It is … fair for the Philippines to demand for climate justice.
Environmental activists call it climate justice.
But until major and rich oil producers heed the call to reduce carbon emissions to fight climate change and industrialized countries ramp up funding to mitigate the damage to environment, nations vulnerable to global warming will not get their retribution.
This is the clear message of the Philippines at the ongoing 29th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP 29) in Baku, Azerbaijan.
The Department of Finance (DOF) has pushed for an initial annual funding of $1.3 trillion from developed countries to address adaptation, mitigation and loss and damage issues, especially in developing nations.
The Philippines knows where to speak of. The spate of typhoons in October and November has claimed hundreds of lives and displaced millions of Filipinos trying to escape the wrath of storms that get more violent with warmer oceans.
“We have been given an unmissable opportunity to shore up the global climate finance war chest, which for many vulnerable countries is a matter of life and death. That is why here at COP29, the Philippines is aggressively pushing for bold actions and sustained, increased financing once and for all for countries that are perpetually on the front lines of catastrophic typhoons,” said Finance Undersecretary Dorotan Tiuseco during the High-Level Ministerial Dialogue on Climate Finance.
The Philippines in the same forum demanded for climate justice, stressing that nations least responsible for climate change are bearing its heaviest costs and that those most accountable must address the inequity.
Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) Secretary Secretary Maria Antonia Yulo Loyzaga made the same appeal ahead of the conference on November 11 to 22.
The DENR chief vowed, along with other countries, to set a new global climate finance target for 2025 onwards, working from the $100 billion per year commitment which the parties have previously agreed on.
“The Asia Pacific nations that host a number of islands and our archipelago remain among the most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change,” says Loyzaga.
“Limited fiscal space in climate vulnerable developing countries means we need urgent access to the best science, along with new, additional and appropriate financing and innovative mechanisms and instruments from public and private sources,” she added.
The Philippines, according to her, may be a test case for the fund in responding to the unique cumulative loss of lives and damage to critical infrastructure, such as hospitals, schools, roads and water and power systems.
“For the Philippines, living with risk and loss and damage has been part of our history as an archipelago. We therefore have a deep and personal stake in ensuring that the Fund for responding to Loss and Damage succeeds,” said Loyzaga.
The Philippines is spending a lot to bolster disaster resilience, minimize economic impacts and secure financial protections for Filipinos affected by climate-induced disasters.
It is, thus, fair for the Philippines to demand for climate justice. Countries least responsible for climate change are bearing the heaviest cost and those most accountable must address the inequity.
The G20, which groups the world’s 20 largest economies, is responsible for 80 percent of global carbon emissions.
Science has proven that as the impacts of climate change speed up, extreme weather events are taking a major toll on developing countries, especially in Africa and Asia―home to some of the world’s largest youth populations.
The latest round of UN climate negotiations in Baku followed a year when multiple extreme heat records were broken. The past year also saw widespread climate-driven chaos from wildfires to destructive floods and hurricanes struck nearly every corner of the world.
A major increase in financial commitments to assist vulnerable countries in mitigating and adapting to climate impacts is the main goal of this year’s conference, dubbed the “climate finance COP.”
Simon Stiell, executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), which convenes the annual COP meetings, has a more urgent appeal to rich nations.
Worsening climate change and the socioeconomic damage it inflicts, says Stiell, mean “billions of people simply cannot afford for their government to leave COP29 without a global climate finance goal.”
“Let’s dispense with the idea that climate finance is charity. An ambitious new climate finance goal is entirely in the self-interest of every single nation, including the largest and wealthiest,” he warns.
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