Climate change just as vital as economy

President Gloria Arroyo said Wednesday that the world leaders should keep their economies afloat without forgetting about climate-change concerns.

People should not lose sight of the challenges facing the environment that were around even before the onset of the current global turmoil, she added during her speech at the High Level Meeting on Climate Change in Asia and the Pacific held at the Asian Development Bank headquarters in Pasig City (Metro Manila).

“The issue of climate change must not be forgotten amid fixing world economy, because its devastating impact will still be there long after the global economy returns to health,” she said.

Plus, she added that saving the environment was essential in achieving sustainable development. “Putting clean industries in place, such as furniture made up of environment-friendly materials, eco-tourism, and initiatives that will reduce our dependence on fossil fuels, such as those involving biofuels and renewable energy, will pave the way for a clean environment and a strong economy as well.”

She added that even though the Philippines only accounts for a third of 1 percent of the global greenhouse gas emissions, the country would feel the full brunt of environmental disasters resulting from climate change. “High tides, deforestation, increasing of sea levels may cause Florida to lose a coastline, but for us, as an archipelago, we lose a nation.”

And to contribute to the effort to reverse climate change, the President announced that the government was set to give 13 million compact fluorescent lamps, or CFLs, across the country. About a five million of that would be distributed in Metro Manila, Cebu, Cagayan de Oro and Davao City.

Using compact fluorescent lamps would save five times more energy—and give the same intensity of illumination—compared with incandescent bulbs, she added.

The P500-million fluorescent light project was made possible by income generated from the value-added tax, plus a $31.1-million concessional loan from the Asian Development Bank to the Philippines for the Department of Energy initiatives on clean development mechanism, she explained. Fifty percent of the ADB loan was given in advance.

“If we replace 1 million incandescent bulbs with compact fluorescent lamps, we won’t need to build a 50-megawatt power plant worth $50 million,” she added.

ADB investments

Also on Wednesday, ADB President Haruhiko Kuroda said the bank would boost investments in “clean energy” to $2 billion a year by 2013, doubling its current contribution.

He added that he hoped the target could even be achieved before 2013 and noted the multilateral institution had provided $1 billion last year.

Speaking on the sidelines of an environment conference at the ADB headquarters in Manila, Kuroda said the $2 billion was “a fraction of the region’s financing needs” to fight climate change and cut greenhouse gases.

But he expressed hope the bank’s contribution would have a “catal­yzing” effect and leverage additional resources from the private sector.

Kuroda warned that many Asia-Pacific countries, particularly in Southeast Asia, would be the most affected if sea levels rose as a result of global warming.

At the same forum, Rajendra Pachauri, chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, said such a problem meant Asia-Pacific nations should be ahead of other regions in alleviating climate change.

The officials cited the Maldives, Thailand, the Philippines and Malaysia as countries that could suffer seriously.

Also at the forum, Yvo de Boer, the executive secretary of UN’s Framework Convention on Climate Change, said in a statement that climate change was threatening the economic growth achieved by Asia in recent decades.

“Climate-change impacts will be overwhelmingly severe for Asia. They will exacerbate existing vulnerabilities and they have the potential to throw countries back into the poverty trap,” he said. — Llanesca T. Panti And AFP