PH Calls for Greater Access to Green Technology, Finance
Philippine Permanent Representative to the United Nations and Other International Organizations in Geneva Ambassador Evan P. Garcia (rightmost) stresses the urgency of increased access to green technology and finance during a meeting of the Climate Vulnerable Forum on 13 September 2019. (Geneva PM photo)
GENEVA 04 October 2019 — “Developed countries are duty-bound to help ensure that developing countries like the Philippines gain greater access to green technology and finance,” said Philippine Permanent Representative to the United Nations and Other International Organizations in Geneva Ambassador Evan P. Garcia during a meeting of the Climate Vulnerable Forum (CVF) held at the Palais des Nations on 13 September 2019.
“Developing countries need access to green technology and green finance. There is no logic in delaying what was discussed and promised,” Ambassador Garcia stressed, referring to the commitments made by developed countries in the Paris Agreement.
The Philippines chaired the CVF, a group of countries most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, for almost two years from January 2015, at a crucial stage of negotiations for the 2015 Paris Agreement. Currently chaired by the Marshall Islands, the CVF continues to include the Philippines as a member of its leadership troika.
During the Philippine leadership, the CVF was a strong advocate for the strengthening of the goal of the Paris Agreement by limiting global warming to 1.5°C, thereafter becoming a key figure in successfully harnessing government and civil society support in the final days of negotiations for the Paris Agreement.
The CVF also championed the commissioning of an Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) special report on the impacts of global warming of 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels and related global greenhouse gas emission pathways, which the body eventually released in October 2018.
The Marshall Islands paid tribute to the work of the Philippines, under whose leadership the CVF adopted the Manila-Paris Declaration and the CVF Roadmap for 2016-2018. The Philippines simultaneously chaired the V20, a counterpart forum for finance ministers to discuss climate financing for vulnerable countries.
The Philippines also strengthened the work of the CVF on its original focus sectors such as human rights, through annual resolutions on climate change penned with co-proponents Bangladesh and Vietnam; health, through side events at the World Health Assembly and participation in the Global Conference on Health and Climate; and labor, through the commissioning of a study and a panel discussion on the impacts of heat in the workplace as well as a ministerial meeting on the margins of the International Labor Conference.
On migration and displacement, the CVF collaborated with organizations like the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the Nansen Initiative, particularly taking part in a roundtable at the World Humanitarian Summit in 2016.
Finally, the CVF promoted science cooperation by advocating the IPCC special report not only in Paris but other relevant forums like the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change sessions in Nairobi.
“The Philippines has been in the trenches,” Ambassador Garcia stated, stressing that climate change and migration were two pressing human rights issues that required collective action at the global level. “What we all need now are resolve and solidarity,” he concluded. END
From left: Ambassador Garcia, High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet, and Marshall Island Foreign Minister John Silk. (Geneva PM photo)
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