Philippine laws on disaster risk reduction and climate change cited among the best in the world
Makati city - Two national laws of the Philippines were cited among the best legal frameworks on climate change and disaster risk reduction.
“The National Disaster Risk Reduction Management Act and the Climate Change Act, which created the National Commission on Climate Change, are the best laws in the world,” said Senator Loren Legarda during a press conference held earlier today.
Legarda based her statement on an earlier pronouncement of guest Margareta Wahlström, United Nations (UN) special representative for disaster risk reduction.
According to Legarda, since we already have the laws, the challenge is to make them work by providing sufficient funds to sustain it, getting the right people to implement it, and make national and local policymakers and the media understand it.
The lady senator added that the Philippines is one of the most vulnerable countries on natural hazards in 2011 so there is a necessity to implement properly the two laws.
She reported that last year, due to natural disasters, it cost the country P26 billion and it displaced more than 15 million people.
Meanwhile, Legarda also expressed gratitude to the UN International Strategy for Disaster Reduction for engaging local government units in disaster risk reduction and management.
“Because no matter how well-crafted our laws are, no matter how grand the speeches we deliver, if it is not implemented in the local level, then that is the problem,” she said.
(NFK-PIA Central)