(PARIS, France) President Benigno S. Aquino III joins fellow leaders during the Climate Vulnerable Forum (CVF) High Level Event at Le Maroni of the Blue Zone UNFCCC Le Bourget site on Monday (November 30,). Earlier the President delivered his National Statement on the Framework Convention on Climate Change. (MNS photo)
PARIS, France, Dec 1 (Mabuhay) — President Benigno S. Aquino III on Monday called for global solidarity in addressing climate change saying every country must commit to reduce green house gas emissions and build resilient communities.
In his keynote address during the Climate Vulnerable Forum High-Level Event, President Aquino said current debates focus on the question on who among the countries should be doing what but now it must shift to the contributions of individual countries.
President Aquino attended on Monday the 21st Session of the Conference of the Parties (COP21) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) here in Paris.
(PARIS, France) President Benigno S. Aquino III greets United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Executive Secretary Christiana Figueres upon arrival for the Climate Vulnerable Forum (CVF) High Level Event at Le Maroni of the Blue Zone UNFCCC Le Bourget Site on Monday (November 30, 2015). Earlier the President delivered his National Statement on the Framework Convention on Climate Change. (MNS photo)
“It is imperative that all countries do everything, and maximize what can be done to address climate change. Either we all strive and sacrifice, or we all lose to the cycle of destruction and reconstruction,” he said.
Vulnerable countries like the Philippines bear the brunt of destruction caused by devastating effects of changing weather conditions, he said.
For instance in 2012, when typhoon Bopha hit the Philippines, the government was compelled to find alternative livelihood for coconut farmers whose farms were destroyed by the typhoon.
The current thrust is building back better after devastating storms, moving entire communities away from hazardous areas, he said.
“But building back better has become less and less of a guarantee, given that the new normal might still be replaced by an even newer normal if we fail to act in concert,” he told the members of the forum.
(PARIS, France) President Benigno S. Aquino III witnesses the turn-over of a copy of the Youth Sector Stand on Climate Change handed by National Youth Commission head Dingdong Dantes to Annick Gerardin, Secretary of State for the Development of France during the Climate Vulnerable Forum (CVF) High Level Event at Le Maroni of the Blue Zone UNFCCC Le Bourget site on Monday (November 30). Earlier the President delivered his National Statement on the Framework Convention on Climate Change. (MNS photo)
“Positive national development trajectories, especially of emerging economies such as the Philippines’, can be broken due to the disruption caused by disaster. After all, what if we could channel the resources used for building back better towards other development interventions?”
But he said no amount of effort, however gargantuan, by a single nation can ever be enough to address climate change in its entirety and it must be concerted efforts by all countries.
In the Philippines, the government has been implementing the national greening program, and have cracked down heavily on illegal logging and other unsustainable environmental practices, according to the President.
It is also working to diversify the country’s energy resources, and has been tapping into renewables such as solar, wind, biomass, hydro, and geothermal power.
Government scientists have been conducting research towards more disaster-resilient crops, and the national administration has been continuously upgrading weather forecasting capabilities.
(PARIS, France) President Benigno S. Aquino III delivers his remarks during the Climate Vulnerable Forum (CVF) High Level Event at the Le Maroni of the Blue Zone UNFCCC Le Bourget Site on Monday (November 30). Earlier the President delivered his National Statement on the Framework Convention on Climate Change.(MNS photo)
The government is also calling for communal action to lift up every Filipino during every storm that has made landfall within the country, he said.
The President also told the members of the CVF that the Philippines is willing and ready to share all the knowledge and best practices that it has learned from its own experiences.
Countries that are members of the CVF are losing at least 2.5 percent of GDP each year because of climate change despite their collective contribution of less than 2 percent of the current greenhouse gas emissions.
Since 2010, in the CVF member countries, an average of more than 50,000 deaths have occurred every year due to climate shocks, the President said.
(PARIS, France) President Benigno S. Aquino III is received by French Minister for Ecology, Sustainable Development and Energy Ségolène Royal upon arrival at the Parc des Expositions du Bourget during the opening ceremony of the 21st Conference of the Parties (COP21) in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. (MNS photo)
Up to 40 million people may potentially be displaced due to rising sea levels, which threaten to engulf entire nations in the Pacific, he added.
And as many CVF members take pioneering action, particularly on climate finance, the President said they must also fully leverage their solidarity in ensuring that the remaining barriers towards concerted action and knowledge sharing are broken down.
The CVF is a global partnership of countries, which are disproportionately affected by the consequences of global warming.
It addresses the negative effects of global warming as a result of heightened socioeconomic and environmental vulnerabilities. (MNS)