Filipino youth leaders called for the ratification of the Paris Agreement and the inclusion of climate change course in the school curriculum at a forum in Davao on Saturday.
During the forum, the Climate Reality Project Philippines, founded by Nobel Laureate and Former US Vice President Al Gore, launched its youth program called “Filipino Youth Beyond Paris” at Ateneo de Davao University (ADDU).
Youth Beyond Paris—Davao and the National Youth Commission (NYC) Mindanao regional offices brought together over 30 youth leaders representing universities, government agencies, non-government organizations and faith groups from all regions of Mindanao, and discussed key climate issues to develop a national youth statement on climate for submission to the 22nd Conference of Parties (COP22) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Marrakesh, Morocco.
Emphasizing the importance of climate change as a global interdisciplinary discourse, the project will hold three mentorship sessions in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao in three tracks: climate policy, climate science and communication, and creative campaigning.
“After a discussion on the Paris Agreement, the participants were divided into four focus groups to negotiate youth positions on mitigation, adaptation, loss and damage and means of implementation (capacity-building, climate finance, technology transfer). As a concluding activity, they formulated the first draft of the Filipino Youth Statement on Climate Change, which will soon be shared online for open consultation,” said Rodne Galicha, Philippine country manager of the Climate Reality Project and director of ADDU Ecoteneo Office.
Climate Reality Project’s youth director Beatrice Adeline Tulagan led the Paris Agreement discussions and simulation of the UNFCCC negotations while Dr. Lourdes Simpol of ADDU Tropical Institute for Climate Studies (TROPICS) presented the current and emerging climate and disaster trends of Mindanao. Engr. Ludwig Federigan of the WWF Philippines guided the participants in finding a niche to specialize in climate change issues and Renee Karunungan of the Climate Trackers and DAKILA discussed climate change campaigns and opportunities for international collaboration.
“The process of the consultation workshop was so timely in relation to the NYC’s drafting the Philippine Youth Development Plan for 2017-2022, output of the workshop can be very good input for the Philippine Youth Development Plan,” said Raymond Domingo, regional head of NYC Zamboanga Area Office.
Key highlights of the drafted statement are the calls for climate justice, urgent action of the Philippine government to ratify the Paris Agreement before COP22 in Morocco, inclusion of climate change course in the curriculum, demand for equitable loss and damage mechanism and climate research finance.
“Their responses will be collated in the 2016 Youth Statement on Climate Change to be submitted to climate leaders worldwide, relevant media outfits, the Climate Change Office of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, the Senate committee on climate change, the Philippine delegation to the 22nd Conference of Parties, the NYC, the Climate Change Commission, Al Gore and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Secretariat,” Galicha, said.
There will be two more sessions in Bacolod City, Negros Occidental (September 13) and Quezon City, Metro Manila (September 19).
The event is organized by the Climate Reality Project Philippines with the Foundation for the Philippine Environment in coordination with the NYC, Climate Change Commission and Environmental Education and Information Division of Environmental Management Bureau under the DENR); in partnership with Bayay Sibuyanon Inc., DAKILA, Climate Trackers, and Ateneo de Davao University’s Ecoteneo and Tropics. Climate Reality is an active member of Aksyon Klima Pilipinas and Green Thumb Coalition.