MANILA - President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo signed on Friday the "Climate Change Act of 2009," a landmark bill that will institutionalize government response to climate change.

Palace adviser on climate change Heherson Alvarez said the law will mainstream climate change mitigation and adaptation into government policy from the national government down to the barangays.

Alvarez added the government will push a "national climate change action plan," including the voluntary reduction of local carbon emissions, and disaster risk reduction.

The new law likewise calls for the creation of a climate change commission.

Mrs. Arroyo signed the law just before she leaving for Thailand Friday to attend the ASEAN Summit where climate change is expected to be discussed.

Adaptation fund

The Palace on Wednesday said President Arroyo will push for the creation of an ASEAN adaptation fund that would be tapped by ASEAN member-states during times of calamity.

Albay Governor and Arroyo's economic adviser Joey Salceda first broached the creation of a $5 billion adaptation fund, which he likened to the ASEAN+3 Chiang Mai Initiative. 

The Chiang Mai Initiative is a network of bilateral swap arrangements among ASEAN+3 countries that would allow members to manage regional short-term liquidity problems and facilitate the work of other international financial arrangements and organizations such as the International Monetary Fund.

Under Salceda's proposal, ASEAN member-states ravaged by calamities caused by climate change would tap the adaptation fund for its rehabilitation initiatives.

Salceda said twin typhoons Ondoy (Ketsana) and Pepeng (Parma), among other calamities, could affect as much as 0.61 percent of the gross domestic product, which is higher than the 0.15 percent estimated effect of climate change on the GDP.

Salceda recently called for a National Conference on Climate Change Adaptation on October 26-27 and invited stakeholders to discuss best practices in fighting climate change.

ASEAN's call on climate change

ASEAN leaders are to urge developed nations to make deeper cuts in carbon emissions, underscoring the rift between rich and poor countries on climate measures. .

In a draft joint statement seen by Agence France-Presse, heads of state from the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) said rich countries had a "historical responsibility" to act as well as the economic power to do so.

The document, to be endorsed at a summit that begins Friday in the Thai resort of Hua Hin, pledges support for a December meeting in Copenhagen at which 192 countries will attempt to hammer out a new global climate treaty.

The ASEAN statement urges industrialised countries "to take the lead" in emissions and make "deeper and early cuts on their greenhouse gas emissions to enhance implementation of their commitments".

It also says rich nations should "not negatively affect the sustainable economic and social development of developing countries" through their unilateral policies and "market-based mechanisms" to address climate change.

Recent negotiations in Bangkok to thrash out a draft of the global pact exposed the huge divide between rich and poor nations.

Developed economies have acknowledged a historical responsibility for global warming and most have put numbers on the table for slashing their carbon pollution by 2020 and by 2050.

But they say developing nations should also pledge to curb their output of greenhouse gases.

Poor and emerging economies have largely refused to set their own hard targets and many call for rich nations to make deeper cuts.

The ASEAN statement also calls for support for developing nations in dealing with the impact of climate change, which is high on the agenda after a recent spate of deadly natural disasters in the region.

Hundreds of people were killed and millions affected when Typhoon Ketsana tore through the Philippines, Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos, causing massive flooding.

ASEAN groups Indonesia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, Brunei, Cambodia, Myanmar and Malaysia. -- with ANC; Agence France-Presse