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THE
Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR)
will soon start conducting “greenhouse gas inventory” as
part of its effort to mitigate the global effect of
climate change.
DENR
Secretary Angelo Reyes said the Philippines will lead
other countries in the Association of Southeast Asian
Nations (Asean) to conduct a regular “greenhouse gas
inventory” to further strengthen the government’s hand
in dealing with emissions that contribute to climate
change.
“Such an
inventory would enable us to know the generators and the
amount of our greenhouse gases, and to come up with
interventions that can mitigate these gases,” Reyes
said.
Human
activities are releasing too much greenhouse gases such
as carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, putting people’s
health at risk and degrading the environment, Reyes
said.
Reyes,
in a speech delivered for him by Undersecretary Demetrio
Ignacio at the opening program of the Collaborative
Scoping Meeting for Sustainable National Greenhouse Gas
Inventory Management Systems in the Southeast Asian
Sub-Region recently at Discovery Suites in Pasig City,
said: the government recognizes the need to have a more
credible, sustained and improved quality of greenhouse
gas emissions (GHG) data in Southeast Asia which can be
effectively accessed.
The
three-day meeting was held in preparation for the
country’s 2nd National Communication on Climate Change,
which would update its national GHG (greenhouse gas)
inventory. The National Communication is primarily meant
to inform the global community of the extent of
greenhouse gases emitted into the atmosphere.
“As a
signatory to United Nations Framework on Climate Change,
we are required to undertake and submit our greenhouse
gas inventory. Through this meeting, our country will
gain knowledge on the available tools, techniques and
strategies on how to enhance our inventory of greenhouse
gases such as carbon dioxide and methane. This will
definitely strengthen our country’s bid in combating
climate change,” Reyes said.
The DENR
chief also said there is a need to update the
Philippines’ GHG inventory that was done in 1999. That
inventory revealed that the highest contributor of
greenhouse gas in the country is the energy sector
which, through fuel combustion, emitted some 50,038 tons
or 49 percent of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
The
meeting also assessed past and current GHG inventories
undertaken in the region. It laid the groundwork for the
development of capacity-building programs to better
manage national GHG inventories.
A GHG
inventory is an important tool that provides timely and
accurate information about current trends in GHG
emissions. It likewise allows a country to adopt
mitigation and adaptation efforts on climate change.
It
consists of data for greenhouse gases namely, carbon
dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, perfluorocarbons,
hydrofluorocarbons and sulfur hexafluoride. These
inventories use global warming potential values, which
is a measure of how much a greenhouse gas is estimated
to contribute to global warming.
The
recently held conference was spearheaded by the DENR in
cooperation with the United Nations Framework Convention
on Climate Change. It was attended by delegates from the
10 member countries of the Asean. Representatives from
donor countries also participated in the event. |
