Press Release
December 13, 2008

Philippines must work with the rest of the world in reducing greenhouse gas emissions

Senator Loren Legarda urged the Philippine government to actively participate in the worldwide effort of reducing greenhouse gas emissions so that natural disasters could be lessened.

"The European Union (EU) is currently drawing up in Poland the most ambitious plan of reducing emissions. The Philippines must do its share to fight global warming," Legarda said.

The negotiating process on climate change is centered on the sessions of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP), a 12-day conference which started Monday.

The COP meets every year to review the implementation of the Convention. There are 9,000 including government representatives and observer organizations participating in Poznan until December 12.

Legarda is pushing for the linking of climate change and disaster risk reduction as a national policy in both the Philippine Senate and in international meetings.

"Climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction should be linked together to protect from disasters peoples from developing countries such as the Philippines," she said.

In Poznan, the EU proposed that its members and other developed economies should cut their emissions by 25 to 40 percent by the year 2020.

Legarda echoed the EU and called on developed economies such as the United States and Japan to shift to so-called "green energies" like wind and water power, which are less-polluting energy sources. "The benefits from a healthier environment are always worth the economic price of cutting on greenhouse gas emissions," she said.

Among the many feared effects of global warming are the rise of sea levels, melting of glaciers, and extinction of species.

"Climate change is very real and it is going to get worse unless something is done about it," said Legarda.

For advocating adaptation to climate change and disaster risk reduction, Legarda was recently chosen by a United Nations agency as the regional champion of Disaster Risk Reduction for the Asia-Pacific region.

Salvano Briceño, the head of the UN International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR) cited Legarda's "notable leadership in building resilience to hazards and adapting to climate change in the Philippines."

The UNISDR is the agency responsible for building disaster-ready communities to lessen human, economic and environmental losses brought by natural hazards and disasters.

Last October, Legarda twice addressed the UN General Assembly in New York. She urged world leaders to refocus attention on the climate change amidst the global financial crisis and comply with the Hyogo Framework of Action, a multilateral treaty on reducing disasters which 168 countries drafted in the aftermath of the 2005 Asian killer tsunamis.

In September, she co-convened a consultative meeting of parliamentarians from different countries.

The outcome of the meeting is The Manila Call for Action, a document calling on governments to craft and implement effective laws on climate change and disaster risk reduction.

Poznan is seen as an important half-way mark in the negotiating process leading up to the COP in Copenhagen next year. Parties have agreed that in Copenhagen, an ambitious climate change deal will finally be clinched.

"The Philippines must march with the rest of the world in trying to stop global warming and the weather extremes that cause natural calamities like floods, tsunamis, landslides, and droughts," Legarda said.

Legarda is also the incoming chairperson of the Senate Standing Committee on Climate Change.

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