The Philippines has called for a shift from isolated, short-term projects toward predictable and sustained financing for permanent, nationally owned systems of resilience, particularly for early warning systems as global temperatures threaten to cross critical warming thresholds.
Lawyer Analiza Rebuelta-Teh, Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) Undersecretary for Finance, Information Systems, Climate Change and Administration, made the pitch as she spoke at the Solutions Dialogue on Financing Adaptation in the Era of Global Overshoot held at the United Nations Headquarters in New York.
She stressed the need for multi-year and predictable financing to sustain early warning systems and ensure that warnings are translated into timely protective action.
For climate-vulnerable island nations like the Philippines, Teh said: ‘We are already confronting increasingly intense and compounding hazards that threaten lives, livelihoods, food and water security, ecosystems, and economic stability.’
Global adaptation costs for developing countries are projected to reach $310 billion to $365 billion annually by 2035, compounded by acute debt distress and prohibitive capital costs, Teh said.
In the Philippines alone, the economic cost of inaction across eight priority sectors identified in the National Adaptation Plan (NAP) is estimated at P645 billion annually.
‘Adaptation cannot remain reactive,’ the Undersecretary emphasized. ‘We need new, additional, predictable, and scaled-up public finance to enable developing countries to respond to growing climate risks at the speed and scale required.’
To strengthen financing for early warning systems, the DENR official highlighted three key areas:
Making Early Warning Financing Predictable and Permanent. Moving beyond short-term projects and recognizing early warning systems as critical, permanent public infrastructure supported by multi-year and predictable financing.?
-Financing the Last Mile from Warning to Protective Action. Ensuring that warnings translate into timely action through pre-arranged and trigger-based financing, local risk information, warning dissemination, and community preparedness.? ?Financing the ‘Unfunded Middle’ and Building Domestic Ownership. Sustaining operations and maintenance, data collection, technical personnel, system upgrades, and training, with a clear pathway toward domestic budget ownership.?
Underscoring the Philippines’ commitment to disaster resilience, Rebuelta-Teh highlighted the country’s recent formalization as the 71st member of the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI), making it the second Southeast Asian nation to join the global body.
‘For the Philippines, our goal is to move from isolated projects to permanent, nationally owned systems of resilience,’ Teh said.
‘With predictable international support aligned with domestic planning and budgeting, we can ensure that early warnings are not only issued, but translated into timely action that protects lives, livelihoods, and development gains,’ she said.