Community Solidarity: MCR-ADMU holds inaugural webinar for Climate Voices series of 2022

On 14 October 2022, the My Climate Risk – Ateneo de Manila University (MCR-ADMU) Regional Hub, which is hosted by the Ateneo Institute of Sustainability, organized a webinar titled “Community Solidarity: The Roots of Resilience.” My Climate Risk is a lighthouse activity of the World Climate Research Programme which aims to develop and mainstream a bottom-up approach to regional climate risk, and has a mycorrhizal network of hubs that span all continents except Antarctica.

The webinar was co-hosted by the Coastal Cities at Risk in the Philippines Project (CCARPH), and featured Dr Emma E Porio, Professor at the Department of Sociology and Anthropology of the Ateneo de Manila University as resource speaker. She shared her insights on the climate resilience initiatives of vulnerable communities, and in particular, highlighted the practices rooted in the culture of the communities of Itbayat, Batanes.

Dr Charlotte Kendra Gotangco Gonzales, Director of the Ateneo Institute of Sustainability and Focal Point of the MCR-ADMU Regional Hub, opened the program and emphasized the importance of bringing the experiences of various sectors in climate variability and change, with various narratives spanning the past, present, and future, into the spotlight. Dr Regina R Rodrigues, Professor of Physical Oceanography of the Federal University of Santa Catarina, Brazil, and Co-Chair of the Scientific Steering Group of the My Climate Risk lighthouse activity, delivered the Closing Remarks, touching on the importance of grassroots and bottom-up approaches in climate resilience. The session was moderated by Ms Jean Jardeleza Mijares, Program Manager for Climate and Disaster Resilience of the Ateneo Institute of Sustainability.

Dr Porio began by explaining the background of the Itbayat community, who live in the northernmost municipality of the Philippines. Community resilience is deeply rooted in their culture, and extends across lifestyles, institutions, and practices, and is manifest in a collaborative labor exchange, which is known as “yaru” in the local vernacular. The Itbayat are able to integrate weather guidelines from the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical, and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) with their local traditional knowledge of flora, fauna, and climate elements such as clouds and wind direction. One example of their traditional knowledge of natural phenomena is what is known as the “raxagdag,” a local vernacular term that describes the fast-changing color of the skies which marks the onset of bad weather. This integrated knowledge provides additional climate information and aids in disaster preparedness, and is put into practice in the prominent use of their early warning system, “bandillo,” which utilizes a loudspeaker system and printed media to announce drought, drying up of wells, incoming storms, and guidelines on proper practices in the local vernacular. Community solidarity is also manifest in a specific example of yaru, where members of the community engage in the collaborative construction of protective shelters and ensure the food security of every member of the community.
 

Still on the theme of community solidarity, Dr Porio also briefly discussed numerous community-based organizations that she had worked with, such as CCARPH, Buklod Tao, Inc., and Integrated Community Food Production, in Brgy. Bignay, Valenzuela City. These organizations all focus on building community resilience and sustainability, with a focus on women and youth as key stakeholders. Community pantries, in particular, emerged as a form of community solidarity on the issue of food security by explicitly extending one’s care for those outside the home or immediate family.

Closing her talk, Dr Porio stressed the importance of integrating traditional and scientific knowledge for climate adaptation, as in Itbayat, which made their community more climate resilient. She also emphasized the importance of engaging stakeholders to make them more proactive as partners rather than recipients of decisions, particularly in exploring alternative forms of adaptation. Successful leadership and governance, according to Dr Porio, requires “sharing decision-making” with empowered stakeholders. She ended with a parting message that building a resilient and sustainable future is work that “takes a mindful heart, a conscious mind, and a committed mind, body, and spirit.”

The session was attended by participants from the Philippines, with international attendees from Brazil, Germany, Iran, Qatar, Singapore, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Vietnam. This webinar was the inaugural session in a series titled “Climate Voices on the Ground: Perspectives from Different Sectors.” The series occurred on successive Fridays of October 2022. Replays and highlights of the webinar series are available in the following page.