Climate Change and Environment S&T
Program Leader: Cesar O. Austria
Climate change refers to the change in the environmental conditions of the earth. Over the years, this has become a global concern that has affected the lives of many resulting to damage to property, livelihood and community. Human activity is the main driver of these changes primarily due to the burning of fossil fuels (like coal, oil and gas), which produces heat-trapping gases.
As an archipelagic country, the Philippines is highly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, including sea level rise, increased frequency of extreme weather events, rising temperatures, and extreme rainfall. More than half of the country’s greenhouse gas emissions come from the energy sector, followed by agriculture, industrial processes, waste, and land-use change and forestry.
(https://www.climatelinks.org/countries/philippines)
For DOST-FPRDI, issues on climate change and environmental protection have always been part of the agency’s mandate. Aside from its mission of providing R&D/S&T services to improve the utility and value of wood and non-wood products, the agency is also tasked to generate, improve and transfer technologies on the efficient utilization of forest-based products to make local industries more competitive locally and globally. FPRDI’s vision is to generate a sustainable forest-based industry that can produce economically competitive and environment-friendly commodities.
During his inaugural speech last June 30, 2022, President Marcos Jr. stressed that plastic pollution and climate change as among the critical issues his administration will address. As a rejoinder, the agency created the Climate Change and Environment S&T Program that would eventually address the perceived environmental impacts of its developed technologies and come with a comprehensive agenda to respond to issues of climate change.
As a program, it main goal is to mainstream the role of the forest products sector on tackling climate change in the country.
Specifically, it intends:
- To conduct research on green and climate-smart products from agro-forest residues and other biomass materials;
- To develop innovative forest-based technologies and methodologies related to disaster risk reduction and climate change mitigation and adaptation; and
- To promote and transfer the developed technologies.
