WWF bats for RP integrated climate management plan

By Alex Villafania
INQUIRER.net

“THE PROBLEM is that an integrated plan (on climate change) does not yet exist,” according to World Wildlife Fund Philippines climate change officer Rean Tirol, referring to a set of strategies to manage the effects of the drastically changing climate.

Tirol, in a statement, cited a report by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change that up to 30 percent of plant and animal species could be extinct even with a temperature change of just 2 degrees Celsius.

Moreover, the increase in temperature could affect people from rising sea water as the polar ice melts.

“China has released its Climate Change National Action Plan last month. The Chinese government has formally acknowledged its goal to reduce carbon dioxide emissions through a cut of energy consumption by 20 percent per unit of its Gross Domestic Product by 2010. They have made their stand clear, and it’s high time we did the same… We need a local, country-wide integrated plan to deal with its effects,” Tirol said.

Tirol added that lack of an integrated plan to address the local effects of climate change, as well as the reshuffling of former Department of Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Angelo Reyes to the Department of Energy, could exacerbate the problem.

Tirol was referring to the latest reports from the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration, which indicated recent weather-related problems such as the dry spell in Luzon and heavy rains and flooding in Visayas and Mindanao.

Tirol also said that other problems needing attention are freshwater contamination by saltwater during high tides, coral bleaching, higher incidence of red tide, forest fires, droughts, soil erosion, and higher incidence of crop pests and diseases.

“Aside from adapting to climate change, the government has to ensure that our economic growth does not significantly contribute to the problem. The passing of the Renewable Energy Law and the installation of new Renewable Energy Capacity need to be the top priority in the administration’s Energy Agenda,” Tirol said.

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