Pinoys urged to join Earth Hour

MANILA, Philippines – Environment Secretary Ramon Paje appealed to Filipinos to join sustained efforts to fight climate change by participating in the observance of Earth Hour on Saturday night.

“Climate change is our planet’s biggest environmental challenge, and to fight it requires mass participation across all continents, even in countries like the Philippines which has a very small carbon footprint,” Paje said yesterday.

“Earth Hour is but one response by our country and the rest of humanity,” he added, referring to the annual global event where millions of people switch off their lights for one hour to show their concern for the planet.

The country has been participating in Earth Hour since 2009 and Filipinos are among the biggest advocates of the climate movement organized by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF).

Although it has a smaller carbon footprint compared to industrialized nations, the Philippines is considered an important player in the fight against climate change, being one of the countries most vulnerable to the global phenomenon.

Since joining the movement in 2009, the country consistently had the biggest Earth Hour participation.

“We have actually been walking the talk beyond merely pledging to limit our carbon emissions,” Paje said.

He said the biggest action the government has taken was to implement the National Greening Program (NGP), the Aquino administration’s flagship reforestation project that is set to surpass its target of reforesting 1.5 million hectares of denuded lands by June this year.

“Our new forests will greatly increase the capacity of our carbon sink to sequester carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, thereby mitigating climate change,” Paje said.

Paje noted that satellite data from 2002 to 2014 showed sea levels near the Philippines rising by more than 14 millimeters per year, or five times more than the global average.