MANDALUYONG CITY – Mayor Alfredo Coro II turned over the Sangguniang Bayan Resolution Recommending the Creation of the Blue Carbon Technical Working (BCTWG) and Center of Excellence (COE) in the Municipality of Del Carmen, Siargao Island, Surigao del Norte, to Commissioners Noel Antonio Gaerlan and Emmanuel de Guzman of the Climate Change Commission during the annual observance of the Climate Change Consciousness Week held at EDSA Shangri-la Hotel on 21 November 2018.
The Blue Carbon Side Event of the CCC Week which will be participated by the LGUs of Surigao del Norte, the Higher Education Institutions (HEIs), Civil Society Organizations (CSO), local People’s Organization and Private Sectors (such as MPIC Foundation and Maynilad Water Services Inc.), aims to enhance the awareness of the National Blue Carbon Initiative to the local level, institutionalize a localize Technical Working Group, provide appreciation of the Blue Economy as a holistic approach to Climate Change Adaptation, and demonstrate best practices on Blue Carbon in the Philippines.
To date, Del Carmen, Surigao del Norte is the first and only LGU with a TWG for the Blue Carbon Initiative and a local Center of Excellence. The Local Center of Excellence, composed of a network of higher educational institutions (HEIs), is the LGU’s response to the Philippine commitment under the Coral Triangle Initiative (CTI) on Climate Change Adaptation. The COE will be the research arm of the TWG and will be responsible in coordinating and providing recommendation for the Blue Carbon works in the Municipality.
In addition, the COE shall serve as a knowledge and information hub, including technical innovation and/or engineering interventions with a pool of scientific experts on blue carbon and coastal and marine ecosystem in the Province of Surigao del Norte, and will also provide capacity building and technical assistance to local academic institutions, LGUs and partner institutions within the island of Siargao.
The Municipality of Del Carmen recently was awarded with Galing Pook Award 2018 for excellence in local governance and numerous citations for its advocacies on environmental protection and sustainability.
Also, Del Carmen is one of the first recipients of the People Survival Fund (along with Lanuza, Surigao del Sur), a Php 1B-financing window for climate change adaptation project for its Siargao Climate Field School for Farmers and Fisherfolks (SCFCFF) in 2016.
The Blue Carbon Side Event was supposedly held in Del Carmen, Surigao del Norte. However, due to the inclement weather brought about by Typhoon Samuel, the Side event was cancelled and the turnover of the Sangguniang Bayan Resolution was held in Manila.
