THE PHILIPPINE experience in coping with the effects of climate change is expected to take center stage when former United States Vice President and climate action advocate Al Gore arrives this month for a three-day training.
Gore, among the first global leaders to raise the alarm on climate change, will be in the Philippines from March 14 to 16 for the Manila leg of the Climate Reality Leadership Corps training, which gives selected youth participants intensive education on climate action.
“Al Gore will give the presentation that has introduced millions of people to the reality of the climate crisis and sparked a global movement,” his organization, Climate Reality Project, said in a media advisory.
The organization added that “(t)his year, Gore’s presentation will highlight the Philippines, a country that is already acutely impacted by the dangerous affects of climate change.”
Tacloban City Mayor Alfred Romualdez will speak during the training on how his city continues to bounce back from the effects of Supertyphoon “Yolanda” (international name: Haiyan), which destroyed 50,000 homes and claimed at least 6,000 lives in November 2013.
The event will also feature “The Road to Decarbonization,” a presentation by Sen. Loren Legarda, chair of the Senate Committees on climate change, environment and natural resources.
Legarda helped Gore and his group organize the Manila leg of the climate training, which was firmed up in December through a phone call between Manila and Paris, where the latter was taking part in the global climate summit.
Legarda on Saturday called on local government units (LGUs) to begin crafting their strategies to address environmental changes, as required by the Climate Change Act.
According to the Climate Change Commission, as of July 2015, only 584 out of 1,634 cities and municipalities, or 36 percent, had submitted their local climate change action plans.
“All LGUs should follow the law and have their own local climate action plans,” Legarda said in a statement. “We can no longer delay climate action. For a vulnerable nation like the Philippines, delayed action means loss of lives, livelihood, ecosystems and biodiversity.”
Legarda, the principal author of the Climate Change Act, said it was important that local officials take action because each community has its own vulnerabilities, risks and hazards.
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