CLIMATE REALITY, CRISIS YET TO BE ADDRESSED
Sign People’s Survival Fund Bill, Aquino urged

Metro Manila and many surrounding provinces have been experiencing heavier and longer precipitation for almost a week now. Storm surges have gone beyond the usual areas and communities which never experienced flooding are facing a new challenge alien to them.

“This is the ‘new normal’. We are facing a phenomenon we never experienced before and this is happening very rapidly,” said Rodne Galicha, Philippine district manager of The Climate Reality Project (TCRP), founded and chaired by Al Gore, Nobel Laureate and former Vice President of the United States which has more than 5 million members and supporters worldwide, guided by one simple truth: ‘The climate crisis is real and we know how to solve it.’

“Awkward as it may, extreme drought and high temperatures are felt in the other side of the world such as the United States – and here in our country, prolonged rain which results to extreme flooding,” Galicha said.

Extreme weather conditions are becoming more evident as more heat is trapped by the thickening of the atmosphere due to high concentration of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. As temperatures increase, more water is evaporated from the oceans into the sky.

“This is a wake-up call to all of us – climate change mitigation is indeed a must. In our own little ways we can still make a change: proper garbage disposal, use recyclable bags in supermarkets, proper drainage system, among others, to avoid mass disasters due to floods,” said TCRP member and Chief Public Attorney Persida Rueda-Acosta.

Tons of non-biodegradable garbage were washed ashore by big waves and storm surges in Manila Bay and in neighboring coastal areas. Clogged canals and sewage systems due to plastic and solid wastes intensified Metro Manila’s flooding, as well.

“But the issue now goes beyond garbage, we should look at our mountains and forests especially Sierra Madre, are there enough trees for our watershed? Or do we still wait for another Ondoy to awaken our sleeping consciousness?,” Rueda-Acosta said.

TCRP member and Mariduque Council for Environmental Concerns (MACEC) Executive Director Miguel Magalang said that while mitigating measures are to be implemented, adaptation strategies must be localized and done comprehensively with assured capacity building and financing.

Magalang said that disasters serve as also a wake up call for all sectors of society to actively involve in disaster risk reduction planning and budgeting processes so that details of hazards and risks and scrutinized and matched with appropriate strategies that will be mainstreamed in local programs, projects and activities of the local governments with corresponding budgets from the local community development funds and the disaster risk reduction and management funds.

“We therefore, urge President Benigno Simeon C. Aquino III to immediately sign the People’s Survival Fund Bill into law which has been approved by the House of Representatives and Senate before it’s too late,” said Magalang.

The People’s Survival Fund (PSF) aims to finance adaptation programs and projects that are directly supportive of the objectives enumerated in the Climate Change Action Plans of local government units and communities. Hence, strengthening the Climate Change Act of 2009 by providing predictable, adequate, continuous and untied financing for local climate adaptation.

The current situation also challenges the House of Representatives to reconsider its move to repeal Section 21 of RA 10121 or the Philippine Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Law of 2010. That provision of the law ensures enough funding for pre-disaster and post-disaster events, risk reduction and quick response activities.

“Saving lives, livelihoods and infrastructure is the essence of Section 21. Politics should not deny safety and security of the poor and vulnerable,” Magalang added.

“However, while we mitigate and adapt, we are deeply concerned with the continuous exploitation of our natural resources and unabated carbon emissions of developed countries – the solution to the climate crisis does not lie only on us but to the genuine commitment of the global community especially of the Annex 1 countries,” Galicha said.

“Ultimately, the solution to this crisis is climate justice – going beyond monetizing Mother Earth – giving back what is due to nature,” concluded Galicha.

TCRP stressed that the current flooding in Metro Manila and surrounding provinces is only a prelude to more complex hazards and disaster that may happen in various parts of the country. This is a real challenge for all local government units to prioritize serious and long-term solutions to reduce the vulnerabilities of communities.

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INFORMATION ON THE CLIMATE REALITY PROJECT:

This is to introduce formally The Climate Reality Project – Philippine Climate Leaders, formerly known as The Climate Project (TCP) composed of 11 skilled persons trained personally by Nobel Laureate and former United States Vice President Al Gore with scientist-experts, in Australia, China and Indonesia.

