MALABON CITY—Cities have an important role to play in ensuring a green and just recovery and addressing the climate crisis. This was the message during the online signing of a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) between Greenpeace Philippines, the office of Malabon Councilor Nadja Vicencio, and AKLAT Foundation[1]. The three teamed up in a bid to enact a “better normal” where sustainable and climate-responsive systems are in place in Metro Manila cities.
The MOA encapsulated the shared commitment among the parties to integrate green, sustainable policies and programs into city development plans. The MoA signing was conducted in an event titled “EveryJuanA Hero,” which touted community solidarity as a catalyst for a green and just recovery from climate and pandemic crisis. Various environmental organizations, youth leaders, and MSME representatives shared stories, best practices, and innovative solutions in their respective sectors.
“This National Heroes’ Day, we see modern heroism and bayanihan in the form of communities coming together to help one another during a pandemic that affects us all,” Councilor Vicencio said. “We believe this partnership is the right step towards upholding citizen participation, and turning what we learned from our communities into actual policies and programs.”
“We are one with Greenpeace Philippines and Councilor Vicencio in instituting green and sustainable programs in Malabon, and unifying the youth and MSMEs in a common goal for this city,” said AKLAT Foundation Executive Director Marlon Feliciano.
Greenpeace Southeast Asia Executive Yeb Saño emphasized the significance of local action as a first step towards a “better normal.”
“The injustices embedded in our current systems are most felt by the people in our cities, so in order for an inclusive pandemic recovery to occur, this is where we must start,” Saño said. “Building liveable, climate-resilient and -responsive cities not only ensures an inclusive, sustainable recovery that prioritizes people’s well-being, but also increases our adaptive capacity to face the impacts of climate change and other future crises.”
The partnership program will initially be rolled out to communities within Malabon City in a grassroots effort that promotes collaboration among citizens, local businesses, and local government units to address urban social injustices. This includes building the capacity of barangay officials in digital technologies, co-creating a green and sustainable disaster risk and reduction (DRR) response, highlighting and supporting community-led initiatives, and promoting local sustainable MSMEs to increase the city’s adaptive capacity.
Among the highlights of the MOA signing event is the pilot rollout of interactive maps. The maps not just provide data on flooding, other climate risks and hotspots, and locations of evacuation centers, overlaid with data on COVID hotspots in the city—they also serve as a platform to crowd-source stories of hope and resilience of city dwellers impacted by the twin crises of the climate emergency and the pandemic.
The Climate and Pandemic Stories map[2] will enable citizens to tell stories of their experiences and concerns involving climate crisis impacts such as more frequent and intense typhoons and drought, as well as rising sea levels. It will also help document their challenges during the pandemic. The Sustainable Solutions for Better Cities map[3], on the other hand, is a crowdsourced map that highlights local community-driven initiatives such as community pantries as well as micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) with environmentally conscious practices.
Greenpeace said that with the public’s increasing reliance on digital platforms, the map portal will help local government units visualize technical data and analyze these together with citizen science and on-the-ground experience, enabling a grounded approach in managing climate and pandemic risks.
“People participation is the most important element in building liveable and sustainable cities. In the past year-and-a-half of the pandemic, we’ve seen people coming together in solidarity to overcome challenges,” said Greenpeace campaigner Rhea Jane Pescador-Mallari. “The maps provide another platform for people’s voices to be heard. The best urban planners of the city are not just city officials and professional planners, but the people who know their city more than anyone else.”
Greenpeace Philippines is also looking at similar partnerships with other Metro Manila cities. The project is part of Greenpeace’s Liveable and Sustainable Cities campaign, which seeks to promote local community action as a way to enable climate responsiveness and climate resilience in cities towards a green and just recovery.
[1] AKLAT Foundation is non-government organization established to help socially disadvantaged youths who are forced to stay out of school and may either work prematurely or worse, be subjected to child labor and exploitation. https://www.facebook.com/aklatfoundation
[2][3] The Climate and Pandemic Response & the Sustainable Solutions for Better Cities maps can be found here: https://www.greenpeace.org/philippines/climate-and-pandemic-response-portal/
Media Contact:
Maverick Flores
Communications Campaigner, Greenpeace Southeast Asia – Philippines
[email protected] | +63 917 621 1552