Deputy Speaker and Antique lone District Rep. Loren Legarda has re-echoed the call of the Global Commission on Adaptation (GCA) for world and business leaders to integrate climate adaptation and resilience into their economic stimulus and recovery packages to cushion the impact of COVID-19.
The House leader joined the GCA in seeking a "climate-resilient recovery from COVID-19."
“The raging COVID-19 pandemic has brought out the sobering reality that the world is not as advanced, prosperous and as resilient as we thought it to be. We have realized that our societies and economic systems are fragile and dependent on the health of our natural environment, and that we are only as strong as our most vulnerable,” Legarda, one of the GCA commissioners, said in a statement.
“As the GCA has observed, the COVID-19 pandemic has tragically exposed the risks humanity faces and how unprepared we are to respond,” she added.
In its statement titled "Call to Action for a Climate-Resilient Recovery from COVID-19", the GCA called on governments and businesses to integrate climate resilience into their COVID-19 recovery packages, particularly in their infrastructure and financing initiatives.
Composed of climate advocates and world leaders pushing to accelerate climate change adaptation, the GCA recognized that the threats arising from the COVID-19 pandemic in terms of people’s health, well-being, and livelihoods will likely be multiplied by the worsening impact of the climate crisis with more extreme storms, droughts, heat waves, food crises and diseases, Legarda noted.
According to her, the Call to Action "builds on" the GCA's “Adapt Now” flagship report in 2019 that calls for climate adaptation “by averting future losses, spurring economic gains through innovation, and delivering social and environmental benefits to everyone, but particularly to those currently affected and most at risk.”
The GCA seeks to raise the profile of adaptation work by bringing together stakeholders and investments along seven Action Tracks: locally-led adaptation, urban resilience, water resources management, social safety nets, food security, nature-based solutions, and disaster prevention, she said.
“I hope that this crisis has taught us well to be more cautious and approach today’s risks with concrete measures that will diminish our present vulnerabilities. As the world responds, it must build back better, towards a recovery that values the complex and interconnected relationships of human health, the economy, the climate, and the environment,” Legarda said.
The GCA is jointly led by former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, philanthropist Bill Gates, and former World Bank CEO Kristalina Georgieva, now International Monetary Fund Managing Director, and is co-managed by the Global Center on Adaptation and the World Resources Institute.