P-Noy: Help climate vulnerable nations

PARIS – Those with more should help those with less.

This was President Aquino’s message to world leaders as he spoke here yesterday for countries most vulnerable to climate change.

Failure to provide such help could wipe some nations off the map, the President warned in his three-minute national statement delivered before the 21st climate conference in this French capital.

He said everyone should move beyond the blame game and contribute to efforts to address climate change.

“It is time for a fair consensus to finally be reached. Our collective security depends on our ability to act,” Aquino told more than 140 world leaders who attended the conference.

“We must therefore move beyond recrimination, learn from the past and work hand in hand to safeguard the welfare of our citizens and of the many generations to come. In this effort, no one is exempt; all must contribute,” he added.

Aquino, in particular, called for a binding agreement that would provide financial assistance to developing countries facing climate risks.

“As president of a nation increasingly affected by the new normal, I believe the real challenge begins with an accounting of capacities: how do we ask everyone to contribute, and how do we ask those with more to help out those with less?” the President said.

“The Philippines, with the rest of the Climate Vulnerable Forum, a group that will soon grow to represent at least one billion people, makes our case. In the name of all our citizens, we ask you to give our proposal for more climate financing for developing countries the consideration it deserves,” he added.

The Climate Vulnerable Forum or V20 is an international partnership of small countries facing high risks due to a warming planet. The Philippines is the chairman this year of the forum composed of Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Maldives, Tanzania, Bangladesh, Ghana, Nepal, Timor-Leste, Barbados, Kenya, Tuvalu, Bhutan, Kiribati, Rwanda, Vanuatu, Costa Rica, Madagascar, Saint Lucia and Vietnam.

Aquino said he has been informed that since 2010, disasters have claimed more than 50,000 lives from the V20 countries.

“This number will increase exponentially in the near future. Consider further the danger faced by island-nations such as Kiribati, Tuvalu and the Maldives, whose existence is threatened by rising water levels,” he said.  

 “Their extinction will be a certainty, unless we pursue realizable goals that acknowledge that, for some nations, the fight against climate change is a matter of survival.”

Aquino said the economic costs of climate change amount to $44.9 billion for the V20 countries and that failure to act on the problem could raise the amount to almost ten-fold by 2030.

“We are ready to do our part, if other nations demonstrate support in terms of finance, technology development and capacity building,” he said.

Thorny issues

The financing of vulnerable countries’ climate adaptation and mitigation programs is expected to be one of the sticky issues during the 21st Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP21), which started yesterday and will end on Dec. 11.

Developing countries like the Philippines are lobbying for a deal that will require developed countries to support the climate programs of vulnerable states. Some groups, however, are pushing for an agreement that will impose the same obligation to all parties.

Negotiators are also expected to debate on details such as the sources and the amount of financing and the kind of support to be extended to developing countries.

There are also differences with regard to the goal of the COP21. While the conference seeks to come up with a landmark deal that will limit global warming to less than two degrees Celsius, the Philippines and the rest of V20 want the target to be lowered to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

Philippine climate negotiators have admitted that the 12-day climate talks will not be easy but remain optimistic that a binding agreement will be crafted.

While not a major pollutant, the Philippines has vowed to implement an ambitious emission reduction target as its contribution to the global fight against climate change.

The country will work to cut emissions by 70 percent by 2030 if it receives assistance like financial resources, technology development and transfer and capability building.

Aquino noted that during the visit of French President Francois Hollande to the Philippines last February, they launched the Manila Call to Action on Climate Change, which highlighted the need to give voice to vulnerable countries.

 “At the heart of this call is the stark reality that countries like the Philippines bear a disproportionate amount of the burden when it comes to climate change,” he said.  

“The appeal we made in Manila asks all peoples to act and come to an agreement that allows all voices to be heard, and takes into consideration our particular situations as nations.”

 Philippine efforts

Aquino claimed that the Philippines has been working to break what he called “the vicious cycle of destruction and reconstruction,” where affected locales slide back into an impoverished state with one calamity.

He said the primary challenge has been to move affected residents to less vulnerable areas and to step up measures to mitigate the effects of climate change.

“We are indeed hard pressed to build back better, especially in the aftermath of Haiyan (Yolanda) and I must submit: we cannot do this in isolation,” Aquino said, referring to a typhoon that claimed the lives of more than 6,000 people in 2013.  

He said the Philippines – a country visited by about 20 cyclones every year –  is ready to share its experiences, knowledge and best practices in handling disasters.

“Despite our fiscal limitations, and despite the fact that we have one of the smallest carbon footprints in the world, the Philippines continues to pursue vital reforms to address climate change,” he said.