Philippines calls for leadership, political will on climate change

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines has called on world leaders to demonstrate leadership and political will in fighting climate change.

“Climate action and leadership resolve must be demonstrated by all. Now is the time for leadership, not cowardice,” Climate Change Commission (CCC) Secretary Emmanuel de Guzman said.

De Guzman made the appeal at the launch of the “Jummemej Declaration” of the Climate Vulnerable Forum (CVF) in Katowice, Poland yesterday.

De Guzman leads the Philippine delegation at the 24th Conference of the Parties (COP24).

“There is no excuse for inaction among the world’s most powerful nations,” he said.

The Philippines is among the countries most vulnerable to the effects of climate change such as rising sea levels, prolonged droughts, floods and changes in rainfall patterns.

“It is our moral duty to be clear about where we stand. We are in Poland in the name of the children of tomorrow whose interests we must secure, compelled by science and duty,” said De Guzman.

Citing the recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report, De Guzman said the only way to keep average global temperatures from rising above 1.5 degrees Celsius by the end of the century is to phase out the use of fossil fuels by 2050.

As chair of the Climate Vulnerable Forum in 2015, the Philippines, on behalf of 48 developing countries, led the advocacy for the ambitious global warming threshold of 1.5 degrees Celsius.

“Enough of politics. Believe science. No to extinction of the vulnerable,” De Guzman said.

“The success of these talks will determine countless lives and existence. The choices leaders weigh here spell the difference between annihilation and hope that we may live far into the future with requisite happiness, peace and security,” he said.

In 2013, the Philippines was devastated by Super Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan) that killed more than 7,000 people and displaced more than four million others. Almost $5 billion worth of property were damaged.

De Guzman said “small, low-lying countries” have “contributed next to nothing, yet we suffer the brunt.”

“Indecision and weakness in the face of the greatest peril humanity has ever faced is nothing less than immoral. Enough of indifference and inaction. The decades of apathy and procrastination must end here in Katowice,” he added.