Brown Bag Learning Session Highlights Calls for Integrating Climate Change Policy in DFA Planning Processes

Some of the participants during the virtual learning session entitled “Conversations on Earth Day: Greening DFA and PH Foreign Policy” for the home office, consular offices, and foreign service posts on 22 April 2021.

PASAY CITY 26 APRIL 2021 — In celebration of Earth Day and coinciding with the fourth year since the Philippines officially became a party to the Paris Agreement, the Department of Foreign Affairs - Office of Policy Planning and Coordination (OPPC), in coordination with the Office of United Nations and Other International Organizations (UNIO), conducted a virtual brown bag learning session entitled “Conversations on Earth Day: Greening DFA and PH Foreign Policy” for the  home office, consular offices, and foreign service posts on 22 April 2021.

The learning session discussed the state of the global environment and the Philippine government’s response to climate change, explored how the Department can best incorporate sustainable development and the climate change agenda in its planning processes, and how its personnel can help protect and advocate for our environment mindful that climate action requires convergence of agencies and is an intergenerational responsibility.

UNIO Assistant Secretary Noralyn Jubaira-Baja stressed the importance of integrating sustainability in crafting policies and action plans, while OPPC Assistant Secretary Grace Cruz-Fabella mentioned the need to prioritize the most vulnerable as the Department prepares for its strategic planning process.

Speakers of the virtual session include Rev. Fr. Jose Ramon T. Villarin, SJ, former president of the Ateneo de Manila University and member of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change that received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007 , and Mr. Jerome E. Ilagan, Chief of Policy Research and Development Division of the Climate Change Commission. END

For more information: https://bit.ly/3gLABsK