Vice Préident Jejomar Binay

HLURB signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with German firm Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Internationale Zeusammenarbeit (GIZ).

“The MOA involves integrating climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction planning instruments into CLUPs in the form of climate proofing and disaster risk mapping,” HLURB Chairman Vice President Jejomar Binay said in a statement Thursday.

Binay also said the MOA called for GIZ to help the HLURB in enhancing CLUP guidebooks by including Forest Land Use and Coastal Land Use Planning as well as the Model Zone Ordinance and the Plan Review Parameters and Guidelines.

“The partnership with GIZ was a direct response by the HLURB Board to the policies stated under the Climate Change Act of 2009,” said Binay.

“This law seeks to systematically integrate the concept of climate change in various phases of policy formulation, development plans, poverty reduction strategies and other development tools and techniques by all agencies of the government,” Binay added.

Binay said HLURB also planned to integrate the experiences of GIZ in climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction planning into its existing and future reference manuals, tools and guidelines.

Binay said HLURB also urged local leaders to see environmental problems as a concern interlinked with land use planning.

In 2011, the HLURB required all LGUs to integrate climate change adaptation and disaster risk mitigation in their CLUPs before seeking HLURB Board approval.

The HLURB is the national government agency primarily tasked with assisting local government units in drawing up their CLUPs and regulating the real estate industry. Fat Reyes