Integrating Climate Resilience in Typhoon Rehabilitation

Rice Watch and Action Network and ICCO installed the Climate-resiliency Field School Program (CrFS) in 5 Haiyan-affected municipalities in Northern Cebu, Western Samar and Ormoc City. The CrFS aims to build back better and educate affected communities on climate-change resiliency strategies and sustainable technologies. The community resiliency learning program has enrolled more than 500 farmer/fisher students to the 3-4 months course and assisted them into setting-up their collective learning farms and provided start-up kits for their collective livelihood diversification projects. With the projected climate change, the early warning and the community resiliency program under the CrFS are meant to help typhoon Haiyan affected communities manage current and future weather and climate risks to their livelihoods and settlements.

The project also aims to show local governments the value of integrating climate change adaptation in rehabilitation and development efforts A successful cooperation in that sense is the installation of automatic weather stations for each of the project sites and the arrangements made with the Municipal Agriculture Office or the Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction Office. Local government partners have also been linked with the country s national meteorological agency (PAGASA) for their capacity building requirements. PAGASA has done at least twice a seasonal climate fora in each site.