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The United Nations and the Government of the Philippines (GoP) signed today a  3-year Joint Programme on “Strengthening the Philippines’ Institutional Capacity to Adapt to Climate Change”  with a US$ 8 M funding from the Millennium Development Goals Achievement Fund (MDG-F) .  UN Resident Coordinator Nileema Noble signed the Joint Programme Document (JPD) for the UN and newly installed Secretary of Socioeconomic Planning and Director General of the National Economic and  Development Authority (NEDA) Rafael Recto signed on behalf of the GoP, while Alvaro Trejo, Chargé d' Affaires of the Embassy of Spain witnessed the JPD.  

Seven (7) participating UN agencies in the joint programme, namely UNDP, UNEP, FAO, UN Habitat, ILO and WHO also signed the JPD with their implementing partners NEDA, DENR, DA, DOLE, DTI, DOST, HUDCC and the Province of Albay.

The programme is timely given the worldwide effects now being felt  from global warming and climate change.  It will pursue the following outcomes: 1) climate risk reduction mainstreamed into key national and selected local development plans and processes; 2) enhanced national and local capacity to develop, manage and administer plans, programmes and projects addressing climate change risks; and 3) coping mechanisms improved through pilot demonstration adaptation projects.
    
Specifically, the programme will determine the vulnerability of critical sectors of the Philippines to climate change and strengthen the country’s adaptive capacity by enhancing the policy making, planning, programming and implementation capacities of key stakeholders, particularly the responsible national government agencies.  It will contribute to the Philippines’ achievement of its MDG targets by enhancing socioeconomic development through reduced vulnerabilities of key affected sectors and the target stakeholders in the 43 or more provinces.  It will also showcase innovative and document best practices on climate change adaptation.  

The MDG-F is a global US$ 700 M funding facility contributed by the Government of Spain to the UN in December 2006.  It aims to accelerate progress towards attainment of the MDGs in select countries by supporting programmes in areas  widely acknowledged as central to the achievement of MDGs and other internationally agreed development goals.  These areas are in environment and climate change, gender, culture diversity, democratic economic governance, private sector development, conflict prevention, food security and employment and migration.

The Philippines is a signatory to the 2000 Millennium Declaration that rolled out the time-bound MDGs as a global agenda for development by 2015.  The eight (8) MDGs are: halve extreme poverty and hunger; universal primary education; gender equality; reduce child mortality; improved women's health; stop and reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS and other diseases; environmental sustainability and global partnerships for aid, trade and debt relief.