‘The next president must stand for climate justice’
QUEZON CITY, Philippines (13 April 2022) – Tropical Depression Agaton’s onslaught is yet another preview of what the climate emergency looks like. Greenpeace made this statement today as landslides and floods brought on by Tropical Depression Agaton left a trail of death and destruction in its wake. The group is calling on the next president of the Philippines to ensure that climate action and climate justice is their administration’s central agenda.
“Climate risks are now appearing more frequently and are more intense. Death and loss of homes and livelihoods are a yearly occurrence in the Philippines. The only uncertainty we have each year is how bad it’s going to be,” said campaigner Virginia Benosa-Llorin. “Do we pass this off as “fate” and merely accept it, even when science has shown that there are entities that are responsible for the climate crisis? The next administration must take a now or never stance in ensuring climate action and calling for climate justice, in order to secure the future of all Filipinos.”
The Philippines last typhoon of 2021 was Supertyphoon Odette which made landfall on December 16, left 410 dead and affected almost 11 million people in eleven regions. This week, 2022’s typhoon season has begun during the dry season, with a comparatively “milder” tropical depression that has left almost 50 dead, and more than half a million Filipinos affected.
However, despite the country’s extreme vulnerability to the climate crisis, action from present and previous administrations has been slow. Greenpeace believes that the next administration must make the most of the closing window on the urgency for climate action. Unfortunately, based on their current statements and positions, most Presidential candidates still do not consider climate action and climate justice as their top priority.
Early this month, following the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) Sixth Assessment Report, Greenpeace renewed its demand on the country’s leaders to implement genuine solutions and to hold the world’s biggest polluters accountable for their contributions to worsening climate impacts. The report, which affirmed that there is no future with fossil fuels and that countries need to urgently shift to renewable energy, also acknowledged that climate litigation is growing around the world, and can affect the outcome and ambition of climate governance. Greenpeace, along with 17 other NGOs and climate survivors, is currently awaiting the final report of the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) on the first human rights complaint against the world’s largest investor owned fossil fuel companies.
“If they truly love their country and fellow Filipinos, the country’s future leaders must not only implement genuine solutions–they must also hold the world’s biggest polluters accountable for their contributions to worsening climate impacts,” said Llorin. “We need a president who will stand for climate justice and champion the cause of Filipino communities who are constantly battered by typhoons.”
“With 25 days left before the elections, we are also calling on Filipino voters to scrutinize whether their candidate has a meaningful agenda that will address the climate crisis, as well as promote inclusive, transparent and inspired models of governance that are fully accountable to people, prioritizing and meeting our collective rights to social, economic, cultural and environmental dignity,” she added.
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Media Contact:
Katrina Eusebio
Digital Campaigner, Greenpeace Southeast Asia – Philippines
[email protected] | +639992296451