WWF for Nature stresses need to adapt, mitigate climate change

By Vicente W. Villavert

Tuesday 20th of March 2012

ILOILO CITY, March 20 (PIA) -- Citing the extreme weather pattern and Iloilo’s experience on typhoon Frank, which brought multi-million pesos’ worth of devastations to life, property, infrastructure and agriculture, Climate Change and Energy Program of World Wildlife Fund for Nature has stressed the need to come up with strategies on how to adapt and mitigate the effects of climate change.

Denise Danielle Galvez, project officer of the Climate Change and Energy Program of World Wildlife Fund for Nature, was in Iloilo City to discuss “Climate Change: Adaptation and Mitigation” before a crowd of about 300 barangay officials, students, representatives from national and local government agencies and the media, during the seminar on Electricity Conservation in Households and Schools, organized by the Department of Energy, in cooperation with the World Wide Fund for Nature Philippines and the Philippine Information Agency.

Galvez said that global warming and climate change is caused by among others, emission of