MANILA: Environmentalists staged a protest demanding reparation for damages caused by the emission of greenhouse gases before the office of the European Union (EU) in Makati City last morning.
Some 23 members of the Philippine Movement for Climate Justice (PMCJ), dressed up as “ati-atihan” dancers, led the protest of “exorcism” at the RCBC Plaza building along Ayala Avenue, where the EU office is located.
“We are here to exorcise the spirit of deception of rich countries whose offices are inside this building. For years they pledged to cut their greenhouse gases emissions and pay the climate debt they owe to poor countries, but all these are mere rhetoric and what has been fulfilled are inadequate,” said PMCJ coordinator Gerry Arances.
Arances said the bulk of emissions came from rich countries like Canada, the United States, Australia and Germany, and about 26 percent from EU countries.
According to Arances, greenhouse gas emissions lead to global warming and climate change in poor countries like the Philippines.
The PMCJ also said that eight out of 10 Filipinos suffered from the adverse effects of greenhouse gas emissions, with the Philippines ranked as the country second most vulnerable to climate change.
Arances said rich countries had always undermined the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), which obliges them to cut their greenhouse gas emissions, provide funds for the adaptation and mitigation needs of developing countries, and provide for technology and capacity building.
Lidy Nacpil, head convenor of PMCJ, said the Philippines must join other developing countries that have been affected by climate change in demanding reparations from rich countries for their “climate debt.”
“The Philippines, as one of the countries most vulnerable to climate change, must join the peoples of the South (developing countries) in demanding reparations from rich countries for their climate debt. Under the UNFCCC treaty, the rich, industrialized countries are legally bound to cover the full cost of the effects of climate change and our shift to low-carbon development pathways,” she said.
The Philippine star
