Koronadal City, South Cotabato - The Sarangani Province Empowerment and Community Transformation Forum (SPECTRUM) Inc. organized on Thursday a stakeholders forum on disaster risk reduction (DRR) and climate change adaptation (CCA) intended to provinces of South Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, Sarangani and General Santos City.
The activity was aimed at informing the stakeholders on the current situations and initiatives as well as to generate standpoints and develop ways to strengthen CCA and DRR.
Highlight of the event was the presentation of development options for DRR and CCA for the mentioned provinces and city headed by the Masters in Tropical Risk Management students of the Ateneo de Davao University (AdDU).
The studies introduced were the Sectoral Assessment on Vulnerable Ecosystem with regards to Lake Sebu Watershed, Vulnerability Assessment and Coping Options for the Municipality of T’Boli, Mainstreaming DRR-CCA in Development Planning: The Case of B’lok Flood Plains, Developing Resilient Interventions for the Vulnerable Environment of Tampakan and the Watershed Governance in Silway-Klinan River Systems: Building Stakeholders Alliance for DRR-CCA.
The event also gathered opinions of stakeholders for the improvement of the studies and for further inputs that could help achieve better results.
Through an open forum, it was raised that students should furnish a copy of their studies to the Regional Development Council (RDC) for support.
Meanwhile, National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA 12) regional director Arturo Valero who also graced the activity said that their office is willing to help for the realization of the studies as he believes that it could somehow ease the burden of the people when it comes to climate and disaster incidents.
SPECTRUM Inc. has partnered with the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG 12), Foundation for the Philippines Environment (FPE), Provincial Government of South Cotabato, Mahintana Foundation Inc., and the Ateneo de Davao University-Tropical Institute for Climate Studies for the activity.
The forum was attended by representatives from local government units of Socsksargen, subnational agencies, academe, non-government organizations, community-based organizations and private and business sectors.
(SJDuerme-PIA12)