MANILA, 21 September 2021 — “Kaalamang Klima,” a climate change webinar-workshop for the youth brought in partnership between the Climate Change Commission (CCC) and the Oscar M. Lopez (OML) Center will be tomorrow, September 22 via Zoom and Facebook Live. Open to interested participants aged 15-30 years old, Kaalamang Klima aims to facilitate knowledge exchange and deepen the understanding and appreciation of the youth on climate science and climate change, and drumbeat youth support for a second edition of the Klima Film Festival this year, which targets to mainstream the effects of climate change through films written and produced by the Filipino youth. Climate experts Dr. Rodel Lasco, Executive Director of the OML Center; Dr. Emma E. Porio, Project Leader and Principal Investigator of Coastal Cities at Risk: Investing in Climate and Disaster Resilience (CCARPH), Ateneo de Manila University; and Dr. Noralene Uy, member, experts pool, National Resilience Council and Researcher and International Recovery Platform Secretariat, will deliver lectures on the basics and science of climate change and climate action. CCC Commissioner Rachel Anne Herrera will deliver the welcome remarks, Deputy Speaker and Antique Representative Loren Legarda will deliver the keynote message, and National Youth Commission Chairperson and Chief Executive Officer Ryan Enriquez will deliver a Message of Support. Ms. Lea Guerrero, Greenpeace Philippines Country Director, and Mr. Julio Galvez Tan, Center for Empowerment and Resource Development, Inc. Executive Director will give testimonies. Participants who are not registered may tune in to Facebook Live through the Facebook Pages of the CCC at www.facebook.com/CCCPhl and OML Center at www.facebook.com/OMLopezCenter. A Certificate of Attendance will be provided after the webinar and upon completion of the post-webinar evaluation.
MANILA, 21 September 2021 — Bamboo advocates will gather virtually to share knowledge on and promote bamboo propagation and utilization to attain sustainable livelihoods on the 63rd episode of “Stories for a Better Normal: Pandemic and Climate Change Pathways,” with the topic, “Bamboo is Life!” The online conversation, conceptualized and hosted by a three-term former Senator, now Deputy Speaker Loren Legarda, will air on Thursday, 23 September 2021, 10:00 AM via Facebook Live at facebook.com/CCCPhl and facebook.com/iamlorenlegarda. Two lucky viewers can win tablets by tuning in throughout the program. Joining the online conversation are Atty. Dulce Punzalan, World Bamboo Ambassador and Climate Reality Leader; Dr. Cora Claudio, Convenor-Chair of the Climate Action & Sustainability Alliance; and Rica Villanueva Gadi, CEO of Bamboo Bootcamp. Bamboo farming is a nature-based solution that can help in poverty alleviation, environmental protection, and climate change mitigation. According to the International Network for Bamboo and Rattan, the local and global bamboo industry is aligned with 11 of 17 the UN Sustainable Development Goals, including affordable and clean energy, decent work and economic growth, sustainable cities and communities, and climate action. Propagating bamboos can further create green jobs and resilient enterprises, as well as provide sustainable livelihoods to millions of people in rural areas. Investing in bamboo will transform our people's lives at the grassroots and will pave the way for a cleaner, healthier, and more sustainable future for our country. The upcoming episode, which will be held in celebration of World Bamboo Day on September 18, will feature good practices and promote greater support for the bamboo industry in the Philippines. As an online discussion to promote health, environmental consciousness, and climate-adaptive practices, "Stories for a Better Normal" aims to change the mindset of individuals, families, and communities by demonstrating ways in which a ‘better normal’ can be realized within our communities. This online discussion is organized in partnership between the Office of Deputy Speaker Legarda and the Climate Change Commission, with support from the Department of Education, Philippine Information Agency, Institute for Climate and Sustainable Cities, The Climate Reality Project-Philippines and Mother Earth Foundation.
