For Immediate Release
Contact: Paul Lucena
October 24, 2009 09224399837
pollucena91587@yahoo.com

INDIGENOUS YOUTH JOINS GLOBAL DAY OF CLIMATE ACTION

One of Over 2,000 Simultaneous Events in Over 150 Countries

Baguio City, Philippines: October 24th—Indigenous youth from Baguio and Benguet gathered today to create 350 testimonials using literary and visual arts as part of the largest climate change activism event. DROP IT 'coz it's hot! The on the Spot Essay, Poster, and Slogan Making Contest is the Asia Pacific Indigenous Youth Network's contribution to the 350 Global Day of Action.

Gathering students from primary to the tertiary level, the contest aims to raise youth consciousness on the harmful effects of climate change. This activity is part of a global day of action coordinated by 350.org in more than 2,000 communities in over 150 countries as part of the Global Climate Day of Action to urge world leaders to take bold and immediate steps to address climate change and reduce carbon emissions.

“We believe in the catalytic role of the youth in nation building as well as a driving force in caring for the environment. This is only one of APIYN's projects to build the capacity and self-confidence of the indigenous youth being the next ones to lead their communities,” says Paul Lucena of the Asia Pacific Indigenous Youth Network.

Around the world today—from capitol cities to the melting slopes of Mount Everest, even underwater on dying coral reefs—people held rallies aimed at focusing attention on the number 350 because scientists have insisted in recent years that 350 parts per million is the most carbon dioxide we can safely have in the atmosphere. The current CO2 concentration is 390 parts per million.

“That’s why glaciers and sea ice are melting, drought is spreading, and flooding is on the increase,” said Bill McKibben, founder of 350.org and author twenty years ago of the first major book on climate change. “And it’s why we need a huge worldwide movement to give us the momentum to make real political change. Our leaders have heard from major corporations and big polluters for a long time—today, finally, they heard from citizens and scientists.”

These global actions come six weeks before the world’s nations convene in Copenhagen for the United Nations Climate Change Conference to draw up a new climate treaty. 89 countries have already endorsed the 350 target, as well as the chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Rajendra Pachauri, the world’s foremost climate economist, Sir Nicholas Stern, and Nobel prize-winner Al Gore.

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ABOUT APIYN

APIYN is an network of over 22 indigenous youth organizations in the Asia Pacific Region. It aims to contribute towards building the capacity and self-confidence of the indigenous youth in the Asia-Pacific Region through providing systems of information, training , exchange and networking. It seeks to mobilize the catalytic role of the indigenous youth in development efforts by facilitating the exchange of ideas, analyses, and experiences which they in turn can contribute and share with their indigenous communities.



 

Philippine Climate Watch Alliance
23 October 2009
Press Release

Climate change law is meaningless in corrupt government according to green groups

Progressive environmental activists remain critical and skeptic that the Philippine Climate Change Act of 2009 signed into law by President Arroyo will indeed help the country mitigate and adapt to the effects of climate change.

"No law or amount of institutionalization can improve the climate change resiliency of the country as long as the government stays rotten, corrupting every small amount of relief or public funds and continue with its anti-environment and anti-people policies and practices,” said Meggie Nolasco of Philippine Climate Watch Alliance.

Republic Act 9729 is said to address bureaucratic and institutional issues that have undermined the country’s response to and programs on climate change and would lead to the setting up of National Framework Strategy and Program on Climate Change.

"The Philippine government has been passing national and international laws that supposedly seek to address the climate and environmental crises for several decades already. Yet, the tragedies triggered by typhoons Pepeng and Ondoy have proven that our current government remains unquestionably inept and irresponsible in the face of disasters and climate change," Nolasco pointed out.

Even before the signing and ratification of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Kyoto Protocol, international and legally binding agreements, the country has already started various initiatives to address climate change.

On May 8, 1991, Presidential Order No. 220 that created the Inter-Agency Committee on Climate Change (IACCC)under the Environmental Management Bureau of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) was issued. he stated aim of the committee is to “harness and synergize the various activities being undertaken by the national government and civil society in response to the crisis posed by growing problem on climate change.”

