Rules set for climate change programs

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) and the Climate Change Commission (CCC) have released the revised guidelines to track and monitor climate change adaptation programs of the government.

“The government of the Philippines has demonstrated leadership and strong commitment in implementing a comprehensive reform agenda to respond to climate change,” read the joint memorandum circular published in The STAR yesterday.

“With the goal of using the budget process to plan, prioritize and monitor CC expenditure, the government has mobilized the National Budget Preparation Process to tag climate change expenditures using a common policy-based typology and guidelines,” it added.

The circular provides for the guidelines that seek to track, monitor and report climate change programs, projects and activities that are funded by the government.

The two agencies said these guidelines would enable oversight and line department managers to monitor climate change-related expenditures.

The circular likewise clarifies the responsibilities of the different agencies, particularly the DBM and the CCC, relative to the climate change expenditure tagging at the various stages of the budgeting process.

Government efforts to monitor expenditures in relation to climate change adaptation projects formally started in December 2013, with the issuance of a similar joint memorandum circular that was amended by the guidelines released yesterday.

The first circular on expenditure tagging was released more than a month after Super Typhoon Yolanda devastated Eastern Visayas and other areas in central Philippines.

Earlier, Budget Secretary Florencio Abad stressed the need to tag expenditures to ensure that the funds allotted for climate change projects are properly utilized.

Based on the amended guidelines, all climate change related strategies of the government should be identified as an adaptation or mitigation project.

Climate change adaptation is defined as an activity that “intends to reduce vulnerability of human or natural systems to the impacts of climate change and climate-related risks, by maintaining or increasing adaptive capacity and resilience.”