Oscar M. Lopez Center fetes partners, research grant recipients

FPH chair emeritus Oscar M. Lopez (center) fetes partners in key projects.

The Oscar M. Lopez Center for Climate Change Adaptation and Disaster Risk Management Foundation, Inc. (OML Center) celebrated its fifth anniversary recently by hosting a mini climate conference and an evening of cocktails in Makati City in honor of the organization’s partners, as well as recipients of its grants for 2017.

The Lopez Group, through First Philippine Holdings Corp. (FPH) and its subsidiaries, helped establish the OML Center in 2012 in an effort to help reduce the risks and manage the impacts of climate-related hazards in disaster prone areas in the country.

The OML Center was named after Oscar M. Lopez (center, in photo), FPH chair emeritus, in recognition of his lifelong support of environmental causes. The foundation aims to achieve its goals by generating science-based solutions in the area of climate change adaptation and disaster risk management.

The OML Center’s mini climate conference, held in the morning during the fifth anniversary, provided a venue for scientists from different fields to exchange ideas with undergraduate and post-graduate students on the health and environmental impact of climate change.

In the evening, OML Center officials honored individuals and institutions that made much of the OML Center’s work possible over the past five years. During the evening event, the OML Center likewise formally awarded the 2017 “Resilience Grants”, amounting to P4.8 million, to De La Salle University (DLSU) and Silliman University projects.

The DLSU project, headed by Dr. Wilfredo Roehl Licuanan PhD., proposes to provide a baseline evaluation of two reef systems in the iconic strait separating Mindoro from Luzon, known as Verde Island Passage, to develop a set of tools and a “report card” that will enable local communities and industries to monitor the progress of climate change.

The Silliman project, headed by Dr. Jorge Emmanuel PhD., proposes an interdisciplinary approach to develop tools to understand resiliency and vulnerability of riverside communities.

Also present during the event are Jonathan Russell and Arturo Valdez, OML Center board members; Dr.Rodel Lasco (PhD.), OML Center scientific director; Dr. Enrique Oracion PhD., Silliman University dean of Graduate Programs; Marianne Quebral, OML Center executive director; and Richard Tantoco, president of the OML Center board.