Senate approves reso on Paris Agreement on final reading

The Senate unanimously approved on third and final reading on Tuesday a resolution concurring in the accession to the Paris Agreement.

Twenty-two of 24 senators voted to approve Senate Resolution No. 320 on the agreement, which was signed in New York on April 22, 2016 and was ratified by President Rodrigo Duterte last February 28.

READ: Duterte finally signs Paris Agreement on climate change

The resolution said the agreement aims to hold the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels and pursue efforts to limit tire temperature increase to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.

The agreement provides that developed countries should continue their obligations under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to provide financial assistance to developing countries with respect to both climate change mitigation and adaptation.

Also under the agreement, emissions reduction or programs for adaptation are “nationally-determined and voluntary,” the resolution further said.

Twenty-four agencies of government and instrumentalities have endorsed the concurrence to the accession of the agreement.

Senator Loren Legarda, who endorsed the approval of the resolution on the floor last week, described the agreement as a “testament of solidarity and a call for global climate action.”

“The Paris Agreement shows that developing nations and the developed countries could pursue climate action and uphold climate justice together,” Legarda said.

She also called the agreement a “manifesto for climate justice.”

“In pursuit of the international law principle of ‘common but differentiated responsibilities’ used in climate negotiations, commitments to reduce emissions from all countries must be equitable and just.”

“The industrialized countries—those that have contributed the most to global warming—must lead and shoulder the far greater burden of acting faster, sooner, and with far greater accountability to our environment,” the lady senator said.

Legarda said acceding to the agreement would also allow the country access to international climate finance mechanisms and to acquire support from developed countries for adaptation, mitigation, technology development and transfer and capacity building.

“These could help finance the development and roll out of our early warning systems, comprehensive risk assessment and management tools, and other capacity-building projects and programs that would make our communities more resilient to climate change,” she said.

The agreement, she said, would likewise strengthen the country’s role in climate talks as it would be able to exercise governance, oversight, leadership and decision-making in the implementation of the deal.

“The Paris Agreement is an embodiment of a legacy. Committing to the Paris Agreement will go down in history as one of our shining achievements,” added Legarda, who is also principal author of the Climate Change Law and chair of the Senate committees on finance, and on climate change. RAM/rga