Date: 29 April 2008
Time: 9:00 PM - 12:00 PM
Venue: Soriano-Velasco Rm., Asian Institute of Management
Climate Change and Conflict: Peace-building and Development Strategies
The 74th edition of the Globalization Lecture Series marked the beginning of the AIM Policy Center’s undertaking to address the issue of climate change from the perspective of its relationship to and impact on poverty and armed conflict.
Mr. Klaus Preschle, country representative of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, welcomed the audience, composed of some 80 representatives from the government (House of Representatives, Department of Environment and Natural Resources and Department of Energy), the business sector, the academe, environmental groups and civil society leaders.
The first presentation on “Climate Change: Addressing our Inconvenient Truth” was made by Dr. JR Nereus O. Acosta, former representative of Bukidnon, who championed the Clean Air and Clean Water Acts. Dr. Acosta shared inputs from a recent conference in Brussels on the European Union’s (EU) Climate Change Policy. He shared some of the EU’s remarkable initiatives in addressing the pressing climate change conundrum, particularly the objective of keeping the global temperature rise within 2° Celsius and a comprehensive and global post-2012 agreement. Armed with Time Magazine’s latest issue on “How to Win the War on Global Warming” (with the landmark green-bordered cover), other publications and some more graphs and charts from other researches (specifically from Greenpeace), Dr. Acosta showed the drastic increase in the concentration of carbon dioxide and greenhouse gases (GHGs) in the earth’s atmosphere, the human activities that contribute greatly to it (industry, transportation, agriculture, waste and electricity), the emissions of specific countries in the past, present and the uncertain future and most notably, the country-specific effect of a meter rise in sea level that puts 64 out of 81 provinces of the Philippines, particularly ARMM, the Bicol and Samar/ Leyte Regions at great risk.
Dr. Acosta’s talk was followed by that of Prof. Edmundo G. Garcia, senior policy adviser for International Alert and one of the authors of Article II (Declaration of Principles and State Policies), Section 16 of the 1987 Philippine Constitution stating, “The State shall protect and advance the right of the people to a balanced and healthful ecology in accord with the rhythm and harmony of nature.” Professor Garcia’s presentation, “Peace-building Approaches to the Twin Challenge of Climate Change and Armed Conflict,” oriented the audience on the realities of Climate Change and Conflict, or C3, as Professor Garcia called it. The professor clearly conveyed how and what conflicts would most likely be driven by the impacts of Climate Change, including conflict over depleting resources, the “vicious” circle of degradation and migration, and the ethnic and religious strife, to name a few. He expounded on the results of an Alert study and from previous studies and lessons learned, that people that will be the hardest hit by the consequences of climate change are those already made vulnerable by poverty and those living in underdeveloped and unstable states.
In his presentation, Engr. Joyce Palacol literally painted a gloomy picture of the Philippines’ deteriorating environment. Speaking on behalf of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines’ National Secretariat for Social Action, Justice and Peace (CBCP-NASSA), Joyce Palacol provided the technical overview of the status of the Philippine ecological system, particularly, of the remaining forest cover and the state of mining in the country. Presenting the image of Naga City, submerged underwater after a .5-meter rise in sea level, he cited the glaring causes and the impending impacts of climate change. He also addressed in his presentation CBCP’s concern over the competition in the existing data held by the government. According to Engr. Palacol, the government holds a large and vital amount of data; the only problem that hinders its extensive use is the competition that it engenders. On the issue of Climate change, the CBCP incorporates the technical aspect and biblical references in fulfilling their mandate of ecology protection and promotion of the integrity of creation.
Armed with her experience and expertise as chairperson of the GRP Negotiating Panel for Talks with the Communist Party of the Philippines-National Democratic Front-New People’s Army (CPP-NDF-NPA), Professor Nieves Confesor made her presentation, underscoring the principle at the basis of the peace-building approach: that the people need to drive the conversation. Professor Confesor shared the disconcerting fact that during the 30 long years of government negotiation with the CPP-NDF-NPA, no common ground, enough forge make a long-term reconciliation between the government and the leftist groups, has been established. But with the emergence of the issue of climate change, an opportunity to reframe the conversation arises. She maintained that the reason why the 30-year talks have never worked before is because the approaches have always only addressed disagreements, thus resulting in only short-term resolution to the problem. Climate change provides a chance to resolve the problem in the longer term. Yet, as maintained by Professor Confesor, this requires building the trust of the people and making the conversation national and informed. Accordingly, Professor Confesor emphasizes that conversations need to be community-based and people-centered. The challenge at this point is to make communities well informed.
