PHILIPPINES HOSTS ASEAN PORTS’ HRD SEMINAR ON CLIMATE CHANGE

The Philippines, through the Philippine Ports Authority, hosted the Human Resource Development (HRD) Seminar billed “Mitigating Impacts of Climate Change in the Port Industry” on November 17-18, 2010 at the Traders’ Hotel of Manila. This was participated in by 28 port officials from Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

This HRD Seminar is the 14^th in the series of capacity building activities which the ASEAN Ports Association (APA) has been conducting since 1992 on a wide range of areas of interest such as Marketing, Information and Communications Technology, Improved Productivity through Re-Engineering, Safety and Health, Merit System, Management of Human Resource, Logistics and Port Services and allied topics. In all these years, APA member-ports take turns in hosting the HRD Seminar.

In his Welcome Remarks during the Opening Program for this PPA-hosted Seminar on Climate Change, PPA AGM for Operations Raul T. Santos expressed his optimism that the forum can lead to the setting of a mechanism for addressing the issue among the member ports in the region. PPA General Manager Atty. Juan C. Sta. Ana, on the other hand, who delivered the keynote address, exhorted APA members to initiate a survey designed to generate baseline data and information on climate change situations in different ports. This call was reinforced by the country presentations of Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. The distinguished panel of speakers from the academe, and the ports and shipping communities also offered their expert’s view on the challenges, issues and impact of this phenomenon as well as measures that may be adopted to mitigate its adverse effects. At the end of the two-day Seminar, the PPA Assistant to the General Manager for Corporate Affairs and Special Projects, Mr. Hector E. Miole, formally closed the forum by leaving a challenge to all participants to translate into concrete actions the learnings they had gained since only a positive impact generated from environment-friendly practices on port operations will define the success of this endeavour.

Climate change has been an interesting subject which has become the focal point of discussion in nearly all fora that tackles the sustainability of the environment as we know it today. In an article titled “Timeline: Climate Change”, it was recorded that climate change as a global issue was first recognized in 1979 when the First World Climate Conference was held. This was followed in 1985 by the first major international conference on the greenhouse effect at Villach, Austria. This event is particularly important for ports since this was the point when the impact of greenhouse gases on sea levels was first raised as an alarming issue. This later led to various initiatives and commitments among global leaders to set emission targets that are binding, the first being the Climate Change Convention of 1992 in Rio where 154 nations agreed to set initial target of reducing emissions from industrial countries to the 1990 levels by the year 2000. But the most important agreement so far is the Kyoto Protocol. It is a protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC of FCCC) aimed at fighting global warming. It was initially adopted on December 11, 1997 in Kyoto, Japan. As of November 2009, 187 countries and one regional economic organization (EC) have ratified the agreement. The target under the Kyoto Protocol is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 5.2% from the 1990 levels by the year 2012. Due to lack of progress, the scheduled climate talks in Cancun, Mexico this November is expected to provide the opportunity to come up with a new climate change agreement that will replace the Kyoto Protocol. (Source: Wikipedia)

According to experts, the port sector is most vulnerable to climate change due to rising water levels, increased flooding, greater frequency and intensity of extreme weather events, greenhouse gas emissions, specifically carbon dioxide, and global average temperature increase. In the report of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) of the United States, the apparent lack of preparation among port organizations around the world to address the effects of climate change was highlighted. This is in spite of agreements that are currently in force along this area. It has become imperative, therefore, for port planners to consider extreme changes in weather conditions in projecting port capacities at the risk of overdesigning port facilities. This may admittedly generate a chain reaction and bring to the surface other equally crucial issues like spiralling of costs of port projects which could then lead to competition over sources of funds. It should be expected that the issues could multiply and escalate to other areas and levels not earlier seen or anticipated. But rather than dwelling on the bleak scenario, perhaps authorities should count on the immense capacity of human beings to adapt and harness it as a positive intervention to dealing with the situation. In various parts of the world, there are countries which already have successful adaptation measures which those who do not have may learn from.

The holding of the Seminar on climate change could not have come at a better time than today when awareness and advocacy on environmental protection are being promoted and commitments to concrete actions towards, e.g. containing the level of carbon footprints, are being pursued vigorously across all nations. Within the region, the APA can do its share by championing projects that can empower its port policy makers in formulating enlightened decisions on climate change-related issues. By giving them access to information on climate change conditions and on available tools and technology to deal with them, port executives can integrate climate change dimension in the operational and infrastructure planning processes of their ports.

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