By Alexis Romero (The
Philippine Star) | Updated July 19, 2016 - 12:00am
MANILA, Philippines - A historic
climate agreement pushed by the previous administration will not be honored by
President Duterte, who believes that the deal is blocking the progress of
developing countries like the Philippines.
Duterte said that industrialized
countries are “dictating the destiny” of developing ones by requiring them to
cut carbon emissions.
“We have not reached the age of
industrialization. We are going into it. But you are trying to (cite an) agreement
that will impose limitations on us. We maintain the present emission. That’s
stupid,” Duterte said during the sendoff for the Philippine delegation to the
Rio Olympics yesterday at Malacañang.
“I will not honor that,” he added.
Last April, more than 150 countries
signed the historic Paris climate deal that seeks to limit global warming “well
below” two degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. World leaders have also
promised to continue efforts to limit temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius
above pre-industrial levels.
The signatories are also required to
step up measures that will stop the increase in greenhouse gas emissions.
The Philippines under then
president Benigno Aquino III committed to reduce carbon emissions
by 70 percent by 2030 even if it is not a major source of greenhouse
gases. The Paris agreement, however, does not say what will happen to countries
that fail to meet their emission reduction goals.
The agreement was crafted during the
21st Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on
Climate Change held in France last December. During the conference, Aquino said
the survival of island nations depends on the international community’s
commitment to act on climate change and to reduce greenhouse gas
emissions.
Duterte said he has expressed his
refusal to honor the Paris agreement in a conversation with an ambassador whom
he did not name.
When the ambassador reminded him
that the Philippines signed the Paris deal, Duterte said: “That was not my
signature. Somebody else’s, not mine.”
“We’ll make a new one or we do not
honor (it) at all,” he added.
Duterte, who vowed to honor
international agreements during his inauguration, noted that developed
countries harmed the environment while they were undergoing
industrialization.
“Now that we are about to develop,
you (developed countries) will set limits,” the President said.
“Kalokohan yan (That’s absurd). So
that is how very competitive and how very constricted our lives are now. It’s
being controlled by the world. It’s being imposed upon us by the industrialized
countries. They think that they can dictate the destiny of the rest of the
nations,” he added.
Last May, Duterte said
industrialized nations should help developing ones comply with the Paris
agreement by providing financial assistance.
“I don’t have problem with that. I
will cooperate with whatever it takes to cut emission but look at history,”
Duterte said in a press briefing.
“They (developed nations) were
enjoying the booming (economy) and flooding the air with contaminants. Now that
they are rich because of coal and industrialization, we are being asked to cut
emission and limit our activities,” he added.
“If you have qualms, pay us or give
us time to catch up.”
Frequent natural calamities have
been blamed on climate change which, in turn, has been attributed to greenhouse
gas emissions produced by human activities.
Some sectors, however, doubt the
connection between emissions and climate change and scored what they described
as “climate alarmism” that benefits the interests of green technology and
renewable energy investors.
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