Zeph Repollo is a young and determined leader who does not flinch in making a stand for her and her peers’ common and highly uncertain future.
Unlike political authorities who continue to feign ignorance or pathetic lack of understanding of the causes, impacts and long-overdue response to climate change, Zeph and a growing number of dynamic stalwarts are keenly aware that the climate crisis is a survival issue requiring collective, immediate and sustained engagements from citizens and governments alike. Our fossil-fuel obsessed-lifestyles have led us to this conflagration of a highly unbalanced climate system, with dire consequences for our survival.
As 350.org South East Asia Regional Coordinator, Zeph and her team have been painstakingly planning, organizing and implementing activities for our youth and other stakeholders to be active participants in decisions that affect them and the generations yet unborn.
They realize that the protection of their rights to life, health and a healthy environment, now and the future, requires asserting their basic freedom to access information, to form associations, to express themselves, to demand their participation in policies and decisions and justice for the people and the environment.
Their recent work, the well-planned Power Shift Sulong Summit held in Cebu City, served as the platform for the youth to voice their sentiments, share their triumphs and challenges, built their capacity to engage with stakeholders and strengthen their network, in the face of the discordant energy and climate policies of the Aquino administration and anemic riposte of not a few local government units.
The enthusiastic participants had the privilege of learning from each other and from the experiences and knowledge of passionate defenders of environmental justice like Bill Mckibben, who co-founded 350.org., and the much-admired Climate Change Commissioner Naderev “Yeb” Sano.
Environmental justice is what they and all of us should aim for. It is defined by the USA’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as “the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, national origin, or income with respect to the development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and policies.”
The continuing refusal and failure of executive agencies such as the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), the Department of Energy, the Department of Public Works and Highways and the LGUs to implement environmental laws, and to respect the rights of the people to participate and be consulted on projects that cause climate change, pollution and impact the environment, their health and safety, are gross violations of the Government’s mandate to protect us and our fragile ecosystems.
Unsustainable and ecologically destructive mining, coal power plants and reclamation projects are still prioritized despite a strong legal framework for sustainability and environmental protection and the undeniable reality of climate change and a vastly degraded ecosystems and an inexcusable lack of capacity to assess and monitor their impacts.
It is difficult to understand why we cannot shift towards renewable energy, green industries and genuine ecotourism that showcase our unique natural and cultural heritage and build the resiliency of our people to disasters.
Climate change knows no boundaries, race, gender, status or affiliation, and definitely imposes heavier burden on people living in developing countries and the marginalized sectors like the children, women and the elderly. Indeed, “climate change poses a double threat. Firstly, increases are expected in the frequency and intensity of weather and climatic hazards, such as floods, tropical cyclones, heat waves and droughts, and in some places are already occurring. Secondly, there are likely to be other changes such as ecosystem degradation, reduced availability of water and food, and impacts on livelihoods, which together will reduce the capacities of communities to cope with natural hazards, especially in poor developing countries.”
(https://www.preventionweb.net/files/11775_UNISDRBriefingAdaptationtoClimateCh.pdf)
If the coping skills of the people are not strengthened through mobilization, and our life support systems are allowed to be compromised further by unplanned, unresponsive and destructive projects, food security, water sufficiency and national security issues will undoubtedly threaten the stability of our political system as well.
We demand smart and compassionate leadership with the clear vision and political will to effect drastic cuts in the use of fossil fuels and transition towards a low carbon regime, and who collaborate with constituents in the continuing journey to attain a sustainable path for our future.
Clearly, there is no time for inaction and procrastination. Like Zeph and fellow advocates, we have to start now, make a stand, and not when it is already too late for any mitigation or adaptation strategies to make a difference. The solution to the climate challenge is in our hands.
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I appreciate the invitation to speak and the warm response from the Lady Local Legislators League of The Philippines during its 2014 National Summit on March 26, 2014 in Manila. We look forward to our active collaboration in ensuring the full protection of the rights of our people to sustainable development. Mabuhay!
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