Climate Change, Displacement, Government Priorities and the 2011 Budget

My blog entry for 10/10/10 Blog Action Day on Climate Change

Climate change is probably one of the many worldwide concerns that every government is trying to address. Last year, Republic Act 9729 or Climate Change Act of 2009 was enacted into law.

While it may be true that serious and concrete actions have to be taken in order to address this phenomenon, let us check further how serious the government is in addressing this very serious concern.

This year, under the new administration of Noynoy Aquino, funds specifically intended to addressing climate change has been one of the highlights of the General Appropriations Act (GAA) of 2011.

For instance, the National Climate Change Commission has an appropriation of P38 million pesos while the Department of Interior and Local Government was given P 40 million under its local project, Enhancing LGU Capacity on Climate Change Adaptation and Disaster Risk Management Framework.

With huge amounts being appropriated to government projects that aim to pre-empt and address the ill-effects of climate change, do we expect the government to be more effective in dealing with climate change related disasters? Do we expect the government to be more competent in dealing with disasters like typhoons Pepeng and Ondoy that left thousands of people's lives and homes wrecked and decimated?

If the government is dead serious about presenting solutions to the ill-effects of climate change, concrete actions should be taken.

First off, big businesses that seriously cause damage to our environment should be stopped such as illegal logging and large scale mining. Large scale mining has not only caused landslides and pollution. It has systematically displaced many families living in mineral-rich areas. Take the case of Mt. Diwalwal.

So long as big foreign businesses and investors scourge the country's natural resources, the country will forever be vulnerable to the impacts of climate change.

We cannot expect a government funded by big businesses to protect its people from the harmful effects of climate change. Programs and projects that supposedly address such concerns will be a staple to every president's budget but offers no concrete and long term solutions to climate change.#