Philippines urged to lead ASEAN climate security push

MANILA — The Philippines should use its 2026 chairmanship of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations to mobilize climate finance, technology and partnerships while pushing climate resilience deeper into the region’s security agenda, the country’s top environmental officials said.

Environment Secretary Juan Miguel Cuna and Special Envoy for Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Antonia Yulo-Loyzaga made the call Monday at a climate security forum organized by the Stratbase Group and the German Embassy.

The officials said the Philippines’ ASEAN chairmanship offers an opportunity to advance a more integrated approach to climate security by linking environmental resilience to the regional bloc’s political, economic, and security priorities.

“The region should speak with greater coherence in mobilizing the finance, technology, and partnerships needed for a just transition,” Cuna said. “Climate resilience must increasingly become part of our ASEAN’s regional security architecture.”

Cuna said the Philippines needs greater access to climate finance, appropriate technology, science and data, and partnerships that can strengthen institutions and communities over the long term.

“No ASEAN member state can address these challenges entirely on its own,” Cuna said.

Stratbase Group President Victor Andres Manhit echoed the call for cooperation, saying 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,” Manhit 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.”

Cuna and Manhit also called for stronger participation from the private sector, civil society and academe in developing renewable energy, resilient infrastructure, climate-smart production and nature-positive investments.

Yulo-Loyzaga said the Philippines, as ASEAN chair, has a “unique opportunity” to lead the region toward recognizing climate change as an integral part of its security architecture.

She said ASEAN’s stability, prosperity and security would depend on how effectively its members adapt to climate risks and whether they sustain science-informed cooperation with like-minded countries within a rules-based international order.

The Philippines formally assumed the rotating ASEAN chairmanship on Jan. 1, 2026, succeeding Malaysia. Its chairship is guided by the theme “Navigating Our Future, Together” and priorities covering peace and security, economic prosperity and people empowerment.

Yulo-Loyzaga said the Philippines has already incorporated climate security into its national development and security frameworks, citing the National Security Strategy 2023–2028 as identifying climate change as a threat multiplier and security concern.

The National Security Council’s current 2023–2028 national security framework emphasizes national resilience, human security, economic security and sustainable development as part of a whole-of-nation approach.

Yulo-Loyzaga also cited the country’s shift toward more anticipatory disaster response through the 2025 Declaration of Imminent Disaster Law, which gives local governments more immediate access to resources for preparations ahead of hydrometeorological hazards.

The measure established a mechanism for declaring a state of imminent disaster and enabling anticipatory action before expected hazards strike. It allows national and local disaster risk reduction and management councils to use available resources and mechanisms for preventive measures.

Yulo-Loyzaga said the Philippines’ National Adaptation Plan estimated the cost of climate inaction during the current decade at between PHP 1.2 trillion and PHP 1.4 trillion.

The government’s National Adaptation Plan 2023–2050 projects that climate change could cost the country about PHP 1.4 trillion, or roughly 7.6% of gross domestic product, by 2030 without sufficient adaptation measures.

At the regional level, Yulo-Loyzaga said existing ASEAN mechanisms covering disaster response, climate change, food security, biodiversity and maritime cooperation need to be better connected because climate risks cut across all those areas.

German Ambassador to the Philippines Andreas Pfaffernoschke likewise called for stronger regional cooperation, including expanded early warning systems that combine climate science with conflict-sensitive analysis.

Pfaffernoschke said climate adaptation projects should also be designed with conflict prevention in mind.

He called for vulnerable communities, including farmers, fishers, Indigenous peoples, women and young people, to have a greater role in policymaking.

Pfaffernoschke also urged ASEAN members to deepen cooperation over shared resources such as transboundary water, marine resources and food systems.

He said the bloc should improve coordination on disaster response and climate-related displacement.

Climate finance should likewise be linked with peace-building efforts, Pfaffernoschke said.

“A community affected by conflict and climate change should not have to choose between humanitarian assistance, peace-building and adaptation,” Pfaffernoschke said.