Cities of Catbalogan, Naga, and Puerto Princesa Capacitated on Climate Actions and Financing Strategies
Following the inception workshop last June 21, 2023, with 15 Philippine cities engaged in the One Planet Cities (OPC) 2023-2024 local implementation, WWF Philippines held a series of in-depth workshops with three of these partner cities from June 26 to July 14, 2023. Visits to the cities of Catbalogan (Samar), Naga (Camarines Sur), and Puerto Princesa (Palawan) were undertaken with courtesy call meetings and a 1.5-day capacity-building workshop. These cities were selected to be provided with better assistance in their participation in the One Planet City Challenge (OPCC), deep-dive training, and updated information, as in this cycle, this is Puerto Princesa City’s first engagement to the project while both Catbalogan City and Naga City are recurring partners, but have not joined since 2017.
To formalize the partnership with these cities, the OPC Philippines Team and its technical partner, ICLEI-SEAS, met with Naga City Councilor on the Environment Ghiel G. Rosales, Puerto Princesa City Administrator Atty. Arnel Pedrosa, and Catbalogan City Mayor Dexter Uy, respectively. Through the courtesy meetings, the cities’ engagement with WWF’s OPC and OPCC was discussed, and the city officials expressed their support for the program’s goal. In particular, these city officials conveyed the commitment of their city governments in the planned workshops involving their key city representatives. Additionally, Mayor Dexter Uy recognized the importance and benefits of reporting the city’s climate actions and plans while learning and inspiring each other, not just amongst Philippine cities but also in a global environment.
Courtesy Call Visits with (Left to Right), Naga City Councilor on Environment, Puerto Princesa City Administrator, and Catbalogan City Mayor
The 1.5-days workshop organized in the three cities capacitated a total of 76 city technical staff representing various offices such as environment, planning, engineering, agriculture, tourism, disaster risk reduction & management, and public information. The attendees learned more about the One Planet Cities (OPC) program, its flagship activity – the One Planet City Challenge (OPCC), WWF’s global, friendly competition for cities. Relevantly, an introduction to the CDP-ICLEI Track, the online reporting platform for OPCC Evaluation, occupied a significant portion of the session. With this climate reporting tool, cities will be answering the Cities Questionnaire 2023 with the required information on their (1) greenhouse gas (GHG) inventory, (2) climate targets, and (3) climate action plans & strategies. After the presentation, the city representatives had a break-out activity and mapped out their cities’ climate mitigation and adaptation actions, including their status and designated city office. Further, the workshop discussed the topics of Setting Science-Based Targets, Calculating GHG Emissions, and Identifying High Impact Mitigation Actions, providing participants with comprehensive knowledge and skills to advance their game to align with the 1.5C low-carbon development pathway.
City Representatives during the discussion and break-out activities
Moreover, recognizing the critical aspect of providing the types of training based on the priority needs of the cities, the OPC project conducted a Training Needs Assessment (TNA) on its partner cities last May 2023, and the results of this were used in the concept design for each city workshop. The cities of Naga and Catbalogan identified climate financing as the cities’ gap; thus, a 2-hour discussion was held on how to identify available climate financing opportunities by also highlighting some actual funding resources such as the People’s Survival Fund (PSF), public-private partnerships of various international and local banks and grants from international organizations. An interactive activity followed afterwards wherein the participants had an opportunity to practice preparing and pitching bankable project proposals, while receiving comments and suggestions based on their presentations. Meanwhile, Puerto Princesa City delved into a more detailed technical discussion on GHG to enhance their capability in their plans of updating the city-level-wide emissions inventory. City representatives actively engaged in a hands-on activity to calculate sample emissions using provided proxy data.
Group photos of the city representatives that attended the workshop at (Left to Right), Naga City, Puerto Princesa City, and Catbalogan City
Hopefully, through their OPC engagement and with renewed political commitment, backed up with up-to-date technical knowledge, these cities are more equipped to act as transformation catalysts, implementing integrated and inclusive plans in line with 1.5 °C while ensuring urban resilience, and unlocking individual and collective climate actions. Aside from this technical capacity, all 15 OPC Philippine cities are part of more than 200 cities worldwide to submit their climate data in the CDP-ICLEI Track for their participation in the new cycle of the City Challenge, with an initial reporting deadline on August 31, 2023. Through the cities’ submissions, their climate journey will be assessed, wherein WWF will release strategic guidance on how their climate targets align to 1.5 °C and recommend big-win actions needed to cut emissions and protect people and places. Simultaneously, this assessment will also serve as the basis for this cycle’s national finalists, national winners, and global winners, to be announced publicly in the 2nd quarter of 2024.
About WWF:
WWF is one of the world’s largest and most respected independent conservation organizations, with over 5 million supporters and a global network active in over 100 countries. WWF's mission is to stop the degradation of the Earth's natural environment and to build a future in which humans live in harmony with nature, by conserving the world's biological diversity, ensuring that the use of renewable natural resources is sustainable, and promoting the reduction of pollution and wasteful consumption.
WWF-Philippines has been successfully implementing various conservation projects to help protect some of the most biologically-significant ecosystems in Asia since its establishment as the 26th national organization of the WWF network in 1997.
For media arrangements, please contact:
Ms. Chezka Guevarra
Assistant Manager for External Communications and Ambassador Programs
09276566436
cguevarra@wwf.org.ph
