by Lovely A. Carillo
THERE is now more reason for every Dabawenyo to get goose bumps every time it pours. This is the message relayed by United Kingdom-based environmental expert Larry Lohmann who was in the city last week for the Davao leg of his speaking tour of the Philippines with the theme “In Search of Just Solutions to Climate Change.”
This brings to mind Ice Age, a for-kids only movie that tackles climate change in a very simple and understandable manner. But, whether one has seen parts 1, 2 or 3, it clearly sends a message to that being imparted by Lohmann in his speaking engagements all over the world – that, unless the paradigm of high growth based on an ever-increasing consumption is changed, there is no way to arrest climate change.
“The effects of climate change are as real as ever, even in the Philippines where super typhoons have ravaged homes and livelihoods,” said Wilfredo ”Nonoy” Rodriguez of the Alternate Forum for Research in Mindanao (AFRIM), Inc.
Members of the Davao City Climate Change Action Network (DAVCCAN) have recognized the urgent need to tackle climate change, the issues surrounding it and the strategies needed to combat it. Climate change has indeed become the “star” of the show after the country experienced a rising trend in typhoons, floods, landslides and other water-induced disasters.
Lohmann’s presentation, however, indicated that even mountainous Davao City and Mindanao in general are not exempted from the effects of climate change, such as water-induced disasters, primarily because of the economic activities going on in the area.
Davao and the whole island region are now hosts to increasing economic activities related to mining, logging, and intensive conversions and land use changes. The massive expansion of plantations in forest and agricultural lands is also being eyed as cause of possible disasters.
Davao City has its own share of disasters waiting to happen like the Shrine Hills which has been peppered with luxurious subdivisions despite the findings made by the Mines and Geosciences Bureau that the area is not fit for such development direction. Thousands of residents from Maa, which is located way below the Hills, have called upon the City Council to stop developers from exploiting the area.
Regional Director Edilberto Arreza of the Mines and Geosciences Bureau in Region 11 said there are 402 landslide-prone and 503 flood-prone barangays in the Davao Region. MGB has also reportedly noticed signs of mass movements in some areas of the city now subjected to housing development.
Overconsumption is a factor
Countries the world over came up with agreements in the past to eliminate the threats to the environment, particularly the Montreal Protocol in 1987 where they agreed to restrict the use of chemicals that cause damage to the ozone layer. Then there’s the Kyoto Protocol in 1997 where developed nations (except of course the US) pledged to reduce emissions by an average of 5% between 2008 and 2012.
By 2006, the Stern Review concluded that curbing climate change would cost 1% of the global Gross Domestic Product, but failure to do that would result to about 20% damage to global GDP.
Lohmann belongs to the Durban Group for Climate Justice which is an international network of individuals, people’s movements and independent organizations who reject the free market approach to climate change.
Economist Walden Bello, now a partylist representative in Congress, said global trade plays a significant role in further endangering the earth’s environment, considering that it is carried out using transportation that is heavily dependent on fossil fuels. Bello said 60% of the world’s oil is used by the global transportation sector. The sector also accounts for 20 to 25% of carbon emissions, 60% of which are accounted for by industrialized countries.
Research shows that 99% of the casualties of recent global disasters that come as a result of climate change are from poor and developing countries like the Philippines. This is ironic considering that these countries contribute only 1% to the greenhouse emissions. The United States used to be on top of the list of the world’s biggest greenhouse emitters, although it has been overtaken by China this year.
There is a global move to come up with a worldwide insurance fund which will require specific contributions from countries with high greenhouse emissions. The Fund will answer for any disaster brought about by changes in the world’s climate such as typhoons and the wiping out of agricultural plantations, fishing villages, and in some cases, the total annihilation of a city or even a country.
But beyond the money, humans should start thinking seriously about what they can contribute to stop climate change and its effects before it becomes irreversible.
