USAID and HLURB enhance Puerto Princesa City’s competency in risk-sensitive land use planning

The Technical Working Group (TWG) on Climate Disaster Risk Assessment of Puerto Princesa City gained additional knowledge and skills in assessing climate and disaster risks, and in mainstreaming resilient development in land use planning after participating in a technical workshop on February 20 to 22, 2019. The workshop was facilitated by a team composed of resource persons from the Policy Development Group and Region 4B of the Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board (HLURB), and USAID’s Strengthening Urban Resilience for Growth with Equity (SURGE) Project. The TWG gained competency in building exposure database and risk and hazard maps. The exposure units for the city were categorized according to population, urban use, natural resource production areas, and critical infrastructure and lifeline facilities. The TWG was able to determine levels of vulnerabilities in terms of exposure to hazards such as flooding, landslide, storm surge and drought. Workshop activities also provided the TWG proper guidance in identifying sensitivities and adaptive capacities of the city. The findings on exposure to hazards and risk assessment provided valuable data to better identify major decision areas for disaster risk reduction and development directions. Moreover, the workshop helped the TWG appreciate the importance of mainstreaming climate change adaption-disaster risk reduction into the city’s Comprehensive Land Use Plan, particularly in formulating risk-sensitive land use planning and evaluation of spatial strategies.