Philippines pushes for $2.87bn budget for climate change projects

The Philippine government is proposing a 132 billion pesos (2.87 billion U.S. dollars) budget for financing climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction next year, a senior official said on Sunday.

The proposed budget, which is part of the total 3.002-trillion pesos (65.30 billion U.S. dollars) planned appropriations of the national government, was in response to calls by finance ministers of the "Vulnerable Twenty (V20)" for a significant mobilization of funds for a global response to climate change, Philippine Department of Budget and Management Secretary Florencio Abad said.

The V20 group represents close 700 million people from 20 countries around the world most vulnerable to climate change. It held its inaugural meeting during the World Bank/International Monetary Fund Annual Meetings in Lima, Peru, last week to push for greater investments in climate resiliency ahead of the COP21 talks in Paris.

The climate expenditure in the Philippines' proposed 2016 budget would go to flood control, reforestation and farm-to-market road projects.