Development of a Climate Responsiveness Framework for the Philippines’ Environment and Natural Resources Management Sector

Abstract

The Philippines’ vulnerability to climate change necessitates the adoption of strategies to strengthen the most vulnerable sectors and diminish severe climate change impacts in the future. This study assessed the implications of recent findings of climate change science on the country’s Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) 10 priority programs through a landscape and ecosystem-based approach. The assessment was done by defining the impacts of climate change on natural ecosystems through a comprehensive review of relevant literature at the global to national scale, as well as the development of a framework for assessing the climate responsiveness of programs. Using a set of 12 criteria for climate responsiveness and a four-point rating scale (0/none to 3/high), the programs were assessed through a literature and document review, conduct of a series of workshops, and interviews and self-rating surveys with key actors, such as officers of the divisions and attached agencies of DENR. Results of the assessment showed that most of DENR’s programs were found to have low ratings in terms of flexibility, a long- term scope of impacts, the ability to address interconnected risks and vulnerabilities, the ability to stimulate migration to green development pathways, and the promotion of incremental and transformational adaptation. To improve the ratings, it is recommended that decision support systems be developed, and plans and programs be integrated and harmonized through multi- agency/multi-stakeholder collaboration and a robust system for developing climate-responsive policies – including the National Land Use Act, Sustainable Forest Management, Payment for Environmental Services, and the Carbon Offset Law.