BUTUAN CITY – The climate resilient farming communities in Agusan del Norte, through Innovative Risk Transfer Mechanisms (IRTM), are now in the final stage in preparation for specific interventions, in line with the Climate Change Adaptation (CCA), it was learned Wednesday.

It was also learned that the selection will be done anytime as soon as the technical working group and subsequently the project’s advisory committee (PAC) is done with the final review of the baseline study which was commissioned late last year.

The PAC is currently chaired by Caraga Regional Director Brielgo O. Pagaran of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), with Agusan del Norte Gov. Erlpe John Amante, and Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE) officials as members.

The draft baseline study was earlier subjected to a provincial validation workshop last December with Agusan del Norte provincial and municipal officials, representatives from farmer groups, people’s organizations, financing institutions, and government line agencies.

Pagaran said Agusan del Norte is actually one of only five demonstration sites in the country for the climate change project under the Millennium Development Goals Fund (MDGF).

He added the demonstration projects are under the so-called Outcome 3 of a bigger project dubbed “Strengthening the Philippines’ Institutional Capacity to Adapt to Climate Change.”

The Agusan del Norte project is implemented by the International Labor Organization (ILO), in collaboration with DTI and DOLE, with the two agencies operating through their Caraga regional offices.

It was gathered that the project is further given a boost by the commitment and involvement of the Agusan del Norte provincial government formally expressed through the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed by Amante and Director Linda Wirth of the ILO-Sub-Regional Office (SRO) for Southeast Asia and Pacific (SRO Manila), during the project launching last August 26, 2009.