Rodrigo Duterte, the President of the Philippines is not so easily bullied; in fact, he was incensed that the person, asking him the all-important question on his country’s capability to meet its commitments given last year to reduce the carbon emissions by his country by up to 70% of the current levels, was himself from an industrialized nation that was causing a lot of environmental but going back on meeting its responsibilities to fight against climate change.

The Philippine president says he wanted to manhandle the ambassador for asking if the Philippine government would honor its commitments to reduce greenhouse gases.

The statement of the President of the Philippines on Monday that his country will not abide by the Paris declaration for reasons of the national interest of the Philippines, was his belligerent response to the question.

The environmental groups have requested him to abide by the Paris Declaration in spite of the fact that he had announced his intention not to honor the agreement.

Duterte had asked the highly industrialized nations to stand up and bear the cost of the damage to the environment that their industries were causing by emitting high levels of Carbon content into the atmosphere that was causing untold damage to the environment; he had demanded that they come forward and shoulder the responsibility by contributing to the global effort to curb global climate change.

There was a chorus of voices supporting his contention that the highly industrialized nations were not making contributions matching the proportion of damage that their industries were causing to the environment.

The 2015 Paris Agreement signed in December by the 200-odd members at Paris and the Philippines was also one of the signatories that supported at that time but now, it has been stated by the President that it was not good for the economy of his country.

His statement refusing to bear the burdens that were being caused by the industrialized nations has caused quite a stir in the world environmental circles with almost all concerned voicing their sympathetic attitude towards the problem expressed by Duterte but, even while accepting that he did have the truth on his side, it was not right to reject the Paris Agreement since it did have some plus points for all the countries involved.

Each country who was party to the agreement had voluntarily agreed to cut down the Carbon emissions by quoting the extent as a percentage which they commit to reduce. It is learnt that the Philippines had committed to a reduction of up to 70% of their greenhouse gases.

Almost all the known and unknown agencies that are concerned with global climate change initiatives have requested Duterte not to go ahead with the planned act of boycotting the Paris Agreement.

Some even pointed that this action would prove to be detrimental to their own country since the quality of the environment was at stake. In the lead of the efforts to dissuade the President from following the path of confrontation, Greenpeace activists came out with requests to the President.

The executive Director of the Greenpeace movement in the Philippines, Yeb Sano expressed his solidarity with the President in the matter of his reasoning and demand for the industrialized nations to foot the bill of the damage that they were causing to the environment to fulfill their responsibility.

But, he counselled the President to honor the agreement in the interest of his own nation, a cause that Duterte can never overlook since his statement had stemmed from the fact that contributing to what the others messed up was bound to result in restricting the development and growth of his motherland.

Accountability

In his tirade against the world’s heaviest nations industrially, he had also blamed them for destroying the Ozone layer of the Earth while shirking their responsibilities when it came to pay for them.

However, Sano explained that the agreement was drafted with a voluntary submission by each country laying down the targets for reduction of Carbon emissions for their own nation and complying with them in the declared timeline.

He also acknowledged that, on the scale of social justice, the Paris Agreement was totally inadequate since it could not get matching protective contributions to enable a sizeable response to the climate change.

The ideal situation should be that those countries who were causing the maximum damage to the environment should have been the ones to pay for the fight against the climate change which was occurring due to the carbon footprint.

But, the Campaigner for climate and energy in Greenpeace, Reuben Muni also counselled the President to not absolve himself of his commitment and responsibility towards climate change only because he was not a signatory; the pact had to be honored, in any case.

He reminded the President that the Philippines had made a commitment to reduce carbon emissions by 70% till the year 2030; however, this clause came with a rider that the rich nations, that were highly industrialized, would contribute to assist in the Filipino effort.

That is why, the environmental groups had been requesting Duterte to dispense with the use of fossil fuels like coal and take up renewable sources of energy in their pursuit of industrialization; in doing that, an assessment of the laid targets and their impact on socio-economic factors should be studied.

Another similar advice was provided The Institute for Climate and Sustainable Cities which exhorted the President to continue his country’s engagement with the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change would empower them to have a considerable say in the rules AND the targets governing climate change and the targets therefor.

A former member of the climate change Mary Ann Lucille Sering stated that the creditability of the nation might be at stake since it was a commitment which cannot be retracted from; she mentioned that knowing Duterte, well, she could only aver that the statement was only the reaction to an ambassador’s question as to whether Philippines would be able to meet its commitment on the reduction of the carbon emissions.

Ben Cabrido, who is an Environmental Advocate from Cebu, also tended to agree with Sering adding that it was a challenging question.

The action could also jeopardize some other developmental works since the grants may not be forthcoming; solar investments could be one of the losers.

An environmental group proposes to meet up with Duterte and advise him on the advantages of the Carbon footprint of the Philippines.

Umrao Singh                                                    umraoz.wordpress.com

Written for:  Lars-Magnus Carlsson                             www.thephilippinepride.com?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss

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