster risk financing.
“We hope to deepen and broaden these ties with our bilateral and multilateral partners, as well as those that we would like to strengthen within the region,” Environment Secretary Maria Antonia Yulo-Loyzaga said in a briefing for the Asia-Pacific Ministerial Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction (APMCDRR).
She added that the conference may increase the Philippines’ access to disaster risk financing tailored for its circumstances.
“What is important for us is to choose and design, and access these financing schemes to suit the local context and the needs across the various sectors,” Ms. Yulo-Loyzaga added.
Last year, the Philippines was chosen to host APMCDRR which is expected to draw in 2,500 delegates from over 60 countries.
The conference seeks to assess progress in implementing the Sendai Framework, which hopes to reduce the impact of calamities on mortality, health, economies, and infrastructure.
She said the Philippines needs to develop an integrated approached to disaster risk financing to include ecological, social and economic impacts.
“Disaster risk financing does not just cover development financing as a whole, but risk financing as insurance in the way we handle subnational, which she described as “one of those areas which we need to actually build on.”
Defense Secretary Gilberto C. Teodoro, Jr. said that the Philippines can benefit from working with more governments on its resiliency goals.
“We would also like to work with other governments… we can’t do it alone, and our aim really is resilience,” Mr. Teodoro said, citing the need for an inter-agency approach to tackling disaster risk reduction.
Last year, President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. ordered the creation of the APMCDRR Inter-agency committee. The conference will be held between Oct. 14 and 17. — Adrian H. Halili
