Tolentino: PH should push regional agenda in Paris Climate summit

Senatorial aspirant Francis Tolentino. INQUIRER

Senatorial aspirant and disaster preparedness advocate Atty. Francis Tolentino said the Philippine government should be at the forefront of the upcoming United Nations (UN) climate summit in France at the end of the month.

“Given the typhoons and disasters that strike us yearly, the climate summit is a timely chance for us to push our agenda which is the creation of a regional insurance pool,” Tolentino said.

Tolentino, who completed his doctoral studies in environmental law at Tulane Law School in New Orleans, Louisiana, expects that the proposal to put up a regional insurance pool to manage disaster risks will be pursued during the talks in Paris which will also be attended by President Benigno Aquino III.

“We all know that in every disaster, a country incurs heavy losses that mainly affect its economy. A weather disturbance for example, a supertyphoon often passes through several countries causing heavy economic losses,” said Tolentino.

He further explained that pool funds which an affected country can draw from as assistance would be of great help to respond to disasters.

“A regional insurance pool is also a good anti-poverty measure since poor and mddle-income people bear the worst effects of a disaster,” said Tolentino.

World Bank report stated that climate change could create 100 million poor and over half a billion homeless in the next 15 years with South Asia most at risk along with sub-Saharan Africa.

The Chief Executive has decided to attend the UN climate summit, which will be held on Nov. 30-Dec. 11, to push for a global agreement on mitigating the effects of climate change.

The Philippines has already submitted its commitment to UN to bring down greenhouse gas emissions by 70 percent by 2030. The reductions in emissions are “conditional” and will push through if sufficient financial resources, technology development and transfer, and capacity building will be made available to the Philippines after the Paris talks.

The summit in Paris also aims to forge an international deal to limit the global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius in order to avoid devastating consequences on weather and rising sea level.

Different countries are expected to submit their national pledges to reduce carbon emissions beyond 2020. The talks will be also attended by world leaders including US President Barack Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Tolentino believes that the effect of climate change may worsen if there would be no collective agreement reached between countries.

“Disasters are not isolated incidents. We have to be prepared to meet disasters together,” Tolentino said.