Describing global warming as a “crisis”, Sen. Loren Legarda on Monday said disaster-prone nations should take immediate action ahead of the implementation of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change.
“We cannot wait for the agreement to take effect before we take action,” Legarda said during the Climate Vulnerable Forum (CVF) High-Level Climate Policy Forum at the Senate.
The CVF is a group of 43 developing countries in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Latin America, and the Pacific susceptible to the negative effects of climate change. It provides a venue for developing countries to team up to advance common issues at international level.
Legarda and the Climate Change Commission, headed by Sec. Emmanuel de Guzman, led the event attended by CVF Troika Plus and CVF-V20 member ministers and their senior officials, CVF expert advisors, legislators, high-level policymakers and resource experts.
As Chair of the Senate Committee on Climate Change, Legarda stressed that warming continues to wreak havoc while institutions and nations continue to debate whether to ratify the treaty or not.
Although some disaster-prone nations are not major emitters of global greenhouse gas, she said nations should not allow people to live in a harmful environment.
“The 2015 Paris Agreement has been hailed by any as a landmark agreement but its aspirations will not happen on its own. This is where the CVF becomes even more crucial,” Legarda said.
For the Philippines, she noted that the government strives for the 1.5 degrees Celsius to thrive.
In the same forum, the Philippines also turned over its CVF Presidency to Ethiopia, the first African nation to lead the forum.
De Guzman meanwhile expressed optimism that Ethiopia will continue to assert the rights of vulnerable nations.
“The CVF has elevated the voice of the vulnerable under the Philippine presence and we are certain the Ethiopia chair will lift climate action to an even higher sense of urgency,” de Guzman said.
“Our goal is to keep temperatures under 1.5 degrees Celsius to enable our countries to reap early the benefits of economic security, job creation and environmental safety,” he added.
Dr. Shiferaw Teklemariam Menbacho, Minister of Environment, Forestry and Climate Change of Ethiopia has vowed that Ethiopia will be vigilant in its work to limit the rise of global temperatures to 1.5 C degrees under its presidency.
Menbacho also expressed commitment to be a low-carbon economy by 2030.
At present, 227 of the 197 Parties to the Convention have ratified the Paris Agreement but they represent only 1.08 percent of GHG emissions.
In order for the Agreement to take effect, at least 55 nations representing 55 percent of global GHG emissions must ratify it.(Azer N. Parrocha/PNA)
