DENR, Manila Observatory ink deal on climate change info system
The database will be made available to the public and allowed for use by LGUs, other national government agencies, the academe, civil society organizations and the private sector
Daily TribuneThe database will be made available to the public and allowed for use by LGUs, other national government agencies, the academe, civil society organizations and the private sector
Environment Secretary Maria Antonia Yulo-Loyzaga. | Photograph by Analy Labor for the daily tribune @tribunephl_ana
The Department of Environment and Natural Resources has partnered with the Manila Observatory to establish baseline data on environment and the country's natural resources through a climate change information system.
DENR Secretary Antonia Loyzaga and MO Executive Director Fr. Jose Ramon Villarin, S.J. signed a memorandum of agreement for the creation of a digital database with climate and environment layers that can form part of the DENR's Climate Change Information Management System and its other information systems, such as the DENR Control Map and the River Basin Information Management System.
MO, a non-profit research institution founded by Jesuits that has been studying Philippine weather patterns and earthquakes since Spanish colonial times, will co-design the database with the DENR using atmospheric and earth sciences, remote sensing technologies and space and satellite technology applications to bring the latest science to the country's environmental concerns.
The creation and establishment of the climate change database will harmonize the DENR's different policies and strategies in terms of achieving the eight-point socioeconomic agenda of the Marcos administration.
The database will contain interactive and downloadable maps on climate change scenarios for temperature and rainfall; hydrometeorological hazard spatial data and maps; exposure spatial data and maps; associated vulnerability data and maps; climate risk maps based on the confluence of hazards, exposures and vulnerabilities; and climate change impacts information.
The DENR will provide relevant information on climate and environment, such as geographic information system, field data, drone images and other reports that will contribute to the development of the systems and tools.
The two parties plan to have the CCIMS be made available to the public and allowed for use by local government units, other national government agencies, the academe, civil society organizations and the private sector. At the same time, the DENR will coordinate with relevant bureaus, attached agencies and regional and field offices for the implementation of the activities under the agreement.
Loyzaga served as former executive director of MO from 2007 to 2016, during which time she was also appointed to the Department of Science and Technology's Committee on Space Technology Applications and to the UNESCO National Commission's Committee on Science and Technology.