GPP Kalikasan Muna (Green Party of the Philippines) lauds the Philippine House of Representatives for finally passing a resolution DECLARING CLIMATE EMERGENCY IN THE PHILIPPINES through House Resolution No. 1377.
House Resolution No. 1377 or the RESOLUTION DECLARING A CLIMATE AND ENVIRONMENTAL EMERGENCY, AND CALLING FOR THE MOBILIZATION OF GOVERNMENT AGENCIES, TOWARDS THE EFFECTIVE IMPLEMENTATION OF ENVIRONMENTAL, CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION AND MITIGATION, AND MITIGATION, AND DISASTER RISK REDUCTION AND MANAGEMENT LAWS was adopted on November 2020.
Principal authors of the bill include Deputy Speaker Loren Legarda and the late Cebu City Rep. Raul del Mar. Also listed as co-authors are Reps. Edgar Chato (Lakas-CMD, Bohol) and Eufemia Cullamat (Bayan Muna Partylist).
Though this is a major breakthrough in seeking towards mobilizing for full Climate Action in the Philippines, we believe that a counterpart Executive Order of the President declaring the same should also be made. This Executive Order Declaring a Climate Emergency will in fact put more force and action into the resolution as it becomes an executive mandate.
House Resolution 1377 specifically shall:
- encourate that climate urgency be placed at the center of all policy decision-making from local to national level;
- encourage local governments to issue Climate Change Declarations within their respective jurisdictions;
- call on the Climate Change Commission to spearhead the collection and consolidation of relevant date with national government agencies as well as local government units, in collaboration with the National Panel of Technical Experts, to come up with a climate risk assessment of the country, to produce baseline studies that consider future senarios and impacts of climate change, to perform sustainable development and resilient investment planning, programming and financing at the national, sectoral, and local levels;
- call on the major carbon emitters, locally and abroad, to take responsibility for climate change and to reinvest in renewable and sustainable energy;
- call on local governments to adopt a “No to Coal” or “No to New Coal Policy” within theirrespective jurisdictions;
- call on local industries and local government units to pursue reewable and sustainable energy sources;
- in the exercise of its oversight function, conduct an audit of relevant national government agencies, and local government units in relation to their compliance to existing environmental, climate, disaster risk reduction and management and appropriation laws, and international agreements in light of the climate and environmental emergency with the end in view of ensuring an enhanced national monitoring and evaluation system for the implementation of these laws and warranting the accountability of government officials, private entities, and other involved stakeholders.
- enjoin national government agencies to promote convergence of efforts toward strenthening date science, technology development, and research for climate change adaptation and mitigation, including the establishment of a national integrated risk information system and a national loss and damage registry, to support science-based policy formulation and risk governance at national and sub-national levels.
We understand that these are all good intentions and we hope that together with both the public and private sector, we can all make this happen.
References:
