TOWNS Foundation (The Outstanding Women in the Nation’s Service) partners with NAST (National Academy for Science and Technology), the government’s highest S&T advisory body, to hold a seminar workshop called “Klima” for local government officials in the Visayas, the epicenter of the climate crisis in the world.
Speakers at the seminar workshop to be held on August 1 at the Summit Hotel in Tacloban include experts from the NAST Task Force on Climate Change headed by Dr. Rex Victor Cruz, a renowned scientist in watershed management and climate change adaptation. He will discuss a comprehensive land use plan as an imperative in responding to climate change.
Other scientist-speakers are Dr. Cesar Villanoy who will discuss nature-based climate change adaptation, Dr. Glenn Gregorio who will unveil S&T for resilient farming in saline conditions and for resilient fishery, and Dr. Marie Antoinette Junio-Meñez who will share livelihood opportunities.
The seminar workshop, to be participated in by mayors, planning officers and disaster risk reduction specialists from all over the Visayas, is a venue for engaging local stakeholders in the exploration and sharing of experiences on S&T-based responses to typhoons, coastal erosions, coastal and riverine flooding, landslides, and other climate change-related hazards.
Leyte Gov. Jericho Petilla will also share local initiatives in climate change adaptation.
The Visayas event will also be participated in by the private sector for a whole of society approach in climate change mitigation. Among the speakers from the private sector panel are representatives of the Oscar M. Lopez Center, SGV, the Gokongwei Group, BPI and Victoria’s Milling.
Dr. Laura David of the UP Marine Science Institute, also a TOWNS member, will conduct a workshop to help LGUs craft their action plans with integrated approaches to climate change adaption.
TOWNS President Ces Oreña-Drilon will moderate the program and TOWNS member and sustainability advocate Alicia Morales will deliver the closing remarks.
Sponsors of KLIMA are First Gen Corporation, Energy Development Corporation, the Oscar M. Lopez Center, SGV and Co, Cebu Pacific, GO Hotels, Summit Hotels, JG Summit Holdings, Victorias Milling Company and BPI.
KLIMA aims to go to Mindanao and Luzon also this year in its quest to bring science, technology and innovation to local government units who are at the heart of the battle against climate change.
