MANILA, Philippines (Updated 4:21 p.m.) — The urgency to curb the spread of the coronavirus disease is also needed to tackle climate change, which is posing catastrophic effects to developing countries such as the Philippines, President Rodrigo Duterte said.
In his first speech at the United Nations General Assembly, Duterte said the warming of global temperatures has aggravated existing inequalities and vulnerabilities.
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“Climate change has worsened the ravages of the pandemic. Peoples in developing countries like the Philippines suffer the most. We cannot suffer more,” the president said in a taped speech.
“The same urgency needed to fight COVID-19 is needed to address the climate crisis,” he also said.
The Philippines is an archipelagic nation vulnerable to disasters made worse by climate change. According to a report of environmental think tank Germanwatch released last year, the Philippines placed fourth in the list of countries most affected by extraordinary catastrophes from 1998 to 2017.
Environmental groups and climate activists have been calling on the Duterte administration to declare a climate emergency in the country and make climate action a top government priority.
“Greenpeace is renewing our calls for President Duterte to declare a climate emergency as a policy instrument that would ensure that the administration acts on the climate crisis with the much-needed urgency he has called for in his speech,” Lea Guerrero, Greenpeace country director, said.
“We urge President Duterte to issue an executive order to put climate action at the center of all policy decision-making from local to national level. This will ensure the Philippines’ rapid and just transition to a low-carbon pathway through the phaseout of coal and fossil fuel investments,”
she added.
Paris accord
Duterte also called on world leaders to honor their commitment to the Paris Climate Agreement. The Paris accord calls for limiting global warming at well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels while pursuing efforts for a tougher ceiling of 1.5°C.
“We call on parties, especially those who have not made good their commitment to fight climate change, to honor the same,” the president said.
“We call on all parties to strengthen communities and peoples for preparedness and resilience. We are talking about mankind and Earth, our one and only home,” he added.
In March 2017, Duterte signed the historic agreement on climate change. He, however, previously threatened that he would not honor the pact believing it would hurt the Philippines’ effort to industrialize.
The Philippines, in its submission under the Paris accord, had committed to cut by 70% its carbon emissions by 2030. But the emission reduction target was conditional on assistance from the international community.
Studies, however, found that emission reduction targets submitted by countries put the world on track for warming of 2.7 to 3.7°C, far above the Paris climate goals. In a June interview with Philstar.com, the country’s Climate Change Commission said the coronavirus pandemic is hampering the government’s move to review and revisit its climate plans.
“The pandemic has certainly made this painstaking process of NDC formulation more difficult to do,” Climate Change Commissioner Rachel Anne Herrera said then. AN NDC is how governments plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to the impacts of climate change.
‘Not a climate champion’
Sought for comment, the Kalikasan People’s Network for the Environment stressed that the Duterte administration allowed ecologically destructive and polluting projects such as big mining, land reclamation and coal power to push through.
It added that the Philippines under his leadership remains a top air and marine polluter, and among the nations vulnerable to impacts of climate change.
“For four years he has allowed the plunder of at least P990 billion of our natural resources. Mr. Duterte is perpetrating pure climate injustice,” Clemente Bautista, Kalikasan international networks coordinator, said.
“President Duterte should clean up his own backyard first before projecting himself as a climate champion before the UN General Assembly,” he added.