PUBLICATIONS: "Building business, human rights and climate change synergies in Southeast Asia: what the Philippines’ National Inquiry on Climate Change could mean for ASEAN".

Publication Date :March 2022

Author: Sara K. Phillips

For further details on the article, visit the journal at

https://www.elgaronline.com/view/journals/jhre/13/1/article-p238.xml

Abstract

Climate change has a profound impact on economic growth, development and social progress. Climate action, through greenhouse gas mitigation and adaptation to current and predicted effects of climate change, has only recently begun to consider the range of human rights implications both of action and inaction when it comes to mitigating climate impacts. While states are the primary duty bearers for the human rights of their citizens, recent examples of climate change litigation offer unique opportunities to consider the role and responsibilities of corporations for their contributions to anthropogenic climate change. The Philippines’ National Inquiry on Climate Change (NICC) offers an innovative approach to understanding the interplay and synergies between business, human rights and climate change, highlighting the increasing importance of these relationships. Building on the NICC’s preliminary findings, this article considers the nexus between business, human rights and climate change in the ASEAN context and reflects on the significance of domestic climate change litigation for regional governance approaches, policymaking and cooperation.

PUBLICATIONS: "Sociological Analysis of Subproject Actors' Relations in a Farm-to-Market Road in the Agdangan, Quezon Province, Philippines".

Publication Date: 10 March 2022

Author: Josephine Therese Emily Teves

For further details on the article, visit the journal at

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4070681

Abstract

This paper maps and analyzes the aid authorities in an Official Development Assistance (ODA) funded Farm-to-Market Road (FMR) subproject in Agdangan, Quezon Province in the Philippines. It uses the concept of Emery & Flora (2020) to analyze the importance of the stock of built-up, political, financial, natural, cultural, human, and social capitals as predictors of aid authorities and other project actors' dynamic relations and explore pathways on which each actor influences decision-making processes during the project management process.

It uses five-month ethnographic research in Agdangan Quezon, which combined study instruments such as government reports, semi-structured interview questions, focus group discussions (FGDs), and a survey among research participants such as Japanese and Filipino aid authorities, academe, and project beneficiaries such as (1) landowners, (2) investors, (3) ordinary citizens, and (4) ARBs from November 2020 to December 2021. It contributes to the discussion of how Japanese and Filipino aid authorities influence domestic decision-making processes within the FMR subproject management processes. The author found that the power is held traditionally by aid authorities, particularly Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), Nippon Koei, the Philippine representatives from national government agencies, and local politicians. Other supporting actors, such as landowners and traders, get disproportionate benefits, while Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries (ARBs) are substantially less powerful, receiving fewer benefits.

Thus, the most dominant pathway of aid authorities is through the subproject implementation process, especially on subproject management guidelines and accountability considerations. The power relation imbalance in the FMR subproject management process promotes perpetual dominance of traditionally powerful such as the power elites, landowners, and traders, while ARBs experience further marginalization and disempowerment.