Houses should not only be a family’s comfort zone; they should be sturdy shelters from the elements, especially now that we are feeling the harsh effects of climate change.

The development of new or future human settlements should, therefore, take into account the onslaught of the worsening of climatic conditions, manifested in increasingly fiercer storms, floods, and landslides.

New housing developments always exact a toll on the environment as more and more agricultural and forest lands are cleared.

Thus, urban planners and developers should not only reckon with the evironmental impact of their projects but should also use building materials that do not deplete non-renewable resources.      

And our natural creativity and resourcefulness give us the edge in modern home building alongside the global struggle to address climate change.

Vice President Jejomar C. Binay is correct in saying that the lack of material resources should not hamper efforts to adapt to climate change and mitigate disasters.

Binay also called for a strategy to integrate land use and housing with the end of building climate change resilient communities.

“In meeting the challenge of climate change and disaster preparedness, poor countries like (the Philippines) should never be embarrassed to be found wanting of material resources,” he said in his keynote speech at the 3rd Asia-Pacific Housing Forum in Bangkok.

“What we lack in resources, we should be able to supplant with an abundance of ideas and the moral and political resolve to use whatever human resource we have to adapt to climate change, mitigate any disaster, and cope with it,” Binay, also chairman of the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council, said.

The Philippines is one of the fastest urbanizing countries in East Asia and has the highest number of typhoon occurrences and resultant deaths, Binay said, citing the 2004 United Nations Development Programme Global Report on Disasters.

“Until recently, environmental considerations had played second fiddle to economic growth in the planning process. This was not healthy for economic development, and had to be abandoned and replaced by a more environmentally proactive development objective. We needed to mobilize and marshal all available resources in pursuit of such objective,” he said.

The Vice President  stressed the need for a national strategy of integrating climate change issues with urban development and housing in the country, citing the mainstreaming of the Climate Change Act, Urban Development and Housing Act, and the Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Act into all levels of governance.