Keynote Address of Senator: Loren LegardaDFA Ocean Talk | The 2015 Manila Call to Action: Charting Philippine Ocean-Climate Policy towards the 2025 UNOC3

Good afternoon to our distinguished guests, fellow advocates for sustainability, members of the diplomatic corps, colleagues from government, civil society, academe, and especially, our youth leaders.

A decade ago, we issued a call. Today, we raise it into a demand, along with concrete constructive measures.

More than commemorating the 2015 Manila Call to Action and its origin, we celebrate its achievements and enduring relevance.

In 2015, the world was waking up to the full gravity of the climate crisis. Typhoon Haiyan had devastated the Philippines just two years prior. The Paris Agreement had yet to be finalized. And science was already warning us: We were living beyond our planetary limits.

It was in this context that France and the Philippines came together as two deeply invested partners. We stood on common ground forged by shared vulnerability and mutual responsibility.

The Manila Call to Action was not simply a bilateral document. It was a clarion call that catalyzed momentum toward the Paris Agreement. It recognized what is now indisputable: That climate action must be urgent, inclusive, and deeply rooted in human dignity and environmental integrity.

Ten years on, it’s clear how much our future is hanging by a thread, and so our fight continues.

The Philippines does not speak from the sidelines of climate change. With one of the longest coastlines in the world, over 36,000 kilometers, we are intimately tied to the seas. We do not just live by the seas, we live because of it.

We are at the heart of the Coral Triangle, the global epicenter of marine biodiversity. Our megadiverse nation harbors over 70 percent of the world’s plant and animal species. And yet, we are watching that lifeline unravel.

Ocean acidification is eroding coral reef health, with potential losses to fisheries and biodiversity. Rising sea surface temperatures have already caused coral bleaching events that devastated up to 49% of coral cover in some areas. 

Mangrove deforestation continues, even though we know that mangroves store carbon up to four times more effectively than terrestrial forests.

All of this must be a reminder to us that this geographic blessing comes with responsibility, as well as risk. 

Today, the sea level in the Philippines is rising three to four times faster than the global average. Manila Bay seawater is rising more than 13 millimeters annually, causing Metro Manila to sink by 100 millimeters each year. This is exacerbated by rapid urbanization and the extraction of groundwater.

Recent climate vulnerability assessments highlight that Panay Island, particularly Antique Province, faces increasing risks from sea level rise, storm surges, and coral reef degradation. Studies from the National Adaptation Plan reports reveal that coastal livelihoods and biodiversity in Panay are under threat, especially in communities like Culasi and Libertad, where marine-dependent populations are highly exposed and have limited adaptive capacity.

It is a daily reality for coastal communities—in Panay and all over the Philippine coasts, of fisherfolk and children in low-lying barangays—to wake up not knowing how bad the next flood will be, or even if it will be their last.

Let me now center our discussion on a critical nexus: the ocean-climate-biodiversity relationship.

Why does the ocean matter?

It produces over 50% of the oxygen we breathe. It absorbs 90% of the excess heat caused by greenhouse gas emissions. It stores 30% of the world’s carbon dioxide. It feeds billions.

But this equilibrium is now disrupted.

Scientific projections tell us:

By 2050, we may lose up to 90% of coral reefs globally, even if we keep warming below 2°C.

Sea level rise could displace up to 13 million Filipinos under a high-emissions scenario.

Fish biomass in the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone could decline by up to 50%, jeopardizing the food security of millions.

This is not just a marine issue, it is a human development crisis.

Over 1.6 million Filipinos depend directly on fisheries. Many more are engaged in related trades. In some coastal communities, up to 70% of animal protein comes from the ocean.

Thus, ocean degradation is a public health risk, a food security threat, and a driver of poverty.

The numbers speak volumes: Between 2011 and 2021, the Philippines suffered 12 billion US dollars or 673.3 billion pesos in damages from tropical cyclones alone. This is equivalent to twice the national health budget for 2023. These are not abstract losses. They are lives disrupted, homes destroyed, and dreams shattered.

We must now protect the ocean not just as a resource, but as a rights-based imperative. For the fisherfolk. For the coastal residents. For Indigenous communities. For future generations.

