Youth urged to lead fight against climate change

MANILA, Philippines - The Climate Change Commission (CCC) yesterday urged young Filipinos to actively involve themselves in the global fight against climate change.

In the Philippines, the CCC identifies the youth as one of the sectors vulnerable to climate change since they will be the future inhabitants of the planet.

CCC vice chairman Heherson Alvarez said tapping the young to fight climate change is one of the key solutions to mankind’s survival.

Alvarez said, the future leaders of the country should now make their stand for Mother Earth and join the worldwide movement seeking for solutions in the midst of threats posed by global warming and climate change, which is said to be the greatest problem faced by humanity today.

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC) has been linking the youth in the climate change negotiations, recognizing the adverse effects of climate change to them, as well as informing developed countries about the creeping impacts of the changing climate to this sector.

Loraine Gatlabayan, CCC’s chief science and research specialist, said the youth must act now before Mother Earth is “totally ruined” by global warming and climate change.

“The future belongs to the youth, the younger generation. The youth have a future that holds exciting and infinite possibilities, where there is a world that’s bright and beautiful,” Gatlabayan emphasized in a talk during the recent 8th Youth for Environment Summer (YES) Camp in Baguio City with the theme “Sagip Kalikasan, Sagip Buhay.”

The youth desk of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) invited around 5,000 participants nationwide to attend the summer camp, which aspired to foster awareness among the youth on important environmental issues such as climate change.

“Because climate change affects us all, it will need the support of all sectors of the society, particularly the youth. The youth can help fight climate change through simple day-to-day things that they do,” Gatlabayan said.

She said people “consume excessively and throw garbage everywhere, polluting air, rivers and oceans. Cars we use and industries burn fossil fuel, emitting carbon dioxide that remains in the atmosphere for hundreds of years. All these everyday human activities, actions, and choices have consequences to our environment because of deforestation, degradation of our coastal resources, and loss of biodiversity, among others.”

Gatlabayan said the youth should encourage the members of the community to start practicing proper waste disposal, recycling and segregation, and water and energy conservation to mitigate impacts of global warming and climate change in the country.

 “The youth can do something to fight climate change.  The voice of the youth is powerful because the future of Mother Earth is in their hands,” she said.