Challenges to Climate Change Education in the Philippines Among Asias developing countries, the Philippines is considered relatively advanced in terms of legislation related to various environmental challenges such as reforestation, biodiversity conservation, air and water quality regulation, solid waste management, renewable energy development, natural disasters, and adoption of mitigation and adaptation measures related to climate change. However, there is a wide gap between the enactment of laws and the enforcement of the laws (ILO, 2011). Given the cross-sectoral approach to tackling climate change and disasters, there is an urgent need to pursue coordination mechanisms among various actors. The challenge is to harmonize different plans and initiatives under a strategic framework which integrates CCA, DRR, and other related initiatives (OCD, 2011). DepEd recognizes the need to set-up a monitoring and evaluation system of its programs and projects in order to improve them (OCD, 2011). However, resource constraints such as budget and lack of dedicated staff to work on mainstreaming DRR and CCA into the curriculum are barriers to this. Further, personnel handling DRR and CCA are borrowed from different offices in the department, who have their regular workload. Hence, mainstreaming programs may suffer from lack of focus and permanency of personnel. The sustainability of capacity building and training programs also has to be ensured. In terms of livelihood, there is no coherent national skills program responding to climate change and environmental degradation (ILO, 2011). It is fair to state that restructuring of a green Philippine economy is still at its incipient stage. The green economic shift requires the alignment of education, skills development and training with the labor requirements of green and greener industries. Additional strategies are necessary for environmental conservation and for communities that are vulnerable to climate change risks. DepEd, especially in its K to 12 program, and the Climate Change Commission should include anticipation of these kinds of skills changes as part of the national action planning on climate change. Bibliography Abdullah, Azian T.S. (ed). 2010. Integrating Climate Change Issues in Southeast Asian Schools: A

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