In time for Earth Day, local government leaders in the Philippines expressed their support for the immediate ratification of the Paris Agreement that will be signed by world leaders today.
Senator Loren Legarda, who is in New York as Co-Head of the Philippine Delegation for the Paris Agreement Signing Ceremony at the United Nations Headquarters, announced that the Union of Local Authorities of the Philippines (ULAP), the umbrella organization of all leagues of local government units (LGUs) and locally elected officials in the country, has called on the government to immediately adopt the Agreement.
World leaders should be more ambitious and reduce global warming to below the 1.5 C aim in an agreement signed by 175 countries on Friday at the United Nations, according to co-head of the Philippine delegation at the signing ceremony.
“I would like to push it further to say let’s go below 1.5 degrees,” said Loren Legarda, who sits on the Senate Committee on Climate Change in her home country.
The Philippines has pledged to reduce carbon emissions by 70 percent in 2030 through greater use of cleaner and renewable energy, improved mass transport services, more efficient waste management, reforestation and forest protection, and co-firing biomass, Paje said.
Senator Loren Legarda hailed the formal signing of the historic climate agreement whose main goal is to avoid the catastrophic effects of climate change by limiting temperature increase.
The Philippines will ratify the landmark Paris Agreement, a legally-binding accord to combat climate change, during a signing ceremony in New York on Friday.
Environment Secretary Ramon Paje will represent President Aquino and deliver the Philippine statement at the UN headquarters on April 22, which coincides with the celebration of Earth Day.
The Philippines’ ratification of the Paris Agreement immediately got the backing of local government leaders, saying that acting on the climate crisis is an “intergenerational commitment.”
Senator Loren Legarda, who is in New York as co-head of the Philippine Delegation for the Paris Agreement signing ceremony at the United Nations Headquarters, said the Union of Local Authorities of the Philippines (ULAP) has called on the government to immediately adopt the Agreement.
