Acceptance Speech: The Climate Reality Leadership Awards 2017

Acceptance Speech of Senator Loren Legarda
The Climate Reality Leadership Awards 2017
21 April 2017 | Senate of the Philippines

Foremost, I thank the Climate Reality Project Philippines for recognizing the work that I have been doing to help address climate change and seek climate justice for the vulnerable and those who have been victims of its impacts.

I would also like to thank all the other awardees and all climate leaders present here today. We are all in this journey together and though we have already made this our lifelong commitment, we know we have to do more.

Tomorrow, on Earth Day, we will officially become a Party to the Paris Agreement. The road towards our ratification of the Agreement was not easy, but the journey to ensuring its implementation is now the greater challenge.

In Paris, the Philippines was a strong voice in fighting for a climate goal that limits global warming to below 1.5 degrees Celsius.

Now, we must ensure that all nations, especially the industrialized countries, pursue this commitment. We need immediate reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions that would minimize climate and disaster risks, enable adaptation, and ensure sustainable development.

But it is not enough that we are the voice of the vulnerable in the global arena. Here at home, we must build capacities of local communities to adapt to climate change impacts and eventually contribute to mitigation.

We have to encourage citizens to do acts that would help save the planet not only during Earth Day but every day.

Even if we are a nation vulnerable to climate change impacts, we can show the world that we are capable of action, that we will use our vulnerability as our motivation towards sustainability. All the awardees and climate leaders here today are living testaments of this reality.

Let us fight for our right to live in a sustainable planet. Let us save Mother Earth. Let us save the future of mankind. Happy Earth Day to everyone!