I recall that moment in 2015 when I stood alongside then-President Benigno Aquino III and French President François Hollande for the launch of what would become the Manila Call to Action on Climate Change. I was honored to contribute to that historic effort, but more than that, I was part of the fight to ensure that our voices, especially those of the most vulnerable, would ring loudly on the global stage and not be silenced.

That call recognized the interlinkages between climate vulnerability and poverty; asserted that addressing climate change requires inclusive development and international cooperation; and demanded that the Paris Agreement be ambitious, equitable, and legally binding.

This emerged from dialogue with young people, scientists, faith leaders, and civil society. And in December 2015, the world adopted the Paris Agreement, a direct fruit of such collective action.

But today, we must ask ourselves: Have we kept our promise?

Global emissions continue to rise. Adaptation finance remains inadequate. Ocean protections are underfunded.

The Manila Call remains as relevant today as it was ten years ago, perhaps more so. That same spirit of urgency and cooperation lives on today, and must be put to the task. 

Last year, the Embassy of France in the Philippines launched the “Blue Nations” initiative, a comprehensive program that leads up to the United Nations Oceans Conference in Nice next month. 

This initiative builds on the same foundations as the Manila Call: enhancing political, scientific, and civic engagement to protect our environment, advance climate action, promote a just and sustainable blue economy, and ensure maritime security.

These are not new principles for us. They are deeply embedded in the Philippine journey.

Many have helped pave the path between those two moments, from the Manila Call to this new chapter. And in the last decade, the Philippines has not stood still.

As a legislator, I am proud to have authored or supported: the Climate Change Act of 2009, which created the Climate Change Commission, placing climate governance at the highest level; the People’s Survival Fund Act that provides dedicated finance for local adaptation; and finally, I continue to push for the Blue Economy bill that seeks to harmonize ocean governance under sustainability, equity, and resilience principles.

Internationally, we have ratified the Paris Agreement, with ambitious targets in our Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and supported the Global Ocean Alliance and the High Ambition Coalition for Nature and People.  We are also championing the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea’s Advisory Opinion, which affirms that anthropogenic greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions constitute marine pollution under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.

We launched the “100 Days for the Ocean” campaign with the Department of Foreign Affairs and the Climate Change Commission. This was a strategic, inclusive, and action-driven initiative that brought together sectors and stakeholders to raise awareness and mobilize political will ahead of critical global meetings, especially the upcoming Third UN Ocean Conference.

We have also co-led global efforts to recognize the climate-ocean nexus in the UNFCCC, the Tripartite Environmental Assembly, and now, as we look toward UNOC3 in Nice, France, we bring this momentum with us. 

These are not isolated wins. They are bricks in an edifice, an architecture of hope and strength that the Philippines continues to build. But we know: an unfinished structure is a structure unprotected. 

What we are doing here is not just another discussion. This forum exemplifies how we can optimize learning spaces, strengthen our approaches, and ensure that our efforts produce a lasting impact across institutions and generations.

Because our people cannot be shortchanged.

This is our moment to put forward our agenda on ocean governance. To showcase our progress. To amplify our voice. And to demand that the ocean-climate connection be embedded in all future global agreements.

As we move toward UNOC3, we must be strategic.

We must make sure that the outcomes of this forum influence the action panels of UNOC3, particularly those focused on ecosystem restoration, scientific cooperation and marine education, pollution reduction, sustainable fisheries, and the integration of ocean, climate, and biodiversity priorities.

The talk shop is over. Today is proof of what relevant and sustainable action can be about. Let the Manila Call be more than a memory. Let it be a mandate for shared stewardship.

My friends, I close with a reflection and a renewed invitation.

The Manila Call to Action is no longer just a call but a commitment. One built on decades of science, law, diplomacy, and, above all, the lived realities of our people.

We may have different geographies, but we share the same fate. Climate change knows no borders. Neither must our compassion, our courage, nor our desire to act.

And so I say to all of you: The Philippines will continue to lead, not from a place of power, but from a place of purpose. Because we know that the ocean is not just a resource: it is our history, our heritage, our home.

Let the next 10 years be the decade where we move from calls to commitments, from negotiations to implementation, from alarm to decisive action.

Para sa karagatan, para sa klima, para sa kinabukasan.

Maraming salamat at isang luntiang Pilipinas sa ating lahat!