THE Philippines, this year’s Asean (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) chairman, should lead efforts to make climate resilience part of the region's security agenda, Environment Secretary Juan Miguel Cuna said.
“Climate resilience must increasingly become part of our Asean’s regional security architecture,” Cuna said on Monday during a forum on climate security organized by Stratbase Institute and the German Embassy in Manila.
Special Envoy for Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Antonia Yulo-Loyzaga shared Cuna's call for the Philippines to mobilize climate finance, technology, and partnerships to address climate change.
“The region should speak with greater coherence in mobilizing the finance, technology, and partnerships needed for a just transition,” Cuna said.
He said the Philippines needed access to climate finance, appropriate technology, science and data, as well as partnerships that will strengthen institutions and communities over the long term.
“No Asean member-state can address these challenges entirely on its own,” Cuna said.
Yulo-Loyzaga said the Philippines, as Asean chairman, had a “unique opportunity” to lead the region toward recognizing climate change as part of its security architecture.
German Ambassador to Manila Andreas Pfaffernoschke echoed the call for stronger regional cooperation, saying climate change and security could no longer be addressed separately.
He said climate finance should likewise be connected with peace-building efforts.
"A community affected by conflict and climate change should not have to choose between humanitarian assistance, peace building and adaptation,” Pfaffernoschke said.
Stratbase President Victor Andres Manhit said strategic partnerships and alignment “will remain essential to strengthening climate security and resilience."
“For the Philippines — and for all Asean member-states — it is therefore crucial that we harness strategic partnerships with like-minded countries,” he said.
“Our individual and collective ability to withstand these pressures will ultimately depend on how effectively we work across sectors and borders, and how strategically we build and sustain meaningful partnerships.”
Pfaffernoschke called on Asean to strengthen regional early warning systems that combine climate science with conflict-sensitive analysis.
He said vulnerable communities — including farmers, fishers, indigenous peoples, women and young people — should play a bigger role in climate adaptation projects.
