A total of 125 planning officers, Geographic Information System (GIS) experts, engineers, DRRM officers, and agriculture personnel from 21 Local Government Units (LGUs) completed the five-day Enhanced Climate and Disaster Risk Assessment Training (E-CDRA).
The activity was conducted by the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development (DHSUD) – Negros Island Region, in collaboration with the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office (PDRRMO) and the Provincial Planning and Development Office (PPDO), at the Negros Residences in Bacolod City.
Participants were from Bago City, Binalbagan, Cauayan, Candoni, Calatrava, Don Salvador Benedicto, EB Magalona, Hinigaran, Ilog, La Carlota City, La Castellana, Manapla, Murcia, Moises Padilla, Pulupandan, Pontevedra, San Enrique, Toboso, and the cities of San Carlos, Sipalay, and Talisay.
The training workshop aims to integrate the E-CDRA into the LGUs’ Comprehensive Land Use Plans (CLUP), an effective disaster risk reduction instrument that seeks to rationalize land use allocation to reduce exposure of people, assets, and economic activities. It also seeks to address vulnerabilities by providing safer places to live, sustaining livelihoods, and ensuring optimum productivity of natural resources.
The LGUs that sent representatives to the training-workshop were those with CLUPs nearing completion or under review and update, including those yet to submit a draft for review by the Provincial Land Use Committee (PLUC).
Among the major topics discussed were the Enhanced CDRA policy, the fundamentals of hazards and climate change, data collection and organization, climate change and climate extremes, and understanding hazards. The course also covered PAGASA climate projection data and climate impacts, exposure database development, risk analysis, summarizing findings, mainstreaming DRR-CCA into land use plans, and post-mainstreaming activities.
PPDO head and PLUC chair Anna Marie Lucasan said the activity, which has the full support of Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson, responds to the national government’s call for a zero CLUP backlog by 2028. With the completion of the E-CDRA training, Lucasan expressed hope that the LGUs will now be able to submit their “risk-informed” CLUPs. ||
