Museo Pambata to tap children for climate change campaign

MANILA, Philippines - As global warming continues to threaten mankind, it’s time to call in the “little soldiers” to help save Mother Nature, an official of the Museo Pambata said yesterday.

Nina Lim-Yuson, Museo Pambata president, said children have been underutilized in the campaign against climate change and they should no longer be left behind in this advocacy.

Yuson made the statement during the opening of the three-day “Children & Climate Change-2nd Asian Children’s Museum Conference” at the Manila Hotel yesterday.

The STAR is one of the sponsors of the event.

Yuson said even if children, given their young age, have limited experience, they are one of the sectors most vulnerable to the effects of climate change.

Since the children have only lived a few years compared to adults, “they never experienced extreme weather and floods… They cannot help themselves, they are not aware of what to do. They need to start early and create good habits such as not keeping the faucet running, switching off the lights when not in use, walking instead of always riding and disposing of garbage properly,” said Yuson.

Most adults are said to shield children from the harsh realities of global warming and do not explain to them the situation in a manner that could be understood by a grade school pupil.

Only some of the youngsters are taught how they could contribute to the protection of the environment, Yuson said.

The delegates to the conference also believe that children might be deprived of their rights as a result of the impact of climate change.

It was said that children could suffer from hunger and death because the extreme heat or rainfall destroys the crops and leads to food insecurity; or from illness because of extreme events.

In an advocacy paper of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) presented during the conference, it was pointed out that from 1980 to 2010, there had been 363 disasters caused by natural hazards in the Philippines that resulted in 32,956 recorded deaths. More than 116 million people were said to have been affected.

Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim said he is hoping that through the conference, “we could teach the kids about the wonders of the environment as well as how to care for it… We should provide a pleasant, beautiful and safe place for our children since they would inherit the country.”

For their part, representatives of various museums said they have been doing their share to educate children and explain to them in a simple manner the ill-effects of environmental phenomena such as La Niña and El Niño.

Yuson said that in the Museo Pambata, for instance, there is a section called “I Love My Planet Earth Room” that presents in an entertaining way information about recycling, renewable energy, El Niño and La Niña.

In one corner there is also the comparison of life then and now, Yuson said.

Meanwhile, Meg Burke, director of Teacher and Youth Education at the California Academy of Sciences in the United States, said one of the exhibits in their museum is the living Philippine coral reef.

She pointed out that a large part of the Philippines is covered by the coral triangle and that the greatest diversity is in the Verde Island Passage in Batangas. However, garbage, mostly plastics, and dynamite fishing are destroying these marine treasures, Burke said.