Speaking on behalf of the business sector, Dr. Michael Clancy, executive director of the Philippine Business Leaders Forum (PBLF), conveyed his recognition of the role that the business sector plays in the issue of climate change and conflict, and of the urgent need to address the issue. As he put it, the business sector should be engaged in tackling the issue as they cannot expect the local communities to be able to initiate the efforts themselves, and that, if the issue is not dealt with, in twenty years or so, the consequences will be irreversible. Addressing the issue of reducing GHG emissions in the country, he shared the findings that the Philippines is responsible for only 1% of 1/3 of the total GHG emissions in the world, and that engaging in carbon trade mechanism will bring about only 1-3 % reduction in the GHG emission in the country, making such efforts negligible. He underscored this, commenting that people need to address the issue but often are not ready to give up their current lifestyle. He proposed a business solution to the issue of climate change, citing as an example, CFL light bulbs, which consume less energy than the ordinary incandescent bulbs but which are ten times as expensive as the ordinary bulbs and do not last as long. Dr. Clancy proposes, for instance, making the Philippines the leading manufacturer of CFL bulbs. As the world searches for solutions to climate change, the market for such businesses will be global in scope, he explained.
The last points of the dialogue came from Dr. Federico Macaranas, the executive director of the Asian Institute of Management Policy Center, who synthesized the presentations and discussions. Comparing climate change to a “public good”, Dr. Macaranas cautioned that everyone would suffer from the consequences; no one is excluded. In terms of a management solution, Dr. Macaranas noted how other countries have generated livelihoods from solid waste and asked why Filipinos have not considered the same. Does this indicate that Filipinos are less entrepreneurial? Two concerns were very evident in the discussion that day, Dr. Macaranas continued, informed debate and of morality. Referring to earlier statements of Engr. Palacol, he reiterated the misuse and misinterpretation of the existing data of government organizations. On the perspective of morality, Dr. Macaranas referred to humans’ over greediness and the need to respect nature. Dr. Macaranas brought in as well the concept of “gross national happiness”, an indicator of how happy people should be on Planet Earth. Connecting this to the Buddhist precept of happiness based not on material wealth but on relations with other people, he called for a national leadership that is less material. Using the International Alert publication on climate change and conflict as a guide, Dr. Macaranas oriented the audience on the possible responses to rising sea levels and storm surges, and related it to prior efforts in Philippines. He stressed that Filipinos have become overly dependent on foreigners to pay for and to act on the solution to the problems of the country. Hoping that the problem of climate change and conflict will have such a commanding voice which will unite all Filipinos, he concluded that everyone is, indeed, part of the solution to the problem and encouraged the representatives from the different sectors to be involved in the forthcoming efforts of AIM Policy Center in adapting to the impacts of climate change.
Climate Change: Addressing Our Inconvenient Truth (.pdf)
Dr. JR Nereus Acosta
Philippine Climate Change Imperative
Peace-building Approaches to the Twin Challenges of Climate Change & Armed Conflict (.pdf)
Prof. Edmundo Garcia
International Alert
Perspectives of Environmentalists and Peace-building (.pdf)
Ms. Karen Rebecca Tañada
Gaston Z. Ortigas Peace Institute
Perspectives of Environmentalists and Peace-building (.pdf)
Mr. Joyce Palacol
CBCP National Secretariat for Social Action, Justice and Peace (CBCP-NASSA)
"Climate Change and Conflict"
http://uw.abs-cbnnews.com/storypage.aspx?StoryId=116846
by Professor Miriam Coronel Ferrer, May 6, 2008
"Country vulnerable to armed conflict from climate change"
http://www.manilatimes.net/national/2008/may/02/yehey/metro/20080502met6.html
by Ma. Margarita Z. Sandejas, May 2, 2008 (The Manila Times)