MANILA, Dec. 21, 2009—Cagayan de Oro Archbishop Antonio Ledesma, former Vice President of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) and Lead Convenor of the Climate Change Congress of the Philippines (CCCP) held last December 17, has called for “inter-generational justice” urging a stronger global and Philippine response to the challenge of climate change.
Quoting the Vatican’s latest encyclical ‘Caritas en Veritate’, Ledesma told a multi-sectoral dialogue on climate change governance that the Church is seeking a pro-poor solution to the varied environmental and socio-economic problems facing the country.
The multi-sectoral dialogue, with representatives from a cross section of society was held at the University of the Philippines’ School of Labor and Industrial Relations (UP SOLAIR) in Diliman.
Among the pressing issues tackled were the concerns of the urban poor, who decried some of the unjust responses of government to the climate change such as the large-scale demolition of urban poor dwellings without any comprehensive program of job creation and housing relocation.
Urban poor and farmers’ concerns
Urban poor groups and coastal/bay fisherfolk called for fair on-site or in-city relocation to ease the pain of commuting to and from their places of work.
The farm sector groups also voiced their fears about declining harvests due to changing climate patterns and increasing occurrence of droughts, floods and land slides.
Farming, a risky business, has never been riskier due to climate change which requires greater governmental support.
The dialogue also highlighted the need for asset reform, particularly the fuller implementation of agrarian reform and the transformation of small farmers into modern “ecological agribusiness warriors”.
Organic farming
Dr. Teodoro Mendoza, a food security expert from UP Los Banos, argued the need for a national shift toward organic or bio-farming to enable the country to become food secure, reduce oil inputs in agricultural production and raise a healthier generation of Filipinos.
This was supported by labor economist Dr. Rene Ofreneo, who batted for a re-thinking in the existing policy framework in favour of greener but value-adding approaches to industrial and agricultural development.
For their part, representatives from the Department of Energy and Natural Resources (DENR), Department of Agriculture (DAR), Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA), Commission on Human Rights (CHR) and Presidential Commission for Urban Poor (PCUP) shared the varied policy initiatives in mitigating the adverse impact of climate change.
Senator Nene Pimentel and Congressman Leonardo Montemayor backed up the need for greater social spending in support of asset reform, job creation and climate-resistant farming.
Mitigating adverse effects
The dialogue highlighted too the urgent need for mitigation, adaptation and anticipation measures related to climate change.
Dr. Esteban Godilano, a satellite expert from UP Los Baños showed maps indicating that most of the Philippines are vulnerable to increased flooding, sea rise, landslides and drought, all of which are likely to hit the poor the most.
He bewailed the strategic weakness of the country in forecasting the impact of climate change.
It is so because the country’s technology is a decade behind its Southeast Asian neighbours, especially Thailand and Vietnam, and very much antiquated compared to those used by developed countries, he said. (Bel Formanes)
