Press Release
October 8, 2009

LOREN TO KEYNOTE VISAYAS CLIMATE CHANGE
CONFERENCE-WORKSHOP

Sen. Loren Legarda, chair of the Congressional Oversight Committee on Climate Change Adaptation, will be the keynote speaker at a workshop on Climate Change Adaptation through Agroforesty, to be held in Iloilo City tomorrow, Friday, Oct. 9.

The workshop which will be held at the Hotel del Rio in Iloilo City will be attended by governors and mayors in the Visayan region, as well as by representatives from national and local agencies.

Loren, who is also the United Nations champion for climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduciton in Asia-Pacific, will speak on the benefits of agroforestry in increasing food production and at the same time protecting the environment from the ravages of climate change.

The senator had established the environmental organization Luntiang Pilipinas in 1998 to increase environmental awareness among its members and the general public and to plant trees nationwide.

Since its founding, Luntian has already planted over two million trees all over the country, trees, which according to Loren, not only helps clean the air of pollutants but also prevents soil erosion, the cause of many landslides.

Loren maintains that while natural calamities may be worsening as typhoons get stronger, like Ondoy and Pepeng, there are a lot which man can do to reduce the disasters resulting from the calamities.

She said that among these measures are the relocation of communities away from danger areas, the setting up of early warning systems against typhoons and the resulting floods, and the mobilization of local government units during emergencies.

Loren lamented that local governments in Metro Manila had found their disaster reaction units wanting in dealing with the onslaught of Ondoy, which left many residents stranded atop rooftops for days.

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