Philippines Tops List of Climate-Change Victims Worldwide

Greenpeace demands urgent solutions

Manila — Greenpeace today demanded urgent climate
solutions from the Philippine government, following the release of an
international report citing the country as world’s top climate change
victim in 2006. The report “Global Climate Risk Index 2006″ was
presented earlier this week by development organization Germanwatch at
the UN climate meet in Bali and ranks how intensively countries have
been affected by extreme weather events.

“The report validates that the Philippines is clearly a climate hotspot.
This should serve as a warning to our government leaders to finally take
their heads out of the sand and face the urgency of putting measures and
resources in place to help disaster-prone areas deal with the impacts of
climate change. Equally important, the government should immediately
enact the RE Bill into law, as a contribution to the global effort to
help avert more climate change disasters,” said Greenpeace Southeast
Asia Campaign Director, Von Hernandez.

Last April, Greenpeace released the report “The Philippines: A Climate
Hotspot” which details how, as a developing country, with very little
access to vital resources, the Philippines has a low ability to adapt
and a lower ability to cope with disasters brought about by climate
change impacts.

In 2006, the country was battered by three strong typhoons which left
entire regions in a state of calamity with the tragic loss of lives and
property. The Legazpi Mudslide, triggered by super typhoon Reming, and
the Guinsaugon, Leyte Lanslide caused by persistent rains, are the
world’s 2nd and 3rd deadliest disasters of 2006 according to the Center
for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters. A total of 2,511 people
were killed and almost 800,000 families were affected by these tragedies.

Given the current trends in extreme weather, experts say that climate
change impacts are expected to worsen in the coming years, and will
likely trigger fresh rounds of economic and environmental disasters.

“It is likely that most of the countries identified as extraordinarily
affected in this analysis will also become particularly endangered in
the future through climate change,” said report author Sven Harmeling of
Germanwatch, in Bali.

Philippine government officials, including President Gloria
Macapagal-Arroyo, have recognized that the Renewable Energy Bill, when
passed, can help mitigate the worldwide problem whose effects are
especially devastating to developing countries. But so far, beyond
mouthing token statements which outwardly champion the solution, the
government has been extremely remiss in moving the RE Bill forward. The
RE Bill, meant to spur the massive uptake of climate-friendly energy
sources in the country, was unfortunately, not even flagged as a
priority during the Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council
(LEDAC) meeting last Tuesday.

“The RE Bill is a long-term investment that will help protect our people
from the ecological and economic insecurities brought about by by rising
temperatures and oil prices. For far too long now, we have heard nothing
but empty rhetoric on the part of government officials, while more and
more people and communities suffer from environmental calamities. It is
high time that those words be matched with actual deeds, otherwise the
costs in human lives and economic losses will continue to rise ,” said
Hernandez.