Environment Secretary Maria Antonia Yulo-Loyzaga announced Thursday that the Philippines secured a seat on the Loss and Damage Fund board, which is meant to provide financial aid to countries coping with loss and damage caused by climate change beyond adaptation and mitigation.

Lozaga said the fund was created on the first day COP28 or the 28th Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Dubai, United Arab Emirates after a series of consultations.

“Through the initiation of our President, President Marcos, in terms of the interest of the Philippines to actually number one, have a seat on the board of this fund, so that we can actually continue to be the voice of developing countries that are vulnerable to climate change and secondly to host the board of the fund,” Loyzaga said at a Palace briefing

''We are very fortunate and we are very lucky through the hard work of course and the vision of the President, we have garnered a seat on the board of the Loss and Damage Fund,'' she added.

Loyzaga said the country having a seat on the board gave it a chance to represent countries that are vulnerable to the effects of climate change.

“Each of the countries have unique needs and therefore, climate-vulnerable developing countries especially island and archipelagic countries like our own need to be able to articulate our needs and have an influenced climate policy in this way,” she said.

She said the country would be a full member of the board in 2024 and 2026 and term-share with Pakistan as an alternate member.

“So, out of the three years, the Philippines will be sitting two years as full members and one year as an alternate member,” she said.

According to Loyzaga, the pledges to the fund amounting to $726 were “very far from enough”.

She said they are waiting for the Loss and Damage Fund to be organized and to see if the World Bank would accept its role of temporarily hosting the fund during its transition stage.

“So, we hope within 2024 there will be some progress in terms of the organization and the guidelines that will be made available to those that need to access the fund,” she added. Jaspearl Tan/DMS