On February 20, 2007, in recognition of the “urgent need to confront the issue of climate change and decisively address its adverse effects on the people and the production sectors”, Mrs. Arroyo created the Presidential Task Force on Climate Change (PTFCC) through Administrative Order (AO) 171.

However, even after various committees and public pronouncement that climate change was high on the Arroyo government’s agenda, with Mrs. Gloria Arroyo even appointing herself as the head of the PTFCC, the country remains vulnerable and incapable in addressing and coping with the climate change.

“To hope and believe that a bill will prepare the country for disasters and other environmental backlashes is a sign of naivety and even denial. The bill in itself may have several positive points but it will not work under a regime that used the country’s measly emergency fund for her lavish foreign trips,” said Clemente Bautista, national coordinator of Kalikasan People’s Network for the Environment.

"Until now, the Arroyo government continue to evade accountability for its crimes against the environment and the people. If she is indeed serious in addressing the impacts of climate change, then she should scrap her policies that hasten the depletion of our natural resources and destruction of the environment that contribute further to the impacts of global warming, the proliferation of coal mining and plants for one," claimed Bautista.

Throughout the regime of President Arroyo, coal production, importation and consumption are increasing every year and 2008 has the highest record so far. Coal has been identified as a leading culprit in climate change yet the Arroyo government has failed to develop and harness our indigenous and cheaper renewable resources such as geothermal, wind, solar and hydro.

Among the coal-fired power plants that have been established during the Arroyo regime are the Mirant 100MW Coal-fired Power Plant in Cebu city and STEAG 210 MW Mindanao Coal-Fired Power Plant in Misamis Oriental.

"But then again, we cannot expect a corrupt regime to reform itself. Ultimately, the solution to climate change and our environmental crisis lies in the hands of the majority of the Filipino people. It is the basic sectors and the civil society who should lead the country to genuine development, in asserting our sovereignty and rights over our patrimony and natural resources and in rejecting a government that keeps its people impoverished and underdeveloped,” ended Bautista.

Reference:

Meggie Nolasco, spokesperson, Philippine Climate Watch Alliance, 0927805008.

Clemente Bautista Jr. National Coordinator, Kalikasan-PNE 09228449787


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The Philippine Climate Watch Alliance (PCWA) is a broad network of non-government organizations, grassroots and people's organizations, and individuals aiming to examine and address the impacts of climate change on marginalized communities within the country.

For inquiries, please contact the Secretariat:
Website: www.philclimatewatch.org
Telefax No. +632-9209099,+632-9248756
Email: pcwa.secretariat@gmail.com

PRESS RELEASE
24 October 2009

Green groups flag gaps in the Philippine Climate Change Law

More deep and drastic measures are needed if we are to build a climate-resilient Philippines, Philippine non-governmental organizations said today in response to news of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's signing of Republic Act 9729 (Climate Change Act of 2009).

Frances Quimpo, Executive Director of the Center for Environmental Concerns-Philippines (CEC-Phils), said that the landmark climate law could risk ending up as a lame duck if issues of good governance and the Arroyo administration's contradictory policies on the environment, development, and people's welfare are not addressed.

RA 9729 seeks to mainstream climate change into the formulation of government policy by setting up a National Framework Strategy and Program on Climate Change. It also creates the Climate Change Commission that will coordinate, monitor and evaluate the government's programs and actions to mitigate and adapt to the effects of climate change.

Good governance needed in addition to the law

The true test of RA 9729 as a legislative response to climate change rests in the question of governance, Quimpo opined.

“While Republic Act 9729 may finally settle the confounding issue of which government agency or official is clearly responsible for taking the lead and be accountable for the efforts to address climate change in the Philippines, the urgent problem that must be resolved is much more fundamental,” Quimpo said.

No amount of institutionalization can improve the climate change resiliency of the Philippines if the current state of governance remains rotten to the core, Quimpo said.

