‘Climate justice’ remains elusive

After leading the Philippine delegation that participated in the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) meeting held in Glasgow, Scotland in Oct. to Nov. last year, Finance Secretary Carlos “Sonny” Dominguez III finally has come to terms that our country will not get any time sooner the “climate justice” from the biggest carbon-emitting countries in the world.

As the head of the Philippine delegation, Dominguez sternly reminded the wealthier economies about their commitment to provide $100 billion in climate financing. Obviously, it fell anew to deaf ears.

From the start, President Rodrigo Duterte has expressed his own misgivings about the participation of the Philippines in COP events, especially those that required our government officials to frequently travel abroad. In fact, he had fired one high-ranking official of his administration due to frequent travels abroad to supposedly attend climate change-related conferences.

“What is this conference of climate change for? There is nobody, no entity to enforce the laws governing climate,” President Duterte said in impromptu remarks of his speech at the Nikkei 25th International Conference on the Future of Asia in Japan on May 31, 2019. Dominguez can only now validate the President’s own views.

Speaking in our Tuesday Club virtual breakfast forum yesterday, the Finance Secretary frankly admitted his frustration after attending the COP26 meet in Glasgow.

“The response we received was disappointing. The Western countries that agreed to raise the funds seem to require three more years to work out the details and parameters of the concept,” Dominguez rued.

Ironically, he lamented, these are the same industrialized economies identified as the world’s biggest polluters and continue to pollute the planet, emitting the world’s greatest volume of toxic carbon emissions.

Undeterred, however, Dominguez asserted the Philippines is determined to move ahead with fulfilling its climate ambitions “on its own, if necessary.”  This is even as he conceded the Philippines, as an emerging economy, can not fully achieve its carbon-reduction commitments without financial support from wealthier countries.

“Clearly, climate change is a real threat and a daily reality for the Philippines,” Dominguez warned.

“For us, turning back the effects of climate change is a matter of survival,” the Finance Secretary cited.

As the designated representative of President Duterte to the Climate Change Commission (CCC), Dominguez vows his determination to shift the country’s focus to less talk, more actions on the ground. “I am very determined to shift our focus from merely theorizing and talking about climate change, to implementing practical and doable projects on the ground to mitigate its destructive effects.

But how could the Finance Secretary exercise this determination in the last five months of the outgoing administration? In a sort of show of force, Dominguez brought along with him several members of the National Panel of Technical Experts (NPTE) of the CCC in our Tuesday Club zoom meeting yesterday.

Dominguez invited several of them led by his co-chairperson at the NPTE, Dr. Susan Mercado, wife of former Sen. Orlando Mercado, who brings with her at the NPTE more than 25 years of experience at international, national and local settings. Mercado served with the World Health Organization (WHO) for 15 years. She returned to the DOH as undersecretary from 1998 to 2001.

Mercado was named as Special Envoy for Global Health Initiatives of President Duterte in May, 2018. She is currently Director of Food Systems and Resiliency at the Hawaii Public Health Institute where she is based with her family. Uninterrupted by any unstable internet because of better connectivity in Hawaii, Mercado noted with concern that even the prevailing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has an impact on climate change adaptation measures. She particularly referred to the emerging problem of proper disposal of facemasks, volumes of which have been thrown carelessly and ended up in seas and oceans.

The NPTE was created under Republic Act (RA) 9729, otherwise known as the Climate Change Act of 2009. It was a landmark law signed by former president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. It was strongly pushed in Congress and principally authored by climate change advocate Sen.Loren Legarda. But it was only in 2015 when the NPTE was constituted during the administration of the late president Benigno Simeon Aquino III.

It was reconstituted by President Duterte in 2017 and made the NPTE composition more inclusive and added experts from Visayas and Mindanao. This NPTE is mandated, among others, to help engage and educate communities in adopting localized climate adaptation and mitigation programs.

The Finance Secretary feels proud and honored in having secured the services of these experts. According to him, all of them went through the national vetting process and come from across the country. All have post-graduate specialization with their names preceded by “Dr.” (as in “doctorate” degree). Only two of them are actually medical doctors, namely, doctors Mercado who is a public health and food security expert, and Ramon Lorenzo Luis Guinto, an expert in climate change and public health.

The term of the new panel ends in 2023. But they may be reappointed when the new administration takes over after President Duterte steps down on June 30 this year. The NPTE is currently composed of 14 men and women whose names are associated with the stature of their respective fields of expertise encompassing the challenges of climate change upon our country.

Even though the Philippines contributes only 0.3% to the global greenhouse gas emissions (GHG), Dominguez reiterated the country’s bold commitment to reduce these by 75% by the year 2030. But it’s already far beyond in the horizon. While climate justice remains elusive to a climate change vulnerable country, Dominguez declared, the Philippines can lead in the fight to save the planet.