President Aquino sets US trip to attend UN summit on global climate change

President Benigno S. Aquino III graces the premier screening of the “Rescue in the Philippines: Refuge from the Holocaust” at the Rizal Hall of the Malacañan Palace on Thursday (August 07) documentary showed how the Philippines became asylum of approximately 1,300 Jews who escaped Nazi tyranny during World War II. The Rescue was orchestrated by their Philippine President Manuel Quezon, US High Commissioner Paul McNutt, US Army Colonel Dwight Eisenhower, and the five Frieder brothers. (Photo by Benhur Arcayan / Malacañang Photo Bureau)

MANILA — The Philippines will urge developed countries to agree to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions to address the challenge of climate change when President Benigno S. Aquino III delivers a speech in the Global Climate Change Summit during his upcoming visit to the United States this September 23 to 24.

In a Palace press briefing, Climate Change Commission Secretary Mary Ann Lucille Sering underscored the need for consensus among 95 percent of scientists that the rise in temperature is human-induced since 1950s.

“So isa sa itutulak natin ay dapat bawasan na po ito at kung hangga’t maaari bawasan na ‘yung concentration nitong tinatawag na mga greenhouse gases na siyang tinuturong dahilan dahil may correlation sa pagtaas ng temperatura doon sa pagbabago ng klima,” she said.

Sering noted that experiences of countries in addressing global climate change and adaptation can impel them to make a decision.

She said the Global Climate Change Summit hosted by United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon on September 23 will bring together world leaders together to finally make a solution on how to reduce the impacts of climate change.

“Ito po kasi ang talagang nais ni Secretary General Ban Ki-moon na iangat ‘yung usapin ng climate change at that level kasi po 20 years na nagne-negotiate ang buong mundo at that lower level at parang patuloy pa rin na nagne-negotiate hanggang ngayon,” she said.

The one-day Summit will mark the first time in five years that world leaders will get together to chart a bold, new course of action on climate change.

President Aquino and other leaders are expected to announce significant and substantial initiatives to help move the world toward a path that will limit global warming.

Sering said the New York Summit will be followed by the holding of a Climate Change Conference slated in Lima, Peru this year, as countries move towards a global agreement that will be forged in Paris in 2015.

“Kaya nga ho importante ‘yung next year na agreement kasi magkakaroon siya ng legal implication na kung ang bawat bansa ay magbibigay ng numero at kung paano nila maiibsan, or paano i-reduce ‘yung greenhouse gas. Ilalagay natin ito sa global agreeement para magkaroon pa ng ngipin, para singilin ang mga bansang ito na nagsasabing gagawin nila ang dapat nilang gawin para mag-contribute in solving climate change,” she added.

Before his visit to the US, President Aquino and his delegation will embark on a four-nation trip to Europe from September 13-22. The trip aims to enhance Philippine diplomatic relations and trade and investment links with Spain, Belgium, France and Germany.