“Frankly speaking, we will find it very difficult to respond to climate change and its impacts f the national government siphons off large amounts of disaster relief, rehabilitation, and infrastructure funds to corrupt or inept officials while aggressively implementing policies such as mining liberalization and energy deregulation,” she said.

Conflicting policies under Arroyo gov't

Quimpo also noted that the Arroyo administration continues to pursue policies and projects which actually increase the country's vulnerability to climate change, contrary to the spirit of the law.

“Despite the passage of the law, we still have yet to see a commitment to reverse other existing policies and programs of the government that contribute to climate change and people's vulnerability,” Quimpo said.

“Communities dependent on our rich forest, marine, agricultural, and freshwater ecosystems will find it harder to cope with more extreme weather events if our fragile environment is further damaged by wanton mineral, timber and energy resource extraction,” she said.

Under the current Medium-Term Philippine Development Plan (2004-2010), for instance, the Arroyo administration has pursued environmental management and addressing the threats and impacts of climate change mainly in the context of energy independence and investment promotion, which in turn guided the passage of laws such as RA 9367 (Biofuels Act of 2006). Biofuels projects have sprouted all over the country despite the lack of credible and comprehensive scientific studies to measure the full environmental and climate change-related impacts of massive biofuels production in the country.

Another case in point is the continuing promotion of mining liberalization in the Philippines and implementation of RA 7942 (Philippine Mining Act of 1995). In recent years, many mining projects have directly or indirectly contributed to natural disasters, such as landslides, land subsidence, fish kills, pollution and contamination, and silation of freshwater bodies which have further undermined the capacity of communities to recuperate from extreme weather events that hit the country.

“The Arroyo administration's program of selling our country's natural resources to foreign investors contradicts the aim to build an enabling environment for climate adaptation by grassroots communities,” Quimpo observed.

Accountability for G-8 countries and TNCs

The Philippine Climate Watch Alliance (PCWA), a national network of NGOs, grassroots and peoples organizations aiming to respond to the issue of climate change, also stressed that existing Philippine government responses should also highlight the accountability of rich countries and large firms in mitigation efforts.

“One thing that this new Climate Change Commission should recognize is the role and responsibility of G-8 countries and transnational corporations (TNCs) to take on deep and drastic greenhouse gas emission cuts. The burden of large mitigation measures should foremost be accorded to the rich countries and their TNCs who have emitted the bulk of greenhouse gases contributing to global warming; it should not be passed on to poorer countries such as the Philippines,” said Meggie Nolasco, PCWA Spokesperson.

Youth and environmental organizations from Metro Manila to stage a symbolic action at the historic Luneta Park in Manila for the Global Day on Climate Change Action, 24 October. Philippine climate justice advocates formed a giant human sign of the figure '350' in front of the Quirino Grandstand, symbolizing solidarity with the global campaign to reduce global carbon dioxide emissions to 350 parts per million. 350 parts per million CO2 is the safe upper limit for the atmosphere according to the latest scientific data.

Organized by PCWA, Kalikasan People's Network for the Environment and AGHAM Youth in coordination with 350.org, the event—one of more than 2,000 rallies in more than 140 nations—is part of a global campaign to urge world leaders to take fast and effective action on global warming.

“We call on the newly-formed Climate Change Commission to make real the law's provision on “broader multi-stakeholder participation”. We challenge it to realign its planned adaptation and mitigation strategies to the Filipino people's long-standing call genuine land reform and national industrialization, just jobs and wages, and rights. The genuine solution to building a climate-resilient nation lies in a foundation of good governance, national sovereignty, and genuine development for the people,” Quimpo concluded. ###

References:

Frances Quimpo
Executive Director, Center for Environmental Concerns-Philippines
Mobile: 0917.884.6325 Email: info@cecphils.org Telefax: 63.920.9099.
Office Address: #26 Matulungin Street, Barangay Central, Diliman, Quezon City
Website: www.cecphils.org

Meggie Nolasco
Spokesperson, Philippine Climate Watch Alliance (PCWA)
Mobile: 09278050008

BOHOL IS FOR 350

Photos courtesy of Women's Development Center, Inc./Marj
 

Women's Development Center, Inc.