MANILA, 18 September 2021 — The Climate Change Commission welcomed the release of a Greenpeace report baring the link between plastics and fossil fuels and urged advocates to help raise awareness and public support for measures to address single-use plastics during a roundtable discussion titled "Unwrapping the Climate Crisis" held Thursday, September 16. “We very much welcome this effort to give the Philippines and the world a clearer picture of the link between the industries of consumer goods and of fossil fuel, and how plans to expand plastic production—which is a major driver of climate change—directly threaten our communities, and could derail our work to achieve global climate commitments,” said CCC Commissioner Rachel Anne Herrera, who joined other climate, sustainability, and health experts during the roundtable discussion on Greenpeace’s report, ‘The Climate Emergency Unpacked: How Consumer Goods Companies are Fueling Big Oil's Plastic Expansion.’ “The CCC is taking urgent note of the report’s key findings and your recommendations,” Herrera emphasized, who highlighted the recent passage of the Single Use Plastics Regulation Act in the House of Representatives, and urged participants to help raise awareness and gather more public support for the measure. “Concretely, this report also means the big consumer brands must address the matter of transparent reporting along with laudable initiatives they have started on redesigning packaging, zero waste, and plastic neutrality. As with the government requirement for companies now to adhere to sustainability reporting, we fully support mechanisms for full disclosure of GHG emissions of the overall supply chain," she added. Greenpeace Philippines’ Zero Waste Campaigner Marian Ledesma presented the key findings and recommendations of the report during the discussion, which was co-presented by Greenpeace Philippines, Living Laudato Si’, Planetary Health Philippines, and Break Free From Plastic. “The Philippines faces some of the harshest and most severe climate impacts annually. On top of that, our nation also struggles with plastic pollution. The plastic crisis is adding its own set of environmental, health, and social problems that Filipinos have to grapple with. We’re literally drowning in plastic, and it’s not manufacturers or big brands that are paying the price, but our own communities,” Ledesma said. “Government can encourage the phase out of single-use plastic and adoption of reuse by legally binding legislation and policy measures,” Ledesma added, along with other recommendations from the report, including calling on governments to support a global treaty on plastic, work with communities most impacted by plastic production and pollution, and pursue a zero-waste economy. In his response to the report, Dr. Renzo Guinto, Associate Professor of the Practice of Global Public Health and Inaugural Director of the Planetary and Global Health Program of St. Luke’s Medical Center College of Medicine, called plastic a “symbol of the deterioration of our relationship with Mother Earth, of the deterioration of planetary health.” “Plastic not only impacts the health of the environment, it certainly impacts the health of people as well,” Guinto emphasized, citing the 7 million deaths caused by air pollution annually, as well as the long-term of effects of the climate emergency on global nutrition. “It’s quite alarming to hear the numbers. Unfortunately, we are still continuing to produce and consume a lot of plastic,” Guinto lamented. Marinel Ubaldo, co-founder of the Youth Leaders for Environmental Action Federation, highlighted the urgency of addressing the intertwined problems. “At the end of the day, the first ones to suffer are low-income communities...if we do not treat climate crisis as a crisis, then there will be more pandemics in the future,” Ubaldo said. “For us to solve the climate crisis, we have to invest to more sustainable practices and products. We should normalize reuse systems,” she emphasized. “Let’s remember that what is good for the planet is good for our people, our communities, our economy, and our industries,” Herrera said. “This report is a clear call to action—and we hope it brings us all together and it will catalyze more decisive and more ambitious action to address plastic pollution,” she concluded.
MANILA, 17 September 2021 — In celebration of the International Coastal Clean-Up Day tomorrow, the Climate Change Commission (CCC) enjoins the public to undertake clean-up initiatives at home and within their communities to assess their plastic footprint and prevent plastic waste from polluting our environment. The country celebrates International Coastal Clean-Up Day every 3rd Saturday of September, by virtue of Presidential Proclamation No. 470, encouraging all people to be responsive in protecting and rehabilitating our environment. Plastics remain as one of the most pressing environmental and climate issues in the world because only 9% of the more than 8.3 billion tons of plastics generated since the 1950s was recycled and 60% became plastic waste. As a petroleum product, plastics also contribute to global warming due to the release of greenhouse gases from its extraction to disposal. The CCC expressed that the passage of House Bill 9147 or the Single-Use Plastic Products Regulation Act on third and final reading in the House of Representatives last July 28 is a welcome development to address the rising plastic consumption in the country, especially from online shopping and delivery. The bill seeks the gradual phase-out of single-use plastics, development of sustainable alternatives, and greater cooperation from the private sector to collect, recycle, and manage plastic waste. The CCC said that through our clean-up activities at home, workplaces, or communities, we would be able to check our plastic footprint towards being more conscious in our decisions and actions to minimize plastic waste, recycle or upcycle, and supporting more eco-friendly alternatives products and packaging. “As the country continues to contend with the crippling COVID-19 pandemic, the need to rethink our lifestyle has never been more urgent. Let us practice and promote sustainable consumption and production, and remove unnecessary single-use plastics in our daily life. We can instead use compostable and eco-friendly materials and ensure that the plastics we use can be segregated, reused or recycled, to prevent further harm to the environment and the climate,” said CCC Vice Chairperson and Executive Director Emmanuel M. de Guzman.
