Filipina Climate Chief: "It Feels Like We Are Negotiating on Who Is To Live and Who Is To Die"
DONATE →
This is viewer supported news
As aid workers in the Philippines continue to dig mass graves
amidst the search for possible survivors after Typhoon Haiyan, the
executive director of the Philippines Climate Change Commission, Mary
Ann Lucille Sering, gave a moving address today to her fellow climate
change delegates at the U.N. climate summit in Warsaw, Poland. "Every
time we attend this conference, I’m beginning to feel that we are
negotiating on who is to live and who is to die," Sering says.
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: This is
Democracy Now!, democracynow.org,
The War and Peace Report.
I’m Amy Goodman. We’re the only global TV-radio broadcast that is
spending the hour every day of this week here at the U.N. climate change
summit in Warsaw, Poland. I’m Amy Goodman.
Just before our broadcast today, the executive director of the
Philippines Climate Change Commission gave a moving address to fellow
climate change delegates. This is Mary Ann Lucille Sering.
MARY ANN LUCILLE SERING:
The timing of Typhoon Haiyan to these climate talks is impeccable. It
is like some divine hand is trying to send us a message, reminding us
why we are all here in the first place.
The world was united when we all signed this convention 21 years ago
and when it came into force two years after. The main objective is to
stabilize greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level
that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic or human interference with
the climate system.
Nineteen years has passed since the convention came into force. And
if we are to review our progress, would it be right for me to conclude
that we’ve failed miserably? Looking at science and how it manifested
itself not only in Typhoon Haiyan, but also other events like Katrina in
the United States, the heat wave in France, the wildfires in Australia,
and other extreme events occurring after observed increased warming,
should we not be all ashamed being here?
You cannot blame us for being impatient. We cannot go on negotiating
every year without concrete action to avoid further warming. We now know
that warming oceans fuel supertyphoons, and that, in all probability,
is going to be the norm. We are forced to brace for these changes, even
if it is not our fault. You see, if the developed countries have shown
the leadership to reduce greenhouse gases at the onset of this
convention, we, the most vulnerable, would not have to adapt. We would
not have to ask or push for adaptation support.
I now ask this question: Is this convention still relevant to the
times? Every time we attend this conference, I’m beginning to feel like
we are negotiating on who is to live and who is to die.