ICSC urges long-term climate solutions amid Habagat floods

QUEZON CITY — Flood resilience in the Philippines requires more than hard infrastructure, the Institute for Climate and Sustainable Cities said Thursday, calling for long-term climate solutions that integrate nature-based approaches, early warning systems and community-driven initiatives.

The Philippine-based climate and energy policy NGO issued the call as the southwest monsoon, or Habagat, brought heavy rainfall to several parts of Luzon.

ICSC Executive Director Angelo Kairos dela Cruz said the burden of the flooding has fallen unevenly on Filipinos.

“Metro Manila and nearby provinces have been experiencing heavy rainfall for almost three weeks now, with Filipinos being exposed to daily flooding that submerges their homes, disrupts livelihoods, makes commuting to and from work quite impossible, and leads to school cancellations. The burden is not the same for everyone, as those with the fewest resources to prepare, evacuate, recover, or rebuild are often the ones who suffer more. This alone should signal the need for immediate action to at least minimize the impacts already being felt across different areas in Luzon, as climate science projections show that impacts will continue to worsen. We cannot afford any delay in raising our ambition to increase resilience without sacrificing accountability and transparency,” dela Cruz said.

He pointed to the first installment of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s four-part Sixth Assessment Report, released in August 2021, as evidence that the current impacts were foreseen.

“The science is clear. The first of the four-part Sixth Assessment Report (AR6) of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), released in August 2021, already warned of how climate extremes ––such as heavy rainfall, heatwaves, and droughts ––are projected to become more severe and more frequent, as an effect of the global warming we are experiencing. AR6 also highlighted that rainfall over land will become more intense and variable, with some areas getting wetter and others getting drier,” he said.

Dela Cruz said reactive measures are no longer sufficient.

“With the impacts we are seeing, which are endangering lives and livelihoods, being reactive will never be enough. What we need are long-term solutions that empower people and communities, providing them the skills and tools needed to face the impacts of climate change,” he said.

He credited national and local governments for rainfall warnings and evacuations but said planning cycles must change.

“We recognize efforts made by the national and local governments in providing rainfall warnings and facilitating timely evacuations in affected areas. There is progress, but we should translate these experiences into real systemic change. As extreme weather events are a facet of the changing climate, planning cycles should already shift from a merely reactionary to an anticipatory mode,” he said.

The ICSC official also raised the ongoing investigations into flood control anomalies.

“As investigations of flood control anomalies remain ongoing, we remind the Philippine government of its responsibility and accountability to Filipinos in ensuring that resources are properly allocated, utilized, and reported. Funds for climate action are limited, we have to make sure that every peso counts,” he said.

He said hard infrastructure alone cannot deliver flood resilience.

“We must also move away from the fixation on hard infrastructure as the primary solution to flood control. While hard infrastructure remains necessary, it is no silver bullet. Effective flood resilience requires a broader, systems-based approach. We have to prioritize and invest in long-term solutions that embed hard infrastructure with nature-based solutions, early warning systems, and community-driven initiatives, maximizing what already exists in different ecosystems, backed by science-based ecological assessments,” he said.

Dela Cruz said communities are already adopting such approaches but need resources and support.

“These are not theoretical examples, in fact, local communities are already taking action in adapting to and mitigating the impacts brought about by climate change, utilizing approaches that are evidence-based and locally-led. What is needed now is to ensure that communities get the needed resources and support to move forward. While there are climate finance mechanisms in place globally and in the country, we have to ensure that local governments and communities are capacitated to ensure that these funds are utilized and directed to projects that they need most. In addition, climate and disaster risk finance and insurance must also be leveraged to provide safety netting for sectors and communities from the impacts of climate change and extreme weather events,” he said.

He closed by urging national leadership to scale up climate action.

“We urgently ask for the country’s leadership in ensuring that climate action efforts are moving forward at the needed speed and scale. The current impacts we are experiencing from Habagat should not be treated simply as a story about unusually heavy downpour, it is a result of years of insufficient planning, weak scientific grounding, and uncoordinated implementation. We can move forward, we already have the information that we need to advance effective climate action: heed the science, anticipate the extreme scenarios, plan and design around nature and local geography with local communities as partners, and mobilize resources with transparency and accountability mechanisms in place,” he said.