GOLDEN GRAINS Without machines and modern drying facilities, a farmer in Kalinga province dries stalks of palay under the sun by hanging these on bamboo poles. Kalinga is among the top producers of traditional rice varieties in the Cordillera region. FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines—The first step in adapting to climate change is protecting Filipinos from hunger, which naturally arises from extreme weather events like Supertyphoon Yolanda, a nongovernmental organization said Wednesday.
The devastation inflicted by the monster storm on Eastern Visayas shows the necessity of aligning the government’s climate-change policies with Filipinos’ right to food, the National Food Coalition said in a statement.
The coalition is composed of more than 50 organizations and federations with more than 10,000 members from such sectors of society as the urban poor, peasants, indigenous people, fishermen and the middle class.
“Climate change-induced super typhoons and similar events compromise food production and supply, and interfere with the enjoyment of the right to adequate food,” it said. “It is therefore necessary for the Philippine government to consider climate change from a human rights-based perspective, and, in the process, to align its climate policies with the right to adequate food.”
The NFC’s advocacy involves the adoption of a law that would help ensure Filipinos’ access to adequate food and right to adequate food framework law in the Philippines.
The NFC believes the main drivers of hunger in the country include poverty, inequality and the resulting failure of the poor to gain access to available resources.
The group expressed solidarity with the victims of Yolanda (international name: “Haiyan”), which it said had caused unprecedented devastation in the Philippines.
“We express our deepest sympathies for those who have lost relatives and friends. We likewise express our heartfelt gratitude to the local and global community, which have provided humanitarian aid, accompanied by words of encouragement in our time of need,” it said.
The group also expressed its appreciation for the government’s relief efforts.
“Certainly, fulfilling the right to adequate food of those affected is central to these efforts. Supertyphoon Yolanda has interrupted the people’s enjoyment of this basic human right, taking its toll especially on the most vulnerable in our midst,” it said.
But the group pointed out that government could have acted sooner.
“For the Philippine government, disaster risk reduction is essential. It includes protecting people’s livelihoods from shocks, and strengthening their capacity to recover from disasters, such as supertyphoons,” it said.
Aurea Miclat-Teves, one of NFC’s leaders, said concrete and meaningful steps must be taken early on to prevent a crisis from happening, or at least, to mitigate its effects, to save precious life.
“There is an urgent need for the Philippine government, in embarking on disaster risk reduction, and in considering climate change from a human rights-based perspective, to ensure the right to adequate food,” she said.
“This is the right of the people to have regular, permanent and unrestricted access, either directly or through purchases, to quantitatively and qualitatively adequate and sufficient food, which corresponds to their cultural traditions, and which ensures a physically and mentally, individually and collectively, fulfilling and dignified life that is free of fear,” Miclat-Teves said.
“Clear and comprehensive polices that promote the right to adequate food are urgently needed. In this context, we reiterate our call for the immediate adoption in the Philippines of a right to adequate food framework law,” she added.
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