House of Representatives (Ellson Quismorio/ MANILA BULLETIN)

The House of Representatives has approved on the third and final reading the proposed Climate Change Resilience Act, which stresses the need for the government to come up with measures to stop human-caused global warming. 

Lawmakers passed the measure, embodied in House Bill (HB) No. 9084, with 238 affirmative votes during plenary session Wednesday, Nov. 29. 

The bill recognizes the ongoing climate change emergency. It sought measures to limit its effects and mobilize funds for mitigation efforts. 

“We must acknowledge that there is a climate change emergency and take steps to stop it or mitigate its effects. I strongly support this bill, being one of those who witnessed the devastating effects of supertyphoon Yolanda 10 years ago. May we never see such a tragedy again,” said House Speaker Martin Romualdez in a statement after the bill's overwhelming passage. 

HB No. 9084 mandates the creation of a Climate Change Resiliency and Adaptability Program that shall develop and implement solutions to adapt and mitigate the adverse impacts of climate change. 

One of the components of this program is the Probabilistic Climate Risk Assessments (PCRA), which shall generate localized baseline information on climate risk faced by vulnerable communities and their support system for potential climate-related hazards. 

“PCRA shall consider all possible scenarios, likelihood and inherent uncertainties, associated impacts of climate change, and the climate change projections in extremes in consultation with collective strengthening for community awareness on natural disasters agencies,” read the measure. 

The proposed law also mandates a multi-sectoral approach to battling the effects of climate change and delineates the roles of government agencies in the effort. 

Furthermore, a Climate Change Resiliency and Adaptability Summit is mandated to be held on the second week of September every year. 

This summit shall aim to collaborate all the efforts of the concerned agencies in environment preservation and protection. --Dexter Barro II