Komunidad Inspires on Global Stage with Stories on Empowering SMEs for Climate Resilience
Komunidad shared how climate technology has helped empower local government units and business with international members of ARISE Private Sector Alliance for Disaster Resilient Societies.
Komunidad was one of the chosen speakers at a side event of the recently held Annual General Meeting of ARISE, an organization led by the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction, last September 13.
Kaye Sangalang, Komunidad Impact Director, spoke as one of the three ARISE networks/members who shared noteworthy projects aligned with the session’s theme: “Ensuring Business Resilience to Adapt to Climate Change and Extreme Weather Events.” Specifically, Sangalang discussed “Empowering Philippine SMEs with Digital Tools for Climate Resilience: Leveraging Local Government Practices for Early Warnings and Sustainable Growth.”
Komunidad has been active in accelerating the transition of local governments, communities and industries to become climate-resilient and low-carbon economies through climate technologies such as its Climate Action Center.
The start-up created a CAC for the government of Quezon City and named it iRISE UP, which bagged the 1st place in Climate Technology for Resilience Award by the Philippines’ Department of Environmental and Natural Resources. It also emerged as one of the Top Winners of Galing Pook Awards. Sangalang shared a testimony from a councilor of a local barangay who said that iRISE UP “has a good impact on our community as it provides faster tracking of real-time weather forecasts.”
“The information on what needs to be done is quickly disseminated to all barangay members and it makes the community ready in case of disaster,”
Another valuable partnership of Komunidad is with ARISE Philippines where the over 100 member-companies—with a focus on SMEs—can integrate decision support tools on the Resilience Suite to analyze climate-related risks, assess vulnerabilities, and take proactive measures to build resilience.
“Providing the private sector with Komunidad’s Resilience Suite for real-time climate data and localized early warnings, this collaboration with ARISE Philippines aligns with SDG 11, 13 & 17 and Sendai Framework Target G, contributing to the UN Early Warnings for All Initiative,” Sangalang said.
Under the partnership, which will span a year, ARISE Philippines’ member-companies will have access to Komunidad’s Web App Dashboard and will receive early warning alerts and automated reports.
At the end of the engagement, Komunidad hopes that they have “encouraged and enabled businesses, including SMEs nationwide to invest in climate data and analytics and integrate early warning systems into their business strategies and operations for climate resilience and sustainable growth,” Sangalang said.
Others who joined Sangalang in her talk were Noriko Ohnuma of Japan Conservation Engineers & Co., ARISE Japan who talked about “Supporting Local Governments move forward individual evacuation planning in communities to boost resilience” and Prof Ranit Catterjee of RIKA, ARISE India to talk about research and innovation for resilient MSMEs.
This special session was held as a sideline event of ARISE Annual General Meeting where they assess recommendations from the Midterm Review of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, highlight the remarkable accomplishments of our esteemed members, track the progress made on crucial actions, and establish priorities in line with our alliance’s key performance indicators.
