Driving his SUV between Laoag and Batac in the northern Philippines, Nathaniel Alibuyog, vice president for research at Mariano Marcos State University, watches the fields go by along the road and makes a few comments.
“Drought has hit hard this year,” notes the environmental scientist and technical adviser to the Commission on Climate Change in the office of the President of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr., in front of sun-yellowed land. mainly agricultural region, we have been hit hard by these changes for several years. »
The effects of these changes, he names them: “the reduction in precipitation, the rise in average temperatures and the rise in sea water, which sometimes contribute to the salinization of the land” by the contamination of groundwater. And he adds: “We have to adapt. We are doing it. But it’s never enough. Resources are limited and we cannot succeed in this fight alone. »
Placed on the front line of climate change, among the most vulnerable countries in the world, the Philippines have been facing their new environmental reality for several years with as much resignation as bitterness.
“It’s the paradox of this fight here,” said Nathaniel Alibuyog. The Philippines is not a major producer of greenhouse gases, but we are, like other countries in the region, the most affected by the problems that these gases, produced elsewhere, cause on a planetary scale. So we have no choice but to push our representatives to make the necessary pleas on the international scene to convince the rest of the world to help us. It’s a matter of climate justice. Western countries must also contribute to solving our problems, for which they are largely responsible. »
At the beginning of the year, the Philippines announced an increase in the budget allocated to adaptation and measures to mitigate the impacts of climate change on their territory, bringing the envelope to 10 billion Canadian dollars (453.1 billion Philippine pesos), more than double the previous year. A budget that the new president is also seeking to expand with the help of member countries of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), of which Canada and the United States are part. Country to which he launched a cry from the heart during the last summit of the international organization, held last November. He recalled that these climate changes now represented an “existential threat” for the Philippines.
Global agreements that seek multilateral, multinational solutions to the climate crisis, such as the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Paris Agreement, are no longer enough to drive progress, says Ferdinand Marcos Jr., as emissions continue to increase. More must now be done.
This reading of the present is supported by a group of 50 researchers who, last week in the pages of the scientific journal Naturehave estimated that respecting the ceiling of +1.5°C in the rise in temperatures, compared to the end of the 19e century, set by this agreement, was going to be able to reduce the runaway climate change, but not the massive suffering of 200 million people in poor regions exposed to increasingly intense heat and of half a billion other grappling with the destructive ravages of rising waters. Like in the Philippines.
“We feel a certain uneasiness compared to developed countries when we see what is happening to us”, drops Regina Rivera, political leader of Binuangan, in Manila Bay, a fishing village threatened with disappearance under water. as fast as in the next 30 years, according to current forecasts. “Everyone is suffering from climate change, even those who have contributed to it. But the problem is that the Philippines has not contributed and is suffering more than all the others. »
A malaise also reinforced by the mechanisms for sharing wealth between countries, in order to help the poorest and the most affected by these changes, which very often leave the contributions of rich countries in the sphere of political announcements rather than in that of climate action, deplores Angelo Kairos Dela Cruz, director of the Institute for Climate and Sustainable Cities, whom he met a few days ago in his offices in Manila. “There is a huge lack of oversight and accountability when it comes to climate finance. When we scrutinize all the funds put in place, we see that very few make it to us, he says. Take the Loss and Damage Fund adopted during COP27. It has brought up a new wallet, but no one is talking about how the money is going to be put into it by developed countries and how developing countries are going to access it. »
In 2010, the Green Climate Fund, attached to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, set itself the goal of raising US$100 billion by 2020. This year, the Fund announced pledges of barely 10.3 billion from the countries that had pledged to contribute. Of this amount, 8.2 billion have been paid, which is 11 times less than the initial plan adopted with drums and trumpets.
“Life in Manila will still be possible in the future, despite the floods and the rising waters, assures Angelo Kairos Dela Cruz, but it will be radically different from that of today. What will this difference be? It is still too early to tell. We still have a window to act, even if that window is shrinking day by day. And in this context, it is now a sharing of information and a real sharing of money that we need most to adapt, rather than the same empty promises to help us. »
This report was financed thanks to the support of the Transat International Journalism Fund.The duty.