BY JUDY T. GULANE, Sub-Editor
THE PHILIPPINES will push for climate change adaptation financing at the Cancun talks that begin today, emphasizing the need for measures to deal with the phenomenon’s adverse effects.
Philippine delegation head Mary Ann Lucille Y. Sering, vice-chairman of the Climate Change Commission (CCC), said the country, as part of the G77 and China bloc, would also continue to call for a greenhouse gas emissions deal even if binding commitments are not likely.
"Going to Cancun, [the Philippines is] hoping to see progress on the financing structure, on how fast this financing that was committed to last time can be delivered," she said last Friday.
The G77 and China grouping of developing countries, she also said, will stick to its position of a financial transfer equivalent to at least 1% of developed countries’ gross domestic product (GDP) by 2020 and emission reductions by developed countries that will cap global warming at below two degrees Celsius.
"The G77 [and China ] wants 25 to 40," Ms. Sering said, referring to the 25-40% emission cuts by 2020 (from 1990 levels) that developing countries are demanding from developed countries. "Basically, that is the general position."
Ms. Sering is heading a 51-man Philippine delegation composed of representatives of national government agencies, local government units and nongovernment organizations after she was appointed as CCC vice-chairman last week, replacing former senator Heherson T. Alvarez. The CCC is the national body tasked to coordinate, monitor and evaluate government programs and action plans on climate change.
The Cancun talks, taking place from Nov. 29 to Dec. 10 and formally referred to as Conference of the Parties or COP 16, seek to resume global climate negotiations after COP 15 in Copenhagen last December failed to come up with an agreement that would bind developed countries to emission cuts.
The COP meets once a year to review progress on the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, an international treaty that entered into force on March 21, 1994. The convention does not legally bind parties to emission cuts but another agreement, the Kyoto Protocol, requires industrialized or Annex 1 parties, blamed for the concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere that are causing global warming, to cut emissions by 5% against 1990 levels from 2008 to 2012.
The challenge for the COP is to come up with a new agreement after the Kyoto Protocol lapses in 2012. This new pact should cap global warming below two degrees Celsius, otherwise the planet will continue to heat up to dangerous levels.
The Philippines, for instance, already the victim of strong storms as a result of climate change, faces fiercer storms, sea-level rise and varying rainfall patterns that will impact food security, human health and human settlements if global warming were not mitigated.
The COP 15 came up with the Copenhagen Accord that allowed Annex 1 parties to make voluntary -- not binding -- emission cuts by 2020. Most observers called the Copenhagen summit as a failure because of this.
The accord, however, provides a $30-billion funding for mitigation and adaptation for the "most vulnerable developing countries, such as the least developed countries, small island developing States and Africa" for 2010-2012.
The developed countries also committed $100 billion a year by 2020 "to address the needs of developing countries."
Ms. Sering said the Philippines wants clarification on the $30-billion financing. "The accord clearly stated that it’s for small islands and least developed countries, which effectively takes out the Philippines from the prioritization," she noted. "That was one of our criticisms of the accord. That’s why we are going through consultations."
On the $100-billion funding, she said the Philippines wants "direct access". "As far as our position is concerned, we want to see more of the adaptation financing," she stressed.
The country’s National Framework Strategy on Climate Change (2010-2022) emphasizes mitigation and adaptation measures in dealing with the phenomenon. Mitigation means reduction of greenhouse gas emissions even if the country is not a heavy emitter while adaptation refers to adjustments to climate change to moderate its adverse impacts as well as to take advantage of its benefits.
"With the Philippines’ geophysical and socioeconomic characteristics, more emphasis is given on adaptation to risks associated with current climate variability and extremes," the framework reads.
Antonio G.M. La Viña, an international environment lawyer based at the Ateneo de Manila University and a member of the Philippine delegation to Cancun, likewise said "the Philippines will take a strong position on mitigation and adaptation."
"The stakes are high for us, because without an international agreement on mitigation and adaptation, the Philippines is left on its own to fight the serious challenge of climate change," he told BusinessWorld last Thursday.
He said a binding agreement on emission cuts was not likely to come out of Cancun. "We will not get it for a while," he said, noting that the US, the world’s largest emitter of greenhouse gases, is not likely to come on board after the Republicans took control of the House of Representatives.
"It’s a long fight to reduce greenhouse gases, so we should look at adaptation," he added.
Mr. La Viña instead expects the COP 16 to agree on a framework for climate change adaptation, mechanisms to transfer technology on mitigation and adaptation to developing countries, financing for agriculture, and financing for REDD-Plus (Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation and conservation, sustainable management of forests and enhancement of forest carbon stocks in developing countries).
While she discounted the possibility of a Cancun breakthrough, Ms. Sering said one should not lose hope.
"We should just continue to engage no matter how difficult so we can come out with an agreement that will really address the impact of the changing climate...," she said. -- with a report from Kathleen A. Martin
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