Press Release
September 27, 2009
BALILI ISSUE, COAL DEPENDENCE WILL BE OUR CENTRAL AGENDA AT BANGKOK UNFCC MEETING
Cebuano environmental activist and the Executive Director of FIDEC Inc. in an emailed statement said that he will personally enure that the issue of coal-fired power plant construction in Cebu province will be included in various climate meetings in Bangkok, Thailand, including one inside the mini session of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change starting tomorrow.
Vince Cinches one of those nominated to sit as observer in the negotiation said that “We already requested meetings with negotiators to discuss with them proposed ways to cut our country’s GHG emission drastically.”
“Our presence in Bangkok will ensure that Philippine Government’s representatives will toe the line of truth, and counter any of their moves for more coal-fired power plants in our Country that they are passing as climate friendly technology.”
He added that a discussion on KEPCO and EDC coal-fired power plants is co-organized by Thai environmental activists, including the corruption issue involving the provincial government. “Climate Change has various contributors, one of which is corruption such as the Balili Issue in the Municipality of Naga.”
He warned that Philippines will see more destruction and catastrophe greater than the one brought by Typhoon Ondoy. “at the center of this problem is the fossil-fuel centered policy of the national government and the Department of Energy, they are the culprit why the nation is suffering”
“ I left the Philippines with a heavy heart knowing a lot of Filipinos are dead and displaced due to global warming induced Typhoon Ondoy, we cannot afford more extreme weather events to kill our population, we need to aggressively cut our GHG Emissions, we need to stop our addiction to fossil fuel and chose the path toward renewable and sustainable energy. “
According to the Fourth Assessment Report of United Nations – Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Philippines will be among the many countries in South East Asia to be greatly affected by the changing climate.
“ We will push for a more binding global climate policy, by putting in place the voices of the poor who are the most vulnerable, having no capacity to respond to climate change. Climate Change is making the poor becoming poorer. If our government cannot act in behalf of the nation because their hands are tied to trans-national and multinational oil and coal corporations, then we in the civil society will do it.”
According to the website of UNFCCC, the Bangkok meeting is the first part of the ninth session of the Ad Hoc Working Group on Further Commitments for Annex I Parties under the Kyoto Protocol (AWG-KP) and the first part of the seventh session of the Ad Hoc Working Group on Long-term Cooperative Action under the Convention (AWG-LCA) and will take place between Monday 28 September and Friday 9 October 2009 at the United Nations Conference Centre (UNCC) of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP), Rajdamnern Nok Avenue, Bangkok, 10200 Thailand .
Released by:
Ghianne Rada
Education and Training officer
FIDEC Inc.
256-1365
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