Media Release
25 October 2009
 

Bohol Youth Join October 24 Global Day of Action for 350

The Bag-ong Kabataan Para sa Kinaiyahan and the PROFarmS-Youth Alicia of Bohol joined the global day of climate action on October 24 as they marked the Chocolate Hills, Panglao Island beaches and also the historical Blood Compact Site with the 350ppm call to save the climate.

“350ppm is the safe upper limit for CO2 concentration in our atmosphere. We are now at the 390ppm concentration of CO2 and it is still rising by about 2ppm per year, thus, accelerating climate change and worsening negative environmental impacts such as tropical cyclones and rising of our sea level, and social impacts such as changes in agriculture, forestry and fisheries activities causing a head cut to food sustainability/food security,” said Ms. Dawn Largo, Bag-ong Kabataan... chairperson and Bohol Youth for 350 coordinator.

Effects of climate change in the Philippines were made obvious by the devastation created by typhoons “Ondoy” and “Peping”. Coupled with the government’s lack of preparation and inefficiency in disaster response, the typhoons affected millions of individuals, thousands of homes and livelihoods were destroyed, and more than a hundred died.

According to Ms. Largo, the local effects of climate change in Bohol include rise of sea level, sudden flashfloods and extreme heat which they never experienced before. “So we have to do something to go back to 350 level and even lower. But we can’t change this here in the Philippines alone! The Philippines emit less CO2 compared to the US, Germany, Canada, Japan and other high CO2-emitting industrial countries,” adds Ms. Largo.

On December 2009, delegates, non-governmental organizations, and businesses from every nation will meet to finalize a new global climate change agreement at the Conference of Parties (COP) 15 in Copenhagen. Programs, policies and funds to help alleviate the effects of climate change in least developed countries like the Philippines where gravest impacts will be experienced should be considered, especially that talks leading to the COP 15, where a new protocol will replace the Kyoto Protocol, hardly give space to the participation of the people who are most affected, much less consider the real impacts on their lives and survival.

“Our actions on climate change will not end on October 24. We will continue our local climate change campaign and support the 350ppm campaign by conducting community discussions and actions just like what we did today until real solutions to climate change are achieved,” said Ms. Largo.

Bag-ong Kabataan is a formation of students in Tagbilaran who are united to campaign for the environment and social changes which involve our youths, while PROFarmS Youth Alicia are the young trainees of farmers who are now practicing organic farming in their barangays. These youth, on their own, are doing something to mitigate climate change and manage climate change related risks and disasters.

 

At the Luneta

Photos courtesy of Marj

CEBU IS FOR 350

Initiated by the Visayas Climate Action Network,  Fisherfolk Development Center (FIDEC),

Farmers Development  Center (FARDEC) and other concerned institutions

Photos courtesy of FIDEC
 

"DROP IT (coz its hot):

Indigenous Youth Shout Outs Against Climate Change)"

It is a Literary and Arts Folio Competition that aims to gather testimonials

of the indigenous youth / youth why we should rehabilitate and protect Mother Earth NOW!

Photos courtesy of Paul Andrew Lucena
Secretariat, Asia Pacific Indigenos Youth Network (APIYN)
0922 439 9837 / +63 74 446 2106   apiyn@apiyn.org

Iloilo is for 350

Photos courtesy of  Agham youth

Laguna is for 350

Photos courtesy of  Agham youth

Ifugao is for 350

Photos courtesy of  Agham youth

Canada-Philippines Solidarity for Human Rights for 350

Photos courtesy of  CPSHR

International Climate Action Day in Vancouver
Statement of Canada-Philippines Solidarity for Human Rights \
October 24, 2009

Climate Change and More: The Typhoons in the Philippines

The Canada –Philippines Solidarity for Human Rights is deeply saddened and angered by the loss of hundreds of lives caused by the recent super typhoons, Ondoy (Ketsana) and Pepeng (Parma) in the Philippines. The suffering caused by widespread destruction of properties, agricultural crops, displacement, and the disruption in schooling and work, is truly unfathomable. We are greatly disturbed by the 11 billion pesos worth of damage to infrastructure and agriculture, including the inundation of 56% of the country’s rice-producing areas.

