Iloilo and UNEP to address water supply, climate change
The province of Iloilo has forged a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) for the application of Rainwater Harvesting Technology in the Tigum-Aganan Watershed Area, to test effects on water supply and mitigate adverse effects of climate change.
The province is represented by the Iloilo Watershed Management Council (IWMC), under which the direct implementing body will be the Tigum-Aganan watershed board.
The Tigum-Aganan watershed catchment area which is also the pilot area for the clean water act designed by the Philippine government, will be used for demonstration purposes.
The watershed area has nine local government units and is characterized by deteriorating water quality, landslides, unsustainable catchment management practices, deteriorating ecosystems, low access to water and high poverty levels.
The MOU primarily aims to enable the Philippines to adapt to the impacts of climate change on water by assessing the rainwater potentials under different climate change scenarios, through six sets of GIS maps and by demonstrating rainwater harvesting application for minimizing these impacts.
The IWMC is expected to implement field project in the Tigum-Aganan for harvesting rainwater through improved terraces, ground and surface water recharge, adoption of sustainable forest management practices and increasing awareness on benefits of rainwater harvesting.
Under the MOU, the activities shall be undertaken upon direction of an advisory committee, composed of Division of environment and natural Resources, Tigum-Aganan Watershed management Board, River basin Coordinating Office and the Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Office (PENRO).
The Memorandum noted some examples of application of rainwater harvesting to address floods and droughts. The Mountain province uses traditional terraces for rice cultivation and reducing downstream flooding.
The Taiwan Ministry of Water Resource, just a few hours away by plane from the Philippines, has been using rainwater harvesting as part of their mitigation strategies to heavy floods since the year 2000, while the government of China has improved this technology to suit present water demands for farming in a dry climate and remarkably reduced poverty.
It has been noted by the IWMC that the technology has evolved as a tool which now can be used in achieving the Millennium Development Goals and for climate change adaptation. (PIA 6/ESS)