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Flood-hit Philippines failing to tackle climate threat

by Tania Ghosh

As the Philippines struggles to recover from last week's devastating floods, a study suggests local authorities in the country are failing to tackle climate change because they are excluded from the debate.

Michael Canares, an associate professor at Holy Name University on the island province of Bohol surveyed 100 local legislators and 30 local officials on Bohol, where fishing, farming and increasingly tourism are the main sources of income. With so many livelihoods dependent on Bohol's natural resources, climate change could have a disastrous affect on the islanders, Mr Canares says. He argues this makes it all the more important that local people who are likely to be most affected by climate change are included in the climate change debate.

Debate confined to top levels of government

Mr Canares' research shows that 60 per cent of municipalities have not included climate change concerns in local development plans, despite more than two-thirds of local officials believing that climate change will affect residents in the next 20 years. One mayor told Mr Canares that climate change remained "a buzzword from above."

The research, which was presented at the Development Studies Association annual conference in Ireland in September, found that while people in national government and within academic circles discussed climate change, information had not filtered down to the local level. This information is vital, says Canares, as local authorities need to create and implement policy to fight the effects of climate change.

"It is the implicit responsibility of national governments to bring the discussions to the local levels," he said. He has called for steps to ensure information gets to the people who will be the most affected by climate change to enable them to draw up effective policies.

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source: Panos London Flood-hit Philippines failing to tackle climate threat