Sorsogon, November 21 2010 — Sorsogon City is currently in the process of review, reformulation, or enhancement of its City Comprehensive Land Use Plan (CLUP) and Comprehensive Development Plan (CDP) taking into account climate change adaptation (CCA) and disaster risk reduction (DRR) issues, with technical support from UN-HABITAT. The CLUP is a document which guides and regulates the spatial growth and development of a city or municipality, while the CDP is the medium term plan that embodies the vision, sectoral goals, objectives, and development strategies of the city or municipality with the corresponding programs, projects, and activities.
The Sorsogon CLUP/ CDP review is one of the demonstration projects under the MDGF-1656 project. Preparatory activities have included conduct of the Sorsogon City Vulnerability and Adaptation Assessment (VAA), which assessed the city exposure and sensitivity to climate change impacts and evaluated the local adaptive capacities. A Climate Change Technical Working Group and four Issue Working Groups have been formed to function as project implementation teams anchored with the City Planning and Development Office.
City stakeholders were introduced to the CLUP-CDP Review project on October 2010 through a City Orientation on the Sorsogon City CLUP/ CDP. At the orientation, the City Planning and Development Office presented the current CLUP/ CDP, while the Department of Interior and Local Government presented the CDP formulation and guidelines on harmonized local planning. UN-HABITAT presented the proposed methodology and participatory process for CLUP/ CDP enhancement.
The review process will comprise a series of workshops covering the following: 1) assessment and updating of the situation analysis; 2) assessment and updating of vision, development goals and objectives; 3) assessment and updating of 15-Year CLUP and long-term (15-years) CDP; and 4) updating of medium-term (6-year) CDP and 3-year Executive-Legislative Agenda (ELA).
The first workshop held on November 19-20, 2010 provided an overview of the CLUP and CDP process and the climate change and disaster risk concerns that need to go into these plans; updated the Situation Analysis; and updated the vision, development goals, and objectives of the CLUP and CDP. Forty eight (48) representatives from city offices, provincial offices and national agencies attended the workshop which was facilitated by UN-HABITAT.
The immediate next steps for the project will include coaching sessions to refine and deepen the situational analysis, consultations to harmonize local plans with provincial and national-level plans and two more workshops for the plan formulation and refinement.
Click here for the Executive Summary of the event documentation
Reported by Amillah Rodil
