RP stands firm on call for food security

BANGKOK, Thailand — As the Philippine delegation stood firm on its call for “insurance for food security”, various non-government organizations (NGOs) in Southeast Asia advocating for rice security pressed government negotiators from the region to make sure that major emitters of greenhouse gases (GHGs) would finance the adaptation mechanisms despite what seemed to be a “motionless” talk on the financing aspect to combat climate change.

Groups belonging to the East Asia Rice Working Group, including Philippine NGO Rice Watch and Action Network (R1), said United States, European Union, and other major emitters of GHGs must not be allowed to get away from their climate accountability, stressing that developing and least developed countries most vulnerable to disasters have lost and will continue to lose lives and livelihoods due to climate change.

“Our rice farmers in Southeast Asia, who provide for the bulk of the global rice supply continue to endure the wrath of global warming, gravely affecting their livelihoods,” noted Jessica Reyes-Cantos, convenor of R1.

According to Cantos, government negotiators from the region must hold out together with other developing countries under the G77 in securing commitments from developed countries to fund adaptation measures but not as loans and on top of the existing Official Development Assistance (ODA) commitments.

The NGOs voiced out their opinion on the issue during a recent dialogue with government negotiators from the Philippines, Indonesia, and Vietnam at the sidelines of the climate change negotiations being held here.

Around 190 nations have been meeting here since last week under the sponsorship of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

The Bangkok Climate Change Talks 2009 is perceived as a “make or break” consultation, as it is the second to the last negotiations to craft a new climate change treaty that will replace the Kyoto Protocol before world leaders gather on December in Copenhagen to put it to a vote. The new treaty is anticipated to contain individual country emission targets.

Cantos said there is no better way to highlight the “clear and present danger posed by climate change on the region” than the damages wrought by typhoon “Ketsana”, which ravaged through the region and left hundreds of people dead while millions homeless.

In the Philippines alone, damage to agriculture sector caused by the typhoon was estimated to reach around P5.5 billion, as of Oct. 4. Ketsana flooded key farm areas in Luzon.

On the other hand, typhoon Parma, which subsequently hit the Philippines, particularly the northern part of the country, devastated roughly P453 million-worth of crops.

R1 said that the rice sector posted the biggest amount of damage at P4.2 billion pesos as an estimated 243,898 tons of palay were damaged when Ondoy submerged 168, 065 hectares of rice lands.

Cantos lamented that the ongoing talks in the 15th Conference of Parties of the UNFCCC are hardly able to agree on the need to fund the mechanisms of developing and least developed countries to adapt to the impacts of climate change.

“The United States and other developed countries refuse to accept their responsibility as major emitters of greenhouse gases. They are undermining the principle of ‘historical responsibility’ as affirmed in the Bali Action Plan that demands greater accountability to these long-time emitters of greenhouse gases to finance the adaptation mechanisms,” Cantos said.