MANILA, Philippines — Climate Investment Funds (CIF) head Mafalda Duarte on Monday said governments should shift from the traditional project-by-project or piecemeal model to a “programmatic approach” in ensuring the sustainability of climate adaptation projects in disaster-prone countries such as the Philippines.
Duarte is in the country to attend the four-day meeting of the CIF’s partner countries in its Pilot Program for Climate Resilience (PPCR).
“By getting all the right people – governments, MDBs (multilateral development banks), community leaders, civil society groups, private sector, etc. – engaged in the (planning and implementation of climate adaptation projects) from the very beginning, PPCR countries have been better able to identify investment priorities and get the buy in from all key stakeholders in their delivery,” she said in her opening remarks at the Asian Development Bank (ADB).
She noted that the project-by-project or piecemeal model is not adjusted to the type of systemic change developing and middle-income countries needed to achieve the Paris agreement and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Founded in 2008, the CIF is an $8.3-billion fund dedicated to climate-smart investments and implemented by the MDBs, including the ADB.
Duarte said that while many developed nations such as the US are able to take adaptive measures to protect their populations from the negative effects of climate change, this level of expenditure is not an option for most low and middle-income countries.
The US government has earmarked $400 million for Miami’s flood protection scheme, according to Duarte.
“This is why we established the PPCR, to test and showcase a scalable model for deploying climate finance to those countries that would otherwise struggle to meet the daunting investment needs,” she said.
The CIF works with the public and private sector in the Philippines, focusing on low carbon public transport systems and renewable energy generation.
One of the CIF-funded clean energy projects in the Philippines is the Cebu Bus Rapid Transit project.
The Department of Transportation, however, has recommended to cancel the Cebu BRT project, saying Cebu City’s roads are too narrow.
Duarte said the Philippines is ranked as one of the countries most vulnerable to climate-related weather events.
“The Philippines is projected to experience stronger and more frequent typhoons in the years to come,” she said.
“(The United Nations Environment Program’s) projections indicate that even if Paris pledges are delivered, we are on course for a three-degree-Celsius scenario. Modeling suggests that this would cause catastrophic sea level rise that could impact four out of five people living in Asia by 2100,” she said.
The ultimate goal of the Paris climate agreement is to limit human-caused global warming to “well below” two degrees Celsius.
The Philippines is one of the signatories to the Paris climate pact.