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FPE Joins Climate Advocates' Call for Climate Justice

Posted on November 8, 2014

FPE joins climate advocates "walk" towards Tacloban City in time for the commemoration of Yolanda's onslaught. (Photo: Comm. Naderev Saño)

 

November 8, 2014, Quezon City. Climate advocates are expected to arrive today at "Ground Zero" in Tacloban City, Leyte, where historic supertyphoon Yolanda (Haiyan) made landfall exactly a year ago, claiming thousands of lives and causing extensive environmental damages.

Starting from "Kilometer Zero" in Rizal Park, Manila, the Walk covered approximately 1,000 kilometers in a span of forty days. Spearheaded by Commissioner Naderev Saño, the country's climate change coordinator, this initiative was borne in support of the growing international call for global leaders to take immediate action against the impacts of climate change. More importantly, it aims to promote public awareness, capacitate local governments on climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction, and empower communities to become resilient to climate changes.

FPE, for its part, joined the Walk in October 29, with members of the Regional Advisory Committee and some partners in the Visayas joining the last two legs covering Allen, Northern Samar to Catbalogan and Motiong, Samar to Tacloban City.

More than this, FPE has been supporting big and small initiatives to restore conservation areas severely hit by Yolanda.

Efforts are currently being made by FPE and its partners to rehabilitate mangroves and coral reefs in the seven municipalities of Eastern Samar and Gigantes Islands in Iloilo to ensure that the resource base of the communities' main livelihood - fishing - is restored and increase their resilience to incoming natural disasters.

Launched in January 2014, the Post-Yolanda Environmental Rehabilitation Project is a special project implemented by FPE that covers short-term to long-term phases of conservation action. On the short-term, the project has already jump started several research and re-assessment of these sites, particularly damage assessments in corals and mangroves in Southeastern Samar and caves in Gigantes Islands. Rehabilitation efforts to 20 coral reef sites and 50 hectares of mangroves are expected to be completed on its first year. On the medium- and long-term phases, resiliency, adaptation, and sustainability solutions will be looked into through the re-calibrating of FPE site strategies.

As part of this project, an anthology of experiences of Yolanda survivors entitled, "Remembering Yolanda: Stories of Survival and Hope," will also be published this November. This book is written to show integrity and resilience of the Filipino spirit and impart lessons of foresight, survival, and hope in the midst of disaster.

Another upcoming FPE publication is a briefer entitled, "Priority Areas in the Philippines for Ecosystem Rehabilitation." This booklet describes in detail the supertyphoon's impact to Guiuan and Gigantes and presents ways for collaboration.

Other ongoing FPE grant support in line with post-Yolanda rehabilitation can be viewed here.