Palace welcomes Paris deal to slow global warming

MANILA, Philippines – Malacañang Palace on Sunday welcomed the Paris agreement which seeks to limit the rise in global temperatures to less than two degrees Celsius.

”The Philippines welcomes the Paris agreement as it responds to President (Benigno) Aquino’s call at the start of COP21 (21st Conference of Parties) for all people to act and come to an agreement that allows all voices to be heard and takes into consideration the particular situations of all the nations that have taken this historic step to end decades of deadlock and take decisive climate change action,” Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. said in a radio interview with DZRB.

On Saturday, the 195 nations which attended the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) COP21 climate meeting in Paris agreed to accept an accord that covers both developed and developing countries.

According to Coloma, the agreement reached “almost two weeks of painstaking consensus building and convergence around five major points, namely: a global temperature goal of 1.5 degrees; the inclusion of human rights as its bedrock principle; the emphasis on ecosystem integrity; the commitment of support in finance, technology and capacity building for all adaptation and mitigation efforts; and the inclusion of a loss and damage article that would ensure the recovery, restoration and resilience of communities, livelihoods and ecosystems.”

”The Paris agreement also addresses the situation of climate-vulnerable countries like the Philippines that bear the heaviest albeit a most disproportionate share of the burden of climate change in terms of assuring the conveyance of resources that will fully support adaptation and mitigation efforts,” he added.

The Palace official assured that the Philippines is committed to fulfill its intended nationally determined contribution (INDC) vowed to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions conditionally by 70 percent by 2030. This vow is in unison with other nations that will provide support in terms of finance, technology and capacity building. 

”Finally, the government will continually engage our people in the spirit of ‘bayanihan’ to work together in building disaster-resilient communities,” Coloma said.

Aquino attended the Climate Change Summit last November 30 and delivered a keynote speech at the Climate Vulnerable Forum in Paris, France.

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