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RP proposes zero climate-change casualty
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Business Mirror
Jonathon L. Mayuga
The Philippines is pitching calls for a zero climate-change casualty for developing countries through climate change-resilient urban designs in the ongoing climate talks under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in Bonn, Germany.
The initiative in the form of a global architectural design competition aims to share and mobilize innovative solutions toward climate-resilient and disaster-resistant communities.
Together with members of the Philippine delegation, Illac Diaz—founder of MyShelter Foundation—launched a signature campaign to encourage international leaders to be part of the Design Against the Elements Global Challenge (DAtE).
“When Typhoon Ondoy hit the Philippines in September last year and destroyed in only a matter of six hours what took decades to build, climate adaptation has since established itself as an absolute priority for the country,” Diaz pointed out. “We set our eyes to a global solution for climate adaptability.”
A proposal titled “A Global Manifesto for Climate Adaptability and Resilient Communities,” DAtE is being circulated among participants in the climate-change conference, where countries struggle toward finalizing a new global deal to combat climate change.
The proposal highlights the urgency of climate-change adaptation and the immediate need to share innovative ideas toward establishing climate-resilient and disaster-resistant communities in developing nations.
DAtE recognizes the Fourth Assessment report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change that concluded the developing countries are most vulnerable to the impacts of a changing climate; and that climate-induced extreme weather events such as fierce typhoons, droughts, landslides, as well as food and water shortage, will affect most especially the poor in developing countries like the Philippines.
“While the international community earnestly negotiates for a new climate agreement, action needs to happen on the ground now, and DAtE is the golden opportunity to bring in the best ideas the world has to offer toward concretizing climate adaptation,” noted Lawrence Ang, project coleader.
Launched in March this year, DAtE is a competition open to professionals and students of architecture and urban-planning around the world. It aims to design and build low-cost, climate-resilient structures that can withstand climate-induced extreme weather events and disasters like floods and landslides, as well as food and water shortage.
From: http://businessmirror.com.ph, 8 June 2010.
