President Rodrigo Duterte has called for a “bolder vision and urgent action” to solve water-related issues in the Asia-Pacific region, saying developing countries like the Philippines still face challenges to ensure people’s universal access to safe and affordable water.
In a video message during the heads of states and government meeting at the 4th Asia-Pacific Water Summit in Kumamoto City over the weekend, Duterte said countries in Asia-Pacific and its partners must forge “a strong alliance” to address water woes in the region.
“Now is the time for bolder vision and urgent action. We need to decide wisely for ourselves and for future generations,” he said.
“This requires an urgent sense of community action in the region, an integrated and coherent policy, and the resolve to create opportunities for investment and collaboration for technological solutions,” Duterte added.
He suggested several measures to address water challenges, including creating a robust regime for sustainable water management; using the best available science in water resource generation and climate resilient infrastructure; and securing sustainable forest protection and watershed management.
Regional experts for technology development and transfer, Duterte said, must also collaborate, and countries must promote transboundary benefits for the common people’s development towards 2050 and beyond.
He said solutions to water-related issues must come from government and non-government stakeholders alike.
Duterte said access to water and its related services is rightly considered a basic human right, since it is a resource so vital for humans and ecosystems for survival and sustenance.
For his part, Climate Change Commission Secretary Robert Borje said central to the Philippines’ position in climate change mitigation and adaptation is climate justice.
“To the least responsible, to those with the least resources, to those most exposed, we need to do more,” Borje said.
Asia and Pacific nations should forge stronger partnerships to address the impacts of changing climate by making available and accessible climate financing to developing countries that bear the brunt of global warming, Borje said.
“Our challenge and responsibility then is to formulate and implement water development strategies and trajectories in the era of climate change—up to the last mile, up to the last person. To this end, we need climate financing. Make it more accessible and available. Unlock it for the developing world,” he said.
“This is not a plea for handouts. This is an urgent call for responsible partnership. We want to contribute more but we in the developing world need to help ourselves first,” Borje added.
He mentioned, in particular, Tropical Depression Agaton, which inundated large swathes of the Visayas region at the height of summer and displaced many residents.
Total damages was estimated at $1.6 billion, representing the country’s health insurance budget for around 60 percent of the total population, he said.
“But the narrative can still be transformed: from frustration and desperation to one of action and inspiration. This is where climate justice becomes relevant in what we do—a guiding light towards a more informed collaboration among our nations, so that our peoples, across generations, will be equipped to restore and ensure the quality of and access to water for all1as a matter of life—a dignified life,” he added.