Gerico Carpiso

Policy Paper: Climate Action Policy

According to a United Nations report, humanity is at risk due to rapid climate change

all over the planet that devastated all states and it is evident that the glaciers are melting that

is increasing the water sea level and slowly consuming lands which are causing floods in

different regions, the case of and also exposing the trapped methane gas inside the glaciers

for millennia brought by the increasing global temperature. This report is backed up by

scientific studies of climate researchers, with the current projection of increasing global

temperature, the glaciers will be no chance for glaciers to come back in a decade

(CBSNEWS, September 28, 2022). The IBERDROLA released a research report that more

than 330 billion tons of melted ice cause the 30% rising ocean growth. This means that the

melting ice or glaciers correlate with the rising sea level worldwide. The melting ice cap of

glaciers affects the weather patterns and natural calamities increasing the strength of storms,

surges, and floods. In the year 2018, the United Nation for Disaster Risk Reduction released a

global study that tells the Philippines is one of the most affected by climate change.

The Philippines experienced super typhoon Yolanda, one of the most powerful

typhoons ever recorded which devastated the southern part of the Philippines, this typhoon

brought powerful storm surges from the sea and strong winds that brought high numbers of

casualties which is the deadliest storm in the Philippines so far. The recent October tropical

storm Paeng was recorded as the second highest fatality with a death toll reaching 150

according to Gulf News (November 3, 2022). According to scientific studies, the rising sea

temperature and sea level contributed to the strength of these typhoons and the increasing

frequency of storms. Two months before 2022 ends, there were already 16 storms recorded

and PAR predicted that there are 20 storms in one year which is why every state must start to

recognize and take action on climate change to prevent or reduce the effect in the future.
 According to the study, the main cause of the rising temperature was the increasing

emission of CO2 brought by human activities such as burning fossil fuels, carbon emission

from aircraft and vehicles, and other industries causing air pollution that gets trapped in the

atmosphere which increases the global temperature. The rapid destruction of the forest also

contributed to the global warming of the planet that melts the glaciers according to the same

report earlier the forest is responsible for CO2 reduction in the atmosphere about 2tons of

CO2 but with rapid deforestation throughout the world. This carbon emission absorption of

the forest is reduced by the increasing number of the wood industry and it does not only

affect the temperature but also disrupts the natural inhabitants of the forest because according

to the study by SOFA (2018), the forest serves as a host to 75% of land species, including

plants, animals which were severely affected by the effect of the global climate change

brought by human activities which were according to United Union for Conservation of

Nature about seventy-seven (77) animals that categorized as extinct in wild (Tom Haddon,

October 7, 2020). In the year 2018, the UN estimated that about thirteen million hectares of

forest are being cut down annually, without a change of policy in preventing the swift and

massive deforestation, reduction of carbon emissions, and climate action it will lead to

massive extinction and increase the global temperature that will cause a domino effect of the

crisis. Life on the land has drastic change since human activities progressed rapidly, this

brought 75% of terrestrial alterations that contributed to climate change (Tom Haddon,

October 7, 2020). The rapid decline of biodiversity was not caused by climate change but by

destructive human activities which brought climate change. Humans progressed at the

expense of nature and other life on the land which brought havoc to our generation and future

generation to come, we exploited nature as we pleased fulfilling our needs and wants but

forgetting that we are already destroying everything and without change in human activities,

nothing will be left behind for the next generation.

 Life beneath the sea was also affected by climate change as mentioned before the

rising temperature in the ocean causes the phenomena called coral bleaching that turns the

colors of corals into white. According to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

and World Life, coral bleaching happens when algae leave due to high temperatures. Without

algae in coral, the corals will not survive and corals rarely come back to life. Other factors

that cause the coral bleaching phenomena and pollution are one of the factors. The corals or

reefs are hosts for diverse ecosystems in the ocean and once the reefs collapsed, it will affect

the small species that live within the reefs disrupting the ecosystem in the ocean. This affects

the source of food for our survival as the reef provides bountiful opportunities for humans if

well-taken care like reef tourism. What is happening is the opposite of the ideal scenario

because not only we are not addressing the concern of the rising temperature of the sea but

humans are damaging the life beneath the ocean because of pollution and overfishing. This

stresses the importance of all states taking action to prevent the irreversible effects of climate

change because no money can buy the fate of humanity that rest on natural life that is being

disrupted by the trajectory of destructive human activities. Without a change in human

activities, without movement from everyone, the next extinction will be humanity.