The Masungi Georeserve is a conservation area and a rustic rock garden tucked in the rainforests of Rizal. Photo from the presentation of Ann Dumaliang, Managing Trustee and Co-founder of Masungi Georeserve. MANILA, 17 September 2021 — The 62nd episode of “Stories for a Better Normal: Pandemic and Climate Change Pathways” featured the stories of the Filipino youth who are at the forefront of generating broad public support for the campaign towards conservation of our nature and biodiversity. The online conversation conceptualized and hosted by three-term Senator, now Deputy Speaker and Antique Representative Loren Legarda, with co-host Atty. Ipat Luna, featured guests including Ann Dumaliang, Managing Trustee and Co-founder of Masungi Georeserve; Mark Edison Raquino, Research and Development Coordinator of DALUHAY; Tasha & Bella Tanjutco, Co-founders of Kids for Kids PH; and KM Reyes National Geographic Explorer and Co-Founder of Centre for Sustainability PH, Inc. Dumaliang shared the environmental protection, education, and geotourism initiatives of the Masungi Georeserve, a conservation area and a rustic rock garden tucked in the rainforests of Rizal. “As we all know, ang pangangalaga ng kalikasan doesn’t span for only 20 years. It’s a continuing lifetime journey. Hindi pwedeng kami lang ang nakakaintindi kung bakit dapat mahalin ang lugar na ito, kailangan na mas maraming tao pa ang matututong magmahal sa kanya. Ang gusto naming mangyari, nandito man kami o wala, kakayanin ng lugar na ito na mag-flourish,” said Dumaliang. Raquino introduced Daluhay, a non-government environmental organization that promotes the preservation of indigenous culture and the importance of the health of the environment and the health of the people. Their programs and projects include Biodiversity Monitoring and Ethnobiology; Wildlife Rescue and Enforcement; and Intergenerational Dialogues. "What we have been doing is the intergenerational dialogues. Binibigyan namin ng pagkakataon na mag-usap ang ating matatandang katutubo at ang mga kabataan, para mailipat yung mga importanteng bagay mula sa mga katutubong matanda at para mas mabigyan ng pagkakataon na magawa din ng mga kabataan natin yung mga kultura nila,” said Raquino. The Tanjutco sisters introduced Kids for Kids PH, a youth-led empowerment organization that promotes culture, climate, and children’s rights. “Over the course of 6 years, we’ve valued so many different advocacies, from environmental justice to social justice. What we really want for Kids for Kids is to create a platform where young people are able to step-up in the frontline and make a difference. Successfully we’ve been able to gather a community of young people and empower them to make a difference while they’re young. We've always emphasized that in everything we do, we should consider our people, as well as our environment,” said Tasha and Bella Tanjutco. Reyes shared the projects of Centre for Sustainability PH, a women-led organization from Palawan conserving and protecting the country’s last remaining pristine rainforests in the country. “The Centre for Sustainability is a women-led youth environmental organization from Palawan with a mission to conserve land. We protect our last remaining 3% of pristine rainforests through the establishment of protected areas because we see that policy is the only way to ensure the longevity and sustainability of our work. We can be passionate and spend a lot of time in the field that can change our hearts and minds, but for our work to have a legacy for our youth, there should be a policy as a backbone behind it,” said Reyes. Legarda lauded the initiatives and projects presented by the guests in campaigning for meaningful youth engagement in environmental and climate action. "I'm no longer a voice in the wilderness. When I was a young senator, when I did all my laws on environment, on children and women, on jobs, I thought I was a lonely voice in the wilderness. Ngayong pandemic at sinimulan ko itong Stories for a Better Normal with 62 episodes, narealize ko na ang dami kong kakampi at natututo ako sa inyo dahil ang trabaho ninyo ay on the ground,” Legarda concluded. As an online discussion to promote health, environmental consciousness, and climate-adaptive practices, "Stories for a Better Normal" aims to change the mindset of individuals, families, and communities by demonstrating ways in which a ‘better normal’ can be realized within our communities. This online discussion is organized in partnership between the Office of Deputy Speaker Legarda and the Climate Change Commission, with support from the Department of Education, Philippine Information Agency, Institute for Climate and Sustainable Cities, The Climate Reality Project-Philippines and Mother Earth Foundation.
