Saturday, August 22, 2009

Australia gives P123-million aid for RP

By MADEL R. SABATER, Manila Bulletin
August 20, 2009, 8:46pm

The Australian government has launched on Thursday new initiatives on disaster risk reduction (DRR) amounting to approximately P123-million as it identified the Philippines as one of the two priority countries on its DRR policy program implementation.

The launching of new initiatives on DRR falls under Australia’s new Disaster Risk Reduction policy for the Australian aid program, which was launched in Geneva, Switzerland in June this year. The other priority country is Indonesia.

The launching was held on Thursday at the Renaissance Hotel in Makati City during the 13th Asia Pacific Policy Forum on Climate Change Adaptation and Disaster Risk Reduction.

Australian Ambassador Rod Smith said the DRR initiatives are part of practical programs and cooperation under the bilateral programs between Australia and the Philippines on climate change adaptation and mitigation.

The P123-million Australian aid will fund three projects in the country. The first project, amounting to P87.5-million, will be implemented starting this year until 2011 by the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

It seeks to mainstream disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation in local and land use plans and processes.

The second project, meanwhile, amounting to P52.5-million, will provide technical assistance to the National Mapping and Resource Information Authority (NAMRIA), particularly on Spatial Data Management to improve the quality and timeliness of geospatial information. The project will be implemented with Geoscience Australia.

No comments:

Post a Comment