The policy calls for three steps for everyone, not only government participation but

extends to call individual participation because all of us are the ones responsible for the

climate crisis that is happening and we have been doing it ever since humans progressed so

much in industrialization and it is time to take responsibility over the damage we did to

nature for centuries. Human activities brought the drastic climate change we are currently

experiencing and to preserve the future is to answer the calling of dying ecosystems and

disrupted biosphere.

The first step is to create a series of policy is to decline the rising temperature of the

planet which means that this policy will target all the sources of highly polluting substances
such as coal, farms that are emitting greenhouse gases, and other factories. This means that

all facilities that as expelling high carbon pollution will be closed because it is damaging to

the environment and dangerous to human health. This policy will also target aircraft,

vehicles, and sea vessels that are still using traditional fuels because today, there are vehicles

that are powered by electricity and the energy sources are solar powered which is clean

energy and has zero emission of pollution. This brings the second step of the climate action

policy, since the Philippines is usually experiencing a sunny climate, it will be an advantage

for the Philippines to implement a clean energy act where the state can operate facilities

through solar energy and other clean, sustainable, and renewable energy sources replacing the

traditional fuel energy sources which are contributing to the climate change. The Philippines

are now slowly replacing traditional public transportation which uses fossil fuels that has

high carbon emission, now there are several electronic-powered public vehicles. Admitting

that these new vehicles are expensive which our public drivers cannot afford and this is the

reason why the states should be the ones shouldering the cost of the vehicles as a

commitment to climate action and long-term investment for a greener future.

The policy about the reduction of carbon emission is made up of two parts which are

mentioned earlier; policy stopping CO2 emission by closing facilities that are emitting high

amounts of greenhouse gases that are trapping heat in the atmosphere which is causing the

global temperature to rise, second is the replacement of traditional energy fuels with green

energy sources like geothermal, windmills, solar powers and other clean, and sustainable

energy which doesn’t produce any dangerous substance to the environment that contributes to

climate change. In this way, humans can continue our activities without harming the

environment.

The continuation of the policy of climate action will be climate justice which focuses

on the restoration and rehabilitation of the environment that has been severely damaged by
human activities. The Philippines was third place in the ranking next to Indonesia then China

as of most polluted by plastic waste (Hannah Alcoseba Fernandez, 2020) because products in

single-use plastics come at cheap prices which is why it is highly consumed in the country

due to poverty. This climate justice is important as shown in the study that the country is one

of the top polluters worldwide and this is why the government should recognize climate

change and take action rather than ignoring the environmental advocate’s protests and

condemning the green movements, branding it as part of insurgent groups. The green

movement is revolutionary action of people saving the doomed future of our generation and

there is no violence involved in this movement. There are numerous groups of people,

personalities, and non-government organizations that have been combating the concern of

climate change already by spreading the news about climate change, reforestation challenges,

and clean-up operations in specific spots that are severely polluted. A local town in Japan

called Kamikatsu managed to achieve zero waste in the year 2003 even if there is no truck

collecting garbage (Michelle Ye Hee Lee, Julia Mio Inuma, 2022). Local people were given

incentives in exchange for their garbage in the system of recycling points where they can

redeem eco-friendly products. In this method, people will be motivated to be responsible for

handling waste materials and reducing waste pollution that damage the ecosystem. This is a

problem here in the country, mostly in rural areas because they incinerate their waste

materials for a reason there is no garbage collection in remote areas. The local town of

Kamikatsu in Japan shows that even if there is no garbage truck, it is achievable to have zero

waste pollution. Ecological Solid Waste Management Act is a government policy addressing

the proper segregation of waste, however, only 33% of the entire country can be catered

because there are only five recycling companies and around ten thousand material recovery

facilities only according to Enviliance ASIA. Even if there is a law, without providing the

necessary mechanisms to make it effective like establishing a recycling facility will be futile
action to combat the rising number of plastics in the country. To render it more effective, the

government will establish more recycling facilities through private-public partnerships with

environmental non-government organizations as part of climate action toward a greener

future. Elimination of carbon emissions and waste pollution can help slow down the rising

temperature of the ocean which melts the ice glaciers that cause rising sea levels which puts

seven hundred million lives at risk, especially in the Philippines where coastal areas are

populated. It also helps the damaged ozone layer which protects us from harmful ultraviolet

from the sun.

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