Ban on air travel for climate change talks only for DFA officials — Locsin

MANILA, Philippines — Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. clarified that his directive to ban “air travels to climate change forums” is “strictly limited” to officials of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA).

“My ban on air travel to climate change forums is strictly limited to DFA. Of course Congress & all other dep[artments] are free to go; We will accredit them,” Locsin said over Twitter on Monday.

The country’s top diplomat added that the DFA will “follow” President Rodrigo Duterte’s “displeasure with more climate talk instead of climate action finally.”

In a separate tweet, Locsin said that if “foreign post can travel by land, go ahead, attend, talk.”

Last week, the foreign affairs chief said that he will “reject” all official participation of the Philippines in climate change conferences if it would necessitate air travel.

“I am rejecting all official participation in climate change conferences requiring air travel,” he said last June 5.

“We’ll just vote Yes to radical proposals. No more talk,” he added.

READ: PH execs won’t attend climate meets abroad

However, his pronouncement was met with criticisms by several environmental groups.

One coalition even described his new policy as “arrogant, self-righteous, myopic and misplaced.”

But reacting to criticisms, Locsin clarified that the country would not send officials to “chitchat.”

“We just vote without talking. A Nauru UN conference in New York said that using air travel to talk about climate change makes the climate worse. (We’ll just do it via the internet.) Clean communication,” he said. (Editor: Julie Espinosa)

Read more...