The Philippine presenters have delivered more than 300 presentations in the span of three and a half years and have reached a combined audience of 50,000 to 60,000 people. They are the only authorized people in the Philippines to officially present the updated slideshow of Mr. Gore as they underwent rigorous skills and technical training in presenting the science of climate crisis and solutions.

The Philippines has official 11 volunteer presenters, namely:

RODNE R. GALICHA who serves as The Climate Reality District Manager, Executive Director of Sibuyan Island Sentinels League for Environment Inc. (Sibuyan ISLE) Campaigns Officer of a mineral resources policy reform program convened by PhilDHRRA, Haribon and Friends of the Earth Philippines; Atty. PERSIDA RUEDA-ACOSTA, Chief, Public Attorney’s Office (PAO) of the Republic of the Philippines; MIGUEL R. MAGALANG, Executive Director of Marinduque Council for Environmental Concerns (MACEC); and GILBERT ROLAND M. SAPE, International Campaigner of Pesticide Action Network – Asia Pacific (PAN-AP). All were trained in Melbourne, Australia in July 2009.

Bro. JAAZEAL D. JAKOSALEM, OAR Administrator of University of Negros Occidental – Recoletos (UNO-R) who was trained in Beijing, China in June 2010.

Dr. MARIA C. BALATBAT, Senior Lecturer at the School of Accounting, University of New South Wales, Australia; Fr. AMADO EMMANUEL A. BOLILIA, OAR, Vice President for Religious Affairs at University of San Jose Recoletos (USJR); PHILLINE MARIE PAYE-DONGGAY, Communications/PR of Greenergy; NAPOLEON E. PARIS, Regional Coordinator of Tuklas Katutubo (Discover Indigenous Peoples); SHIELA CASTILLO-TIANGCO, Co-Founder, Movement of Imaginals for Sustainable Societies through Initiatives, Organization and Network (MISSION);and NOEL N. VERDOTE, Director of PhilEnergy, Ayala Property Development Corporation (APMC). All trained in Jakarta, Indonesia in January, 2011.

For the year 2011-2012, our campaign is dubbed as PANAHON NA!: People Power in a Changing Climate.

Commemorating the 25th Anniversary of the world’s most peaceful revolt in the 20th century, The Climate Reality Project Philippine Presenters accept the challenge posed by Hon. Al Gore during TCP’s Asia Pacific Summit when asked about the inaction of governments to solve the climate crisis. His response reinvigorated the flame of change in the hearts of the first Filipino presenters: You should take the example of the Philippine’s people power.

Indeed, as Mr. Gore declares, political will is a renewable resource – and it is also the will of the people.

PANAHON NA! is a call to action. PANAHON is a Filipino word for either climate or a certain period of time. Creatively, it can be divided into two words: PANA which means bow and arrow or spear which contextualizes the need to achieve goals and targets; and AHON which means to get out of the water or to ascend which leads to the idea of moving out from a crisis. Additionally, the word NA connotes an immediate action which may mean ‘now’.

Hence, PANAHON NA! is a campaign to act on a certain target of transforming lifestyles to lower greenhouse gas emissions, maintain symbiosis and reconnecting our lives with nature – to collectively solve the problems being brought by the climate crisis: this is PEOPLE POWER.

The objectives of our campaign are the following:
• Primarily, The Climate Reality’s goal is to conduct community-based bottom-up information campaign on the climate crisis and solutions in communities, schools, universities using slideshows of Mr. Gore
• Localize climate solutions integrating the basic principles of disaster risk reduction management, climate change adaptation and biodiversity conservation.
• Promote 8Rs for sustainable and healthy living: recycle, reuse, reduce, refuse, rethink, repair, reforest (plant indigenous trees), reconnect (with nature)
• Engage strategically with Aksyon Klima in the processes of coming up with recommendations for the Philippines’ position in Climate Negotiations of United Nations Conference on Climate Change

For the last four years, we have been conducting slideshow presentations with the package format: Spiritual and Moral Foundations of Ecology, The Science of the Climate Crisis (Al Gore’s slideshow), Disaster Risk Reduction and Management, Climate Solutions and Renewable Energy.

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