Philippines president: we must start taking climate change and tourism action now

SEE VIDEO: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V36L7B0FBXM

International community should form a united front

Tourism may be one of the easiest means to achieve inclusive growth, but extreme weather conditions such as typhoon Yolanda threaten Philippines’ fastest-growing sector, President Benigno Aquino III said.

He urged the international community to form a united front in addressing climate change, saying that all governments are stakeholders when it comes to this issue.

 "If we do not tackle it head on, this ‘new normal’ brought about by climate change will be here to stay and we will be forced to make unfair choices between disaster risk management and development," Aquino said.

 He was speaking at the United Nations World Tourism Organization’s ASEAN International Conference on Tourism and Climate Change held in Legazpi City, one of the areas frequently affected by typhoons.

Ignoring the problem of climate change, the President said, will give rise to alarming realities such as rising temperatures, dropping food and water supplies and water levels that may threaten the existence of island nations.

"We must start taking action now," Aquino said, adding that taking on the challenge of climate change requires international effort, with every government revisiting how it takes climate change into account.

 He added that the tourism sector is "deeply concerned with the evolving demands of the new normal." The President cited as an example how Yolanda ravaged some of the country’s top tourist destinations in 2013.

 Yolanda showed that though tourism is a "low-lying fruit" for the Philippines, the industry’s success is "tied to how we deal with the problem of climate change," Aquino said in his speech.

"Yolanda affected 44 of our 81 provinces. Thousands of Filipinos lost their lives, and so many more lost their homes and literally everything they owned, and industries grinded to a halt," Aquino said.

Typhoon Yolanda killed 6,340 people, 1,061 are still missing – there was US$2.6billion damage caused.

Among the problems that continue to plague the government after Yolanda are the provision of temporary housing, proper health services, as well as proper maternal care, critics have said.

 As for the tourism industry – Aquino said the government’s response is to "plan ahead and reduce the impact of the effects of climate change on our tourist destinations, amongst others."

Climate change adaptation has also been mainstreamed at all levels of government. Aquino also showcased efforts at improving renewable energy sources, such as the country’s first large-scale solar power plant in Negros Occidental.

 "To truly fix the problem, however, efforts such as this cannot come from just one country; this responsibility falls on the shoulders of every person, community, city, and nation," the President said.

Valere Tjolle

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