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ENVIRONMENT Secretary Lito Atienza was to meet
Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono Tuesday to
discuss initiatives to ensure the sustainable management
and conservation of the Coral Triangle, a rich marine
area bordering Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia,
Papua New Guinea, Timor Leste and the Solomon Islands.
The meeting with Yudhoyono, Atienza
said, will be an excellent opportunity for the
Philippines and Indonesia to discuss issues that will
enhance the cooperation of both countries for the
implementation of strategic measures to protect the
marine area.
Atienza is now in Bali, Indonesia, as
head of the Philippine delegation to the 13th Session of
the Conference of Parties to the UN Framework
Convention on Climate Change and the 3rd Meeting of
Parties of the Kyoto Protocol. Around 10,000 delegates
representing 190 countries are attending the Bali
conference.
“Like all other ecosystems, our marine
areas, including the corals and all biodiversity found
beneath our seas and oceans, are also vulnerable to the
adverse impacts of climate change,” Atienza said.
“The Coral Triangle, which is known to
contain more than 500 species of reef-building corals,
is also abundant in reef-fish species, estimated at more
than 3,000 species, including commercially valuable
pelagic species such as yellowfin tuna, bigeye tuna,
bumphead parrotfish and Napoleon wrasse,” Atienza added.
The Coral Triangle is not only a center
of marine biological diversity, it also supports some of
the world’s highest human-population densities.
Its resources directly sustain more than
120 million people living within the area and support
the livelihood, income and food security of millions
more worldwide.
Atienza said that countries in the
region are sharing common problems on the devastating
impact of climate change like flooding, water shortage,
dry season and the destruction of our marine resources.
Atienza said climate change is an issue
that unites all sectors of society toward the common
goals of strongly advocating for the reduction in
greenhouse-gas emissions, especially by developed
countries, and providing protection for the people
against the destructive impact of climate change.
“There is a need to educate our people
so that they will understand the phenomenon. This is
the first step toward effectively adapting to its
effects,” Atienza said. “We need to provide protective
measures to our communities to prevent or minimize the
loss of lives and damages to properties, such as
geohazard mapping to identify hazard-prone areas,
reforestation and mangrove planting to protect coastal
communities from storm surges during typhoons,” Atienza
added.
Atienza said that during the Bali
conference, developing countries including the
Philippines
will strongly call for the setting up of the Adaptation
Fund to assist highly vulnerable countries and the need
to provide incentives for developing countries to
protect their forests.
The environment chief is attending side
meetings with some heads of state and environment
leaders to discuss common measures to reduce global
greenhouse-gas emissions and explore ways in getting
support for developing countries like the Philippines,
which is now slowly feeling the adverse effect of
climate change.
“Reducing greenhouse-gas emissions
require concerted global actions,” Atienza said. “We
must act together along with other developing countries
strongly clamoring for the setting up of the Adaptation
Fund to assist poor and highly vulnerable countries with
technologies and other forms of incentives to protect
their forests, corals and biodiversity, among others,
from global warming.”
He added: “Forest degradation, for
instance, causes greenhouse-gas emissions, while forest
protection ensures the continued absorption by the trees
of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.”
Atienza said the Philippines is one of
the countries most vulnerable to the effects of climate
change, especially in terms of extreme weather events.
Being located in the typhoon belt in the Pacific, it
gets hit by an average of 20 typhoons every year; and
the number of super typhoons has been increasing in
recent years.
“With strong typhoons and mountainous
topography, the Philippines suffers from numerous
landslides and flooding which claim a huge toll in lives
lost,” Atienza said.
He added that agricultural production
and food security are always threatened by
droughts. Flooding brings with it higher incidences of
water-borne diseases like dengue and malaria, with the
poor, the elderly, the children and the sick absorbing
the brunt of suffering.
“Philippine greenhouse-gas emissions is
estimated at only 0.38 percent of global emissions.
This means we hardly contribute to the problem of
greenhouse-gas emissions, yet we suffer immensely from
the effects of climate change.”
“How extensive the reduction of
greenhouse gas and if it will be voluntary or mandatory
are some of the contentious details to be tackled,” he
said. |
