Government keen on declaring climate emergency – Cimatu

MANILA, Philippines — A “climate emergency” may be declared by government to compel a whole-nation effort in addressing the worsening impact of climate change on the environment, economy and communities, a Cabinet official said yesterday.

“All government programs and initiatives are leaning toward the declaration of a climate emergency,” Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu said in a press statement.

Cimatu, who chairs the Cabinet cluster on climate change adaptation, mitigation and disaster risk reduction, released the statement after environmental group Greenpeace Philippines urged President Duterte to declare a climate emergency to help the country achieve its goals under the 2016 Paris Agreement on Climate Change.

In doing so, the Duterte administration can compel more concerted efforts among the government, civil organizations, private sector and other stakeholders in protecting the country against various impacts of climate change.

As early as February this year, Cimatu’s Cabinet cluster came out with a resolution in support of House Resolution No. 535, titled “Declaring a Disaster and Climate Change Emergency,” filed by Albay Rep. Joey Salceda in November 2019.

“The Philippines has already suffered billions of losses, damages and disruptions due to the impacts of hydrometeorological hazards, so there’s an urgent need to address more projected adverse impacts to ensure climate justice for the current and future generations of Filipinos,” he said.

Cimatu said the CCAM-DRR also approved a separate resolution underscoring the urgent need to consolidate government data in order to generate a nationwide climate risk assessment.

This would facilitate local government units in gaining easier access to the People’s Survival Fund for their climate change-related development projects.

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources secretary said the administration remains committed to honoring the Paris Agreement, in which world leaders committed to keep the planet’s temperature below 1.5 degrees Celsius.

It was in 2017 when Duterte signed the agreement, which came into force in November 2016. The Philippines committed to reduce its greenhouse emissions by 70 percent by 2030, but said that it would need technical and financial support to achieve the goal.

At Friday’s Senate hearing on the DENR budget for 2021, Environment Assistant Secretary Ric Calderon underscored that about P643 million is earmarked for protected area management next year.

Calderon, also DENR biodiversity director, said that with the help of the Senate, the country now has a total of 107 legislated protected areas, covering around 7.2 million hectares all over the country, which serve as the gene pool for endemic flora and fauna.

Manila Bay sands

In a separate statement, the DENR said the Manila Bay nourishment project has passed the standard for structural integrity and soundness, contrary to criticisms that the dolomite sand overlaid along the baywalk on Roxas Boulevard is already being washed away.

“The dolomite overlay will not be totally washed out because we have installed engineering interventions in the perimeter of the sand,” said DENR Undersecretary for policy, planning and international affairs Jonas Leones.

DENR Assistant Secretary Daniel Darius Nicer, who heads the Manila Bay Operations Center, added that there is no definitive proof that a substantial portion of the dolomite beach was washed away.

Citing a recent inspection, Nicer said around nine to 10 inches of various sediments settled on top of the dolomite overlay, causing a perceived discoloration of portions of the white beach as observed from a distance.

“Due to the natural wave action of wash and backwash, greyish sand, stones, rocks and other materials piled up over the dolomite sand,” he said.

Nicer also clarified that Dolomite Mining Corp. (DMC), which supplied the artificial white sand, has been in operation for almost two decades, contrary to allegations that it was created for the sole purpose of supplying dolomite for the project.

Addressing the cost, DENR spokesman Benny Antiporda said that only six percent or P28 million of the P389 million allotted for the entire Manila Bay rehabilitation project was spent for the dolomite overlay.

Antiporda said other issues raised by environmental groups such as planting of mangrove, protection of the ecosystem and biodiversity, fishing areas, and improvement of water quality are all being addressed simultaneously by the DENR and its partner agencies.

Endangered plants

Meanwhile, Calderon warned so-called “plantitos” and “plantitas” against collecting critically endangered plants — inadvertently or not — as they pursue their newfound hobby of urban gardening in the midst of this pandemic.

As the outbreak of COVID-19 forced people to stay home, many Filipinos in urban areas ventured into planting crops or ornamental plants as a way of coping with stress and boredom – calling themselves plantitos or plantitas.

However, at Friday’s Senate hearing on the DENR budget, Sen. Nancy Binay said this might have triggered “poaching” for plants in the wild.

Calderon told senators that Filipinos should be mindful of Republic Act 9147, the Wildlife Resources Conservation and Protection Act, when gathering or collecting plant species.

“We just can’t gather any plants from our forests, they must have a permit when doing so because they might gather the threatened and critically endangered plants,” he said in Filipino.

Protect wetlands – Villar

Sen. Cynthia Villar, chairperson of the committee on environment and natural resources, reiterated the importance of wetlands in providing wildlife habitats and as sanctuary to migratory birds.

On the occasion of World Migratory Bird Day on Oct. 10, Villar said the Las Piñas-Parañaque Wetland Park (LPWP) located south of Manila Bay, has served as resting and feeding grounds for migratory birds flocking from Japan, China and Siberia.

Villar authored Republic Act 11038, the Expanded National Integrated Protected Areas Act or E-NIPAS Act, which lists the Las Piñas-Parañaque Wetland Park as a protected area.

The park is a 175-hectare nature reserve providing sanctuary to 82 species of wild birds, including Philippine ducks, Chinese egrets and Black-winged stilts.

Villar underscored the urgency of preserving the bird sanctuary in the face of plans to reclaim Manila Bay.

“There are reclamation projects that plan to build on the buffer zones of the park. We are vigorously opposing this because buffer zones should not be touched in order to preserve the landscape where the wetland now thrives,” she said.

The Ramsar Convention recognizes Las Piñas-Parañaque Wetland Park’s global importance to biodiversity that it declared the park as a Wetland of International Importance along with six other sites in the Philippines. – Paolo Romero