Dabawenyos trained in GHG accounting

SOME 50 personnel of  the Davao City government,  national agencies and private industries who completed last Friday a two-day training in greenhouse gas (GHG) accounting are expected to cascade their learning to other concerned Dabawenyos to capacitate more people who can later develop a GHG inventory management plan and recommend policies and actions to the city.
This bared by Councilor Marissa S. Abella, chair of the Davao City Council committee of environment and natural resources who requested the training from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) through its CErnergy  USAID program as an initial step to confront the challenges of climate change.
It was the committee of Councilor Abella which requested the assistance of Climate Change on Clean Energy Project of the USAID to hold the training.
Once they know where their emissions, they can develop policies, do some projects on how to reduce the emissions of of the LGU and the whole city.
“While the city’s air quality has not yet deteriorated to levels that would qualify it to become an air shed like Manila and other polluted areas of the country, we now need to be proactive and be prepared to respond to environmental challenges in the future,” Abella said.
While the air quality of Davao City is still okay, Cristeta Gallano, consultant of Councilor Abella, said there is now need to establish the GHG inventory to serve as baseline data for monitoring changes in emission levels in the future.
“We have initially agreed is to echo this seminar to other offices, so that ideally there will be somebody in every office to be in charge of gathering data,” Gallano said.
According to Ms Marina Mallare, a trainor from the Ateneo University College of Governance involved in the CEnergy Project, functionaries in local government units (LGUs) should be taught how to develop GHG inventory that could pass the test of accuracy.
Mallare said the LGUs, non-government organizations and the private sector were well-represented in last week’s training.
After developing GHG inventory, the participants are expected to recommend policies and programs to their respected principals.
She said the two-day workshop is designed to empower local government unit (LGU) functionaries and those in the partner institutions to properly respond to environmental challenges  through climate change mitigation.