MANILA: The executive department has earmarked a total P543.45 billion for projects and programs geared towards climate change mitigation and adaptation in 2024, the Department of Budget and Management announced Thursday.The proposed budget is more than 60 percent increase from 2023’s budget at P464.5 billion this year.
In a Palace briefing, Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman said the proposed amount is equivalent to 9.4 percent of the total proposed budget of P5.7 trillion for next year, exceeding the government’s commitment of only 8 percent share under the Philippine Development Plan.
In his budget message, President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. said that his administration has made future-proofing its top priority to address climate change, with global temperatures reaching record highs and droughts displacing millions worldwide.
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Of the proposed amount, P294.46 billion will be allocated for projects to ensure water sufficiency, and another P180.72 billion for sustainable energy projects, Pangandaman said.
“For Climate Smart Industries and Services, 6.02 billion; for ecosystem and environmental sustainability, 5.95 billion; another 12.97 billion for knowledge and capacity development; food security, 40.18 billion; human security, 2.58 billion and; cross-cutting actions, 550 million pesos,” the DBM chief said.
“And related to that, is another 1.7 billion under the Philippines Space Agency to better monitor our land and marine resources as well as terrestrial ecosystems. I think this will be used for a satellite; 1.2 billion will be used for multi-sectoral unit land assessment satellite development,” she added. Meanwhile, the government has increased its proposed budget for the public works and highway department’s flood management program with P215.643 billion for 2024, up from last year’s P185 billion.
There are also foreign-assisted projects for flood control, some funded by the Korea Eximbank, said Pangandaman. This includes the Pampanga Integrated Disaster and Risk Resiliency Project and the Bulacan Angat Water Transmission Project. “It is a loan so we just funded the government counterpart. So for Pampanga, it’s 1.397 billion iyong government counterpart; and for Bulacan, it’s 7.4 billion,” she said.
The government is also allocating P31 million for the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management fund for the “reconstruction, rehabilitation, repair, aid, and relief services to communities or areas affected by both natural and man-made calamities, including the training of personnel for pre-disaster activities.”
The national government is also developing a National Indemnity Insurance Program “to provide insurance coverage for strategically important and critical government assets against typhoons, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and floods.”
“This will ensure access to liquidity post-disaster for the repair and rehabilitation of damaged infrastructure,” Marcos, Jr said in his budget message.
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