The photo shows placards conveying the demand of the fishers group Pamalakaya for climate justice, which specifically asks for accountability and compensation from rich nations. Pamalakaya will join the Philippine counterpart of the Global Climate Strike on Saturday, November 12, 2022, in Quezon City. Photo courtesy of Pamalakaya
MANILA, Philippines — A Filipino fishers group is set to join the Philippine counterpart of the Global Climate Strike on Saturday, November 12, to demand climate justice from rich nations responsible for damaging the environment and natural resources.
The Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) said that climate justice will be in the form of accountability and compensation.
“Our call for climate justice is a call for accountability from rich nations that have long exhausted and polluted the planet and the people who depend on it,” Pamalakaya national spokesperson Ronnel Arambulo said in a statement Friday.
He added that their “demand for an end to foreign aid for projects that cause irreversible damage to the environment such as large-scale mining and reclamation should stop.”
Instead, coastal and farming communities destroyed by profit-driven projects “should be adequately compensated and restored to their pristine and productive state,” said Arambulo.
The Youth Advocates for Climate Action Philippines will lead the Global Climate Strike, which will be held in Quezon City.
Based on Pamalakaya’s record, there are 187 reclamation projects covering over 25,000 hectares of fishing waters in the country. At least 30 projects are in Manila Bay alone.
“We want the world to know that the present Marcos administration has yet to do anything to stop these reclamation projects that threaten both the marine ecology and the livelihood of a significant number of fisherfolk and coastal populations,” Arambulo said.
The Filipino fisherfolk committed to be vigilant against attempts “to evade accountability and to plot further plunder of the environment.” — Trisha Manalaysay, trainee
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