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20 Philippine Aggie and Fisheries Reps Learn Climate Proofing Method

Published on 24 November 2014 KC3 News

LOS BAÑOS, Philippines – Twenty participants representing various sectors and stakeholders from the Philippine agriculture and fisheries sector participated in the third training-workshop on “Integrating Climate Change Adaptation (CCA) into Policies, Plans and Investments” held on 7-10 October 2014 at the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA) in Los Baños, Laguna, Philippines.

SEARCA specifically tailored this training-workshop for the Philippine agriculture and fisheries sector to enhance the capacity of decision-makers and planners at various levels to mainstream CCA into their policies, plans, programs, and investments. It also aimed to increase the participants’ understanding of the application of climate proofing methodology within their organizational environment to ensure that climate change concerns are integrated into their programs and initiatives.

Specifically, the workshop aimed to enable the participants to:

  1. Understand climate change impacts and the need to mainstream climate change adaptation into policies, action plans, and project interventions in the agriculture sector;
  2. Identify appropriate approaches for integrating climate change adaptation into development policies and investment plans at the national, sectoral, and project levels; and
  3. Apply these systematic planning steps to selected cases in agriculture and fisheries toward developing flagship applications of climate proofing.

In welcoming the participants, Dr. Gil C. Saguiguit, Jr., SEARCA Director, noted how climate change threatens our food security as it negatively affects the region’s agriculture and fisheries sector. Our best option against this challenge is to adapt and heighten the resiliency of the sector to the effects of this natural phenomenon, he said. It is in this context and along with its mandate of building capacities toward Inclusive and Sustainable Agricultural and Rural Development (ISARD) that SEARCA conducted the training-workshop aiming to equip the participants with knowledge and skills in integrating climate change adaptation and mitigation actions into their development plans and investments, he emphasized.

The 20 participants included 10 representatives of the Philippine agriculture and fisheries councils from the government, industry, civil society, and farmer sectors; three local government representatives from a project supported by USAID; four from the Department of Agriculture; two from the academe; and one from a farmer’s regional network.

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