1

Climate Change and

Governance

Orlando Mercado, PhDSecretary GeneralEastern Regional Organization for Public Administration (EROPA)

2

It is not only about the weather or the environment.

3

It is about governance:Who controls resources; how and why decisions are made.

4

Strategic vision, accountability, transparency, rule of law, empowerment and meaningful participation are the tools for adopting to climate change.

5

How then do we “frame” climate change stories?

Tactical Strategic

Raising awareness about risks

Getting people to reduce risks to disasters

Human interest Public interest

6

Risk communication

Hazard + outrage = risk

(Peter Sandman, 1991)

Perception of injustice, neglect

7

Media as a channel for communication vs. media as a constituency

8

Challenges in the Philippines

Politics of personalities “It’s the economy, stupid” Cultural fatalism - “Bahala na” Weak political institutions Unbridled population growth

9

In the Philippines, climate change will have its most profound impact on the poor who live in low-lying and coastal areas that are already prone to flooding and vulnerable to typhoons.

10

Climate change will compound the problem of poor housing and shelter for close to a fourth of the population (22 million) who live in informal settlements and slums in cities.

11

Without serious reforms in land use policy, energy policy and improvements in governance, the quality of life of the next generation of Filipinos will be held hostage by the cycle of poverty-disasters-disease.

12