BY FR. SHAY CULLEN
(Continued from Jan. 14-15, 2023)
INDIA had temperatures as high as 49 degrees. Many died on the hottest days in122 years since records began. There was 71 percent lower rain-fall and a drought. Huge wildfires raged in Europe with the worst drought in 500 years. Siberia and the United States also had their worst droughts in living memory. Australia lost 3.5 billion dollars due to massive floods. Somalia is suffering four years of devastating drought and thousands are enduring famine. Low-lying South Pacific Islands are going underwater.
Despite the call at COP 27 for trillions of dollars to be paid by way of justice for the damage caused by the rich countries to the poor, the rich give mostly promises but little money despite the fact that they are causing the climate crisis. There is little chance that the Philippines will be compensated for the disasters and losses by the more intense typhoons. The Philippines is adding CO2 to the global warming from its present 28 coal-fired power generation plants. These supply 44.5 percent of the total energy supply since 2015. Twenty-two new plants are approved by the government but are on hold due to public outcry against them and the commitments of the Philippines to the Paris Agreement to reduce CO2 emissions.
There are just a few alternative renewable power generation projects supplying electric power. Renewable and totally free power sources are available in the Philippines- hydro power, solar panels, wind turbine, geo-thermal and biomass- that can replace oil and coal so the investors should focus on more renewable energy sources.
The UN Secretary General Guterres called for climate justice and said that the promises of the 2015 Paris agreement for rich developed nations to give US100 Billion to the poor as compensation and to mitigate the disasters of climate change has not happened. “I emphasized the need to double (the) adaptation support to $40 billion dollars a year by 2025,” Mr. Guterres said as was agreed in Glasgow COP26 last year. “Climate destruction is happening now. People are suffering now.”
What people everywhere can do is organize their communities to get everyone to start tree nurseries in their backyards and when the rainy season starts they have community planting in reserved areas or with the indigenous people. The Preda Foundation has records showing it planted (with the help of Aeta indigenous people of Zambales) a total of 49,150 mango saplings and other fruit trees on their ancestral lands since 2002 and many more planted before that date. Those trees absorb at least 8.3 tons of CO2 every year. Anyone can join this ongoing project. Email to predainfo@gmail.com
The indigenous people are lovers of nature and the forest. They are living in harmony with what is left of it. They were the hunters and gatherers before the political logging families cut down the rainforests, exported raw logs and sold them to rebuild Europe and Japan. The powerful families then claimed ownership of the denuded ancestral lands of indigenous people and planted 3.2 million hectares with 325 million coconut trees which makes them incredibly rich and powerful enough to rule the Philippines.
The destruction of the Philippine rainforests is a crime against the indigenous people but also against a stable climate for the Filipino people. Greater harm is coming to the Philippines as the planet grows warmer and temperatures increase and rural areas become poorer for millions of small tenant farmers. The Philippines must phase out coal plants and go for renewable sources of power. (preda.org)
