04 December 2014 - A Philippine delegation is in Lima, Peru from December 01 to 12 to participate in the climate negotiations at the 20th Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC COP 20).
The delegation, composed of senior government officials and civil society representatives, is led by Climate Change Commission (CCC)Secretary Lucille Sering and supported by Congressman Rufus Rodriguez of the Cagayan de Oro 2nd District and Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) Assistant Secretary for United Nations and International Organizations Jesus Domingo. The government negotiators also include five other representatives from the CCC, four officials from the DFA, four representatives from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), as well as a representative each from National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA), the Department of Agriculture (DA), and the Department of Science and Technology-PAGASA (DOST-PAGASA). The delegation is also ably strengthened by the presence of several civil society representatives, led by Ateneo School of Government Dean Antonio La Viña. Youth delegates were also tapped to join the Philippine contingent.
The CCC and the DFA have been pushing for stronger government representation and coordination in the UNFCCC COP process, particularly given the scale of the impact of climate change as manifested by Supertyphoon Yolanda/Haiyan and other devastating natural disasters, and the country's leadership role in UN, ASEAN and other international fora. The need to further synergize the climate change adaptation (CCA) and disaster risk reduction (DRR) agendas is another priority of the government.
"We are happy that we obtained the support of our sister government agencies in ensuring that the Philippines will be strongly represented in this COP. We have members of the delegation who have been participating since the first UNFCCC conferences, joined by newer experts from various institutions. We have also enlisted new and younger negotiators to join us in Lima and learn from those who have been negotiating for the Philippines since the start of the process two decades ago, so that the torch of strong climate change advocacy may be passed on. Advocating the Philippines' positions in this COP is a matter of national interest, we are harnessing the technical and political expertise of our delegation members accordingly and in a professional manner," said Assistant Secretary Domingo.
The two-week conference will cover tracks related to climate change adaptation, mitigation, finance, technological transfer and the loss and damage mechanism.
The Philippines has long been a strong voice in the climate negotiations process. In the course of its participation in the 20-year negotiations, not only has it been a strong voice for the country and other developing countries, it has also benefitted from receiving bilateral and multilateral climate grants for its various climate-related projects. END