PHL urges developed countries to help vulnerable ones ght climate change

The Philippines is asking first-world countries to act with dispatch and provide substantial financial assistance to nations most vulnerable to the impact of climate change, and at the same time help them deal with its adverse effects on nature.

Climate Change Commission vice chairman Secretary Emmanuel De Guzman cited the need for a wide-ranging assistance to enable states most at risk to meet the below 1.5 degrees Celsius temperature goal set under the 2015 Paris Agreement.

The Philippines is among countries vulnerable to severe impacts of climate change.

De Guzman said that while countries work to implement their existing and increased Intended Nationally Determined Contributions, “there are limits to what vulnerable countries can achieve given our national circumstances and respective capabilities.”

“Early and substantial provision of finance, capacity-building and technology will stimulate global action and greater ambition,” de Guzman said at the opening of the United Nations Bonn Climate Change Conference in Bonn, Germany, held from May 16 to 26.

“Delivering a concrete roadmap on reaching the joint commitment of $100 billion in additional finance, independent of pre-existing Official Development Assistance commitments, will hasten implementation of concrete country-level adaptation and mitigation actions that will benefit our stakeholders,” he said.

Members of the Climate Vulnerable Forum expect the funds administered through the Green Climate Fund and Global Environment Facility to have simplified application and approval processes in order to allow efficient delivery of financial assistance.

The CVF, currently chaired by the Philippines, is comprised of nations highly vulnerable to climate change. It is at the forefront of an advocacy for a collective effort to cut down global warming and pursue a low-carbon economy.

According to de Guzman, a review on the level of financial flows is important to make it consistent with the goal of achieving the below 1.5 degrees Celsius global warming cap.

“( Our) sister initiative, the V20, is already active in promoting a financial system response consistent with 1.5 degrees Celsius,” he said.

The V20 or the Vulnerable Twenty Group is composed of finance ministers from countries most vulnerable to climate change. It recognizes the power and potential of finance as an integral tool in solving challenges posed by climate change.

De Guzman underscored the importance of initiatives in the development of the Loss and Damage Mechanism as a distinct stream from adaptation.

De Guzman said the CVF sees the Loss and Damage Mechanism “crucial” to guaranteeing that communities will be able to recover from impacts of climate change since “even achieving 1.5 degrees ( Celsius) will result in a considerable increase in loss and damage.”

“Support in these areas, as well as realizing the balance between adaptation and mitigation by 2020 at the latest, will, quite simply, save lives, given the level of humanitarian impact of climate change,” he noted.

“The fulfillment and empowerment of human right was our guiding light in Paris.”