NEWS & UPDATES
March 2010
SURP and
UN-HABITAT host international climate change seminar-workshop
The
UP
School of Urban and Regional Planning (UP SURP) and the
United Nations Human
Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT) hosted an
International University Seminar-Workshop with the theme “Strengthening
Climate Change in Planning Education” on March 1 to 5, 2010
at the Calabia Mini-Theater, UP SURP, Diliman, Quezon City. The
seminar-workshop sought to mainstream climate change into the
existing syllabi of UP SURP and to eventually provide Continuing
Professional Education/Development (CPE/D) for urban planners and
practitioners at the local level, particularly among local
government units (LGUs) and at the regional level, the Asia-Pacific,
in particular.
Recognizing the role of universities in contributing to
change toward sustainable urban
development,
UN-HABITAT initiated the Habitat Partner University Network aimed
at enhancing cooperation between UN-HABITAT and universities worldwide
to enhance collaboration and facilitate exchange of knowledge,
expertise and skills among universities regarding Climate Change and
Urban Planning. UP SURP was selected as member-university representing
the Asia-Pacific Region and was thus tasked to coordinate the
seminar-workshop among university students in the region, while other
universities in Esmeraldas/Quito, Ecuador and in Kampala, Uganda will
hold similar activities in Latin America and in Africa, respectively.
International workshop
Mr. Bernhard Barth of the Training and Capacity Building Branch
of UN-HABITAT and Dr. Mario R. Delos Reyes of UP SURP,
represented their respective institutions in coordinating the said
event. Workshop participants to included professors from the following
universities: Asian Institute of Technology (Bangkok, Thailand);
Civil Engineering School of the Mongolian University of Science and
Technology, (Mongolia); Diponegoro University Department of
Urban and Regional Planning (Indonesia); Hanoi Architectural
University (Vietnam); Institute for Housing and Urban
Development Studies (The Netherlands); Royal Melbourne
Institute of Technology (Australia); University of Moratuwa
(Sri Lanka); University of Papua New Guinea; Ateneo de
Manila University (Philippines) and the UP SURP
(Philippines).
Ms. Eden Garde, UN HABITAT Country Program Manager for the
Philippines and Dr. Lorna I. Paredes, UPD Vice Chancellor for
Academic Affairs, welcomed the workshop delegates during the opening
ceremonies, while UP Diliman Chancellor Sergio S. Cao hosted a
welcome dinner for the participants at the Executive House of the
University.
University seminar
Workshop participants
and university students discussed emerging issues and topics related
to climate change (CC) and planning in several seminar sessions. The
sessions proceeded with lectures from resource persons, group
workshops
and exercises, students’ presentation of climate change-related
research proposals, review of the proposals by other students and the
professors.
Mr. Barth
and Dr. Delos Reyes led Session 1 discussion on Climate Change and
Urban Planning which covered the science of climate change, and
general issues on climate change impacts, governance, mitigation,
adaptation in cities. For Session 2, Dr. Edsel Sajor from the
Asian Institute of Technology (AIT, Thailand) lectured on Conducting
Climate Change Vulnerability Assessments including local climate
models, and climate-vulnerable people, places, and sectors. Prof.
Ralph Horne and Dr. Iftekhar Ahmed
from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT, Australia),
facilitated the discussion for Session 3 on Conducting City Climate
Change Footprint Assessments and Session 4 on Cities and Climate
Change Mitigation with particular focus on the built environment. For
Session 5, Dean Candido A. Cabrido, Jr., Dr. Delos Reyes, and
Prof. Alex Ramon Q. Cabanilla, from UP SURP lectured on Cities
and Climate Change Adaptation. Dr. Ogenis Brilhante from the
Institute for Housing and Urban Development Studies, (IHS), Rotterdam,
The Netherlands, led the discussion on Developing Local Climate Change
Action Plans and Mainstreaming
Climate Change into Existing Statutory Plans during the last Session.
On the
last day of the International Seminar-Workshop, the professors came
together to evaluate the final proposal drafts as part of the
selection process for research grants. As a result, five
UP SURP graduate students were selected by the
UN-HABITAT as grantees for their
Climate Change-related research proposals. George D. Esguerra
(PhD Urban and Regional Planning), Mark Anthony M. Gamboa (MA
Urban and Regional Planning), Proscoro Ervin A. Mundo (MA URP),
Michelle Ann M. Santillan (MA URP), and A.S.M. Saifullah,
(MS Regional Development Planning) will undertake their
respective researches for six (6) months with financial support from
the UN-
HABITAT. The
implementation of the climate change studies will in turn be monitored
by the UP SURP.
Field visit
To cap
off the 5-day seminar-workshop, the delegates visited one of the
vulnerable cities in the country: Marikina City where Ms. Nerlisa
Palomar, Marikina City’s Project Development Officer, recounted the
City’s experience in preparing for and recovering from natural
disasters like that of Typhoon Ketsana/Ondoy. The delegates were
also brought to the Provident Village, which is one of the
worst-flooded area in the city when the said typhoon hit Metro Manila
in September 2009.
>read related article
>return to
Home |
