A Bicol legislator has expressed support for President Marcos’s proposal on the immediate implementation of the “loss and damage” (L&D) fund for developing countries and island nations like the Philippines that are most vulnerable to climate change.
The bottom line, Camarines Sur Rep. Luis Raymund Villafuerte said, “is the nitty-gritty of who pays for, and who avails of, this swiftly-approved financial reparation.”
Villafuerte expressed optimism that this would be resolved by the end of the annual United Nations (UN) climate summit being held in Dubai.
Villafuerte likewise supported Mr. Marcos’s overture for the Philippines to host this new L&D fund, which raised close to $424 million from voluntary country-contributions on Day 1 of the on-going 28th Conference of the Parties of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change or UNFCCC (COP 28) that ends on December 12.
Villafuerte hoped the two-week Dubai summit would end with a concrete plan on how to phase down the world’s use of carbon dioxide (CO2)-emitting coal, oil and gas whose burning are largely responsible for climate change.
“The Marcos administration deserves credit for consistently championing the cause of climate justice in Dubai and other forums on the global stage like COP27, on behalf of developing economies such as the Philippines, which, although contributing little to global warming, unfortunately take on the brunt of the catastrophic weather changes resulting from the large-scale GHG (greenhouse gas) emissions of the world’s most affluent countries that are also its biggest carbon polluters,” Villafuerte said.
He has pushed green initiatives in the Congress and at the same time acknowledged “the sustained efforts by President Marcos and his administration to advance the cause of climate justice and finance in the annual COP event as well as in other international forums, for the benefit of our country and the rest of the world’s most vulnerable countries that suffer the most from the catastrophic weather changes induced by global heating. “
“With the Philippines being one of the countries worst hit by climate impacts plus our heightened national efforts on mitigation, adaptation and disaster risk reduction despite our limited resources, President Marcos and his government certainly have the moral ascendancy to seek the prompt operationalization of this L&D fund and propose that the Philippines host this financial reparation on behalf of the world’s developing and island-nation states most vulnerable to the unbridled heating of our planet,” Villafuerte said.