THE Philippines formalized its hosting of the Loss and Damage Fund Board after signing the Host Country Agreement (HCA) on Nov. 12, the second day of the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP29) in Baku, Azerbaijan.
The HCA establishes the relationship between the Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage (FrLD) Board and the Philippine government, including the provision of privileges and immunities to the Board.
Environment Secretary Maria Antonia Yulo-Loyzaga led the signing of the FrLD on Tuesday night with co-chairs Richard Sherman and Jean-Christophe Donnellier.
Yulo-Loyzaga emphasized the Fund’s crucial role in addressing the worst impacts of climate change in communities in their rebuilding and recovery phases. “The Philippines may be a test case for the Fund in responding to this unique cumulative loss of lives and damage to critical infrastructure such as hospitals, schools, roads, and water and power systems,” she said.
The FrLD was established by the Conference of the Parties at the 27th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP27) in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, in 2023. It became operational in COP28 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, in 2024.
The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) is the Philippines’ lead agency to host the fund. Following the signing of the HCA, the DENR said the Fund will officially operate to support the loss and damage needs of particularly vulnerable countries.
The Philippines initially expressed interest to host the FrLD Board at COP28 and successfully gained a seat in the Board earlier this year. It was then chosen as host country at the second meeting in July in Songdo, South Korea.
On Aug. 28, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. signed into law Republic Act (RA) 12019, or the Loss and Damage Fund Board Act, that grants legal personality and capacity to the FrLD Board.
“For the Philippines, living with risk, and loss and damage has been part of our history as an archipelago. We therefore have a deep and personal stake in ensuring that the Fund for responding to Loss and Damage succeeds,” Yulo-Loyzaga said, adding that President Marcos sees the importance of the FrLD, especially after the four successive tropical cyclones that hit the country in the past three weeks.
The situation will hopefully serve as a baseline in terms of the country’s capacity to recover, given the adequate and timely access to resources, Yulo-Loyzaga pointed out.
The FrLD’s fourth board meeting will held on Dec. 2 to 5 in Manila.
COP29, meanwhile, will run from Nov. 11to 22, wherein the parties are expected to agree to the New Collective Quantified Goal. It is the new climate finance targets intended to replace the $100 billion per year goal set during the Paris Agreement and will expire in 2025. Recent estimates indicate that total global climate finance needs are over $1 trillion annually.
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