Legarda to push for Senate concurrence on Paris Agreement
March 1, 2017 | 4:24pm
Sen. Loren Legarda will push for Senate concurrence on the Paris Agreement.
Philstar.com / File photo
MANILA, Philippines — Sen. Loren Legarda said on Wednesday that it will be her commitment to lead the Senate to ratify the Paris Agreement on Climate Change.
"We are a step away from full ratification and it is my commitment to actively shepherd the Senate’s immediate concurrence," Legarda, chair of the Senate Committee on Climate Change, said in a press statement.
President Rodrigo Duterte signed the Paris Agreement on Climate Change on Tuesday despite previous statements that he would not. The instruments form ratification were submitted to the Senate on Wednesday.
Under the 1987 Constitution, all treaties and agreements must get concurrence from the Senate for ratification.
"This is a great day for Mother Earth, for the climate warriors who fought hard for this agreement, for the climate refugees and the vulnerable Filipinos who bear the brunt of climate change impacts, for the entire nation and all the Filipino people," Legarda said.
The agreement was crafted during the 21st Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change held in France in December 2015.
The agreement seeks to limit global warming "well below" two degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. The signatories are also required to step up measures that will stop the increase of greenhouse gases.
Legarda reiterated the importance of the agreement to the Philippines, one of the nations most affected by climate change.
She added that the ratification will allow access to the Green Climate Fund.
"This is what we have been waiting for—for developed countries that are the biggest emitters of greenhouse gases to aid vulnerable, low-emitting nations like the Philippines," she said.
Legarda said that once the Philippines ratifies the agreement, the country will be part of the succeeding meetings of the Paris Agreement.
"It is to our advantage that we are in the talks so we can converge with our fellow vulnerable nations on how we should move forward and compel big GHG emitters to do their fair share," Legarda said.
Legarda said she has been explaining the agreement to the Cabinet and to President Duterte's economic team while coordinating with various climate organizations on the way forward.
"Our ratification will send a strong signal of our continuing commitment to work with the rest of the world in ensuring the survival of this generation and the generations to come, and the ability of the Earth to sustain life," Legarda said.
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