Most of all, we are apprehensive as to how the Filipino people will cope with future weather conditions that climate experts and international agencies have unanimously predicted to be more violent, extreme, and erratic due to the climate crisis. Being in the typhoon belt, the country is visited by an average of 20 typhoons a year. On top of this are the earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, destructive winds, avalanches, and flooding. The rise in seawater levels due to increasing global temperature threatens to submerge coastal areas and island nations, putting the Philippines at great risk.

We are moved and inspired by the speedy relief actions and efforts of communities and people's organizations, indeed a people’s movement of service to the people. Meanwhile, the Philippine government response to the crisis has not been as quick, systematic or transparent.

The Philippine government very clearly showed that it was caught unprepared for what happened. Its disaster and emergency preparedness program, which is, without any doubt, a distinct government function, was and continues to be pathetic. When the results are lives lost, properties damaged and livelihoods destroyed, then the government's negligence and ineptness is nothing short of criminal.

Our organizations continue to fund-raise for the typhoon victims and affected communities and we continue to educate the public that what happened in the Philippines goes beyond climate change and the massive rainfall. These disasters have deep systemic roots in the country’s history, economics and politics. It is a history of subservience to big foreign interests and local big business involved in mining, logging, agribusiness and real estate development which seek to extract huge profits from the plunder of Philippine natural resources. It is also a history marked by the legacy of a corrupt government that sees nothing wrong with thousands of dollars spent on junkets and New York dinners when those monies could have been spent on decent weather warning stations, disaster and emergency preparedness programs, reforestation, urban planning, job creation, housing, and we can extend it further, on genuine land reform and nationalist industrialization.

We see the policy of the wholesale destruction of the country’s environment continued by the Gloria Macapagal Arroyo government. This must be stopped if we are to prevent similar occurrences of flooding, landslides, destruction of agricultural lands, etc. from happening again.

The dangers posed by the climate change crisis will continue to hound the Philippines as long as its economy is dominated by big foreign interests and its local allies. The recent typhoons demonstrated how it is the poorest and the marginalized in poor countries like the Philippines who are the most affected by the devastation. Ironically, it is countries like the Philippines which have the wealth of resources that are plundered by the developed countries.

For the last nine years, the Filipino people have also been under a disaster like no other. Like the typhoons Ondoy and Pepeng, this storm or bagyo has wrecked havoc on people’s lives and the country’s well-being. This disaster refuses to go. It needs to be driven out. The Igorot priest Padi Rex Reyes, Jr. said it sharply and simply in his homily in Mankayan after typhoon Pepeng struck the Northern and Cordillera regions, "It is time to say enough of typhoon Gloria."

Our thoughts are with the Filipino people when we join the march on Saturday, Oct 24 for the International Climate Action Day on Cambie Bridge.

October 24, 2009
Canada-Philippines Solidarity for Human Rights
Vancouver, B.C. CANADA


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Canada-Philippines Solidarity for Human Rights (CPSHR)
is a member of the Stop the Killings (STK) Network-Canada; the International League of Peoples' Struggle (ILPS); and the International Migrants Alliance (IMA). It is also a coalition partner of the Global and Societal Ministries BC Conference of the United Church of Canada and a proud partner of BAYAN-Canada.

Filipinos and Canadians working for the promotion and defense of human rights in the Philippines.

 

 BONUS TRACKS

Mayon Volcano

Photos courtesy of Bayan Muna Rep. Teddy Casiño via his Facebook.

Thanks, Ted! Your next assignment: Mt. Apo naman kaya?