The Philippines at the COP23 - a conference for climate changeby Carlos Montemayor | 17-02-2018 00:05 |
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Late last year, the Philippines participated in COP23, or the 23rd Conference of Parties, in Bohn, Germany. This event had representatives from over 190 countries, present to discuss and negotiate climate change issues. The main talking point of the conference was the application of the Paris Agreement, the famous deal made around 2-3 years by many of the world's nations, agreeing to not let global temperature rise exceed 2 degrees Celsius (max) above pre-industrial levels. Many regions' perspectives and experiences were discussed here, however in this article, as the Regional Ambassador of the Philippines, I will talk about what our politicians said, and give my two cents on this topic. In a short summary, the Philippines' delegation to the event talked about the importance of the Paris agreement to our country. As a frequent victim of storms and other natural calamities, Filipinos know all to well the effects that climate change can have on a LARGE SCALE. Lives have been destroyed, homes have been washed away and broken down. We are familiar with all these, and that is why we have made several programs in both our national and local government to support renewable energy and decrease dependence on traditional sources of energy such as coal. However, other more advanced and financially capable countries, such as China, South Korea, and Japan in our region, although having said some anti-coal rhetoric, have not exactly supported its decreased use in the governments' decisions. In our politicians' eyes, they are able to do this because they are less vulnerable to the negative effects that such irresponsible actions such as coal use can bring. However, it is countries like mine that suffer the worse from the consequences of such actions, and that is why the Philippines' delegation emphasized the need to truly apply the Paris agreement on a national level, as climate change accelerates the more irresponsible decisions are made by governments. In my opinion, our delegation had several good points in their speech. I have seen all too well how my countrymen suffer from natural calamities that could've been prevented by greater action from much more people and governments around the world. I do hope that all our politicians and businessmen, and all of us, will always put our planet, our home, above anything economic, political, or personal, as in the end, it is also for our own good. Source: http://environews.ph/climate-change/climate-vulnerable-countries-push-for-a-tough-climate-action-from-paris-to-bonn-and-beyond/ |
