MANILA, Philippines – The Philippines, which has become an image of disaster vulnerability after it was battered by Super Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan), seeks to gather at least 1 million signatures for the Paris climate summit in December 2015.
On Monday, September 21, the country’s climate and youth commissions signed a memorandum of cooperation with other government agencies, media organizations, and advocates to kick off the signature drive dubbed "#NowPH: One million Filipino youth voices for climate action.”
National Youth Commission (NYC) Undersecretary Gio Tingson and Climate Change Commission (CCC) Secretary Lucille Sering sealed the partnership witnessed by representatives of other agencies including the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) and the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP).
The signatures to be gathered will be presented by NYC assistant secretary Dindong Dantes and Sering to French President Francois Hollande, who is presiding the 21st conference of the parties (COP21) of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
The Philippines and France earlier signed the "Manila Call to Action on Climate Change” after Philippine President Benigno Aquino III welcomed French President Francois Hollande during his first state visit to the Southeast Asian country in February.
"This (#NowPH) is the continuation of that story. We want to promote the role of the Philippines in Paris. We view the Philippines as an important stakeholder in the conference,” said French Embassy Deputy Head of Mission Laurent Le Godec, who attended Monday’s event.
Ways to curb carbon emission
The landmark climate conference seeks to come up with a bold agreement that aims to stop global warming by more than 2°C.
“Through this campaign, we hope to further increase their understanding of the climate change negotiation and how its outcome will affect their future,” Sering said, emphasizing the objective of the #NowPH campaign.
Greenhouse gas emissions are feared to double over the next 50 years, causing global temperatures to rise to a catastrophic 3°C or more by the end of the century, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) earlier warned.
Dantes vowed to help mobilize the Filipino youth, encouraging them to rally behind the global efforts to address the looming climate crisis.
“This campaign is envisioned to encourage the young people to sign a petition that will push the Philippine position on climate change and to adopt one or two of the 15 ways to curb carbon gas emissions,” he said.
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Rappler's MovePH, one of the media partners, vowed to help in engaging the online community to sign the petition.
“We commit to help amplify the campaign through our Project Agos community and bridge online and offline efforts of the #NowPH movement,” MovePH executive director Rupert Ambil said.
Project Agos is a collaborative platform that combines top-down government action with bottom-up civic engagement to help communities learn about climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction. – Rappler.com