MANILA – The country needs to “institutionalize local climate action,” according to Sen. Loren Legarda.
The Philippines – like every other country – is exposed to risks that root from environmental degradation.
Legarda lamented over this, saying that developed countries must be responsible and “drastically reduce” their fossil fuel consumption.
This will help other countries that are vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, the senator stressed.
She also said that “big industrialized nations” must “walk their talk.”
Legarda attended the Talanoa Dialogue Group Discussion at the 2018 Climate Change Conference in Bonn, Germany in May. There, she stressed the importance of local climate action.
“The most important thing is to institutionalize local climate action or resilience,” said Legarda.
She also stressed that the effects of climate change can lead to deaths, loss of livelihood and degradation of natural heritage resources, ecosystems and the biodiversity.
The senator recalled the devastation that typhoon “Yolanda” brought in 2013 – more than 8,000 people were killed and at least four percent of the country’s Global Domestic Product was damaged.
A warming climate also contributes to the rise in sea level, which is now projected to rise between 7.6 centimeters and 10.2 centimeters each decade, Legarda said.
Legarda – chairwoman of the Senate committees on foreign relations, finance and climate change – said financial resources play a crucial role in disaster risk reduction (DRR).
“I have tried to mainstream DRR, climate change adaptation and mitigation (CCAM), and geo-tagging in our national budget. We have mainstreamed DRR and CCAM not just in the departments of environment and agriculture, but also in almost all government agencies because, as experts have said, for every dollar invested in DRR, we save seven dollars in reconstruction,” said the senator.
She noted that the country’s existing environmental laws would be “meaningless” unless “faithfully implemented” by the government./PN
