FISHERFOLKS AND CLIMATE ACTIVISTS TO DEMAND MORE ACTIONS AGAINST CLIMATE CHANGE

Philippine Climate Watch Alliance
#26 Matulungin St. Central District, Diliman, Quezon City
Tel.: +63 2 9248756 fax: +63 2 9209099 email:philclimatewatch@gmail.com


FISHERFOLKS AND CLIMATE ACTIVISTS TO DEMAND MORE ACTIONS AGAINST CLIMATE CHANGE
UP Dilliman, Quezon City - A few days after the Supreme Court concluded their forum on environmental justice, fisherfolks from all over the Philippines who attended the 1st National Grassroots Conference on Climate Change organized by Philippine Climate Watch Alliance (PCWA) are worried about the accelerating impacts of warming planet.

Vince Cinches the Executive Director of Central Visayas Fisherfolk Development Inc. (FIDEC INC.) one of the many convenors of Philippine Climate Watch alliance in their paper presented during one of the workshops in the conference on the impacts of climate change to coastal communities, fisheries and fisherfolks, said that “Climate Change becomes an additional and more sustained burden of poor fisherfolks nationwide. Even before we felt the impacts of climate change, we have been marginalized by off-shore mining, commercial fishing, privatization of sea waters, reclamation projects, and fishery laws among others. We should remember that such projects are carbon intensive that contributes to increase in global warming gasses”

“Climate change has further marginalized the poor coastal people, through massive decline of fish catch, rising cost of fishing, and collapse of ecosystem among others, being poor diminishes capacity to respond to the impacts of climate change, the change in climate is accelerating, the community cannot keep up with the pace.”

“What is alarming on the other hand is that the warming planet has opened up new fronts of vulnerability in the community, we have stronger and frequent storm surges, seas are inundating our homes because of rising sea level, breeding grounds of marine species are collapsing because of acidity and warm waters. We no longer have potable waters to drink because of salt water intrusion.”

Fernando Hicap, the National Chairperson of the activist fishers group PAMALAKAYA said“Governments and their cohorts in big monopoly businesses are the main culprits why the planet is ailing and we the poor are paying dearly since we don’t have the capacity to adopt and respond to climate change. The poor should rely on each other to rescind anti-people and anti-environment policies.”

“This grassroots meeting is an important venue for us not just to strongly register the position of community people in the current discourse regarding global warming but to consolidate our ranks and turned it into a decisive force in making culprits accountable while dramatically reducing our carbon footprint”

Mr. Vince Cinches, executive director of FIDEC and convenor of PCWA said that the conference is not just first in the country but in the whole Southeast Asia as well.

He added that the conference is an important contribution of the Filipinos in the ongoing global initiatives against climate change especially that the Kyoto Protocol will soon end and will undergo renegotiation. “We wanted to ensure that the provisions of international policies regarding climate change should have more teeth against polluters, have more binding policies and responsive to the needs of the poor people around the world.”

On April 22, Earth Day, the group will hold a protest action to demand accountability from government and corporations and to demand real actions against the specter of climate change.##

Released by: Ghianne Rada ,
Program Officer,
FIDEC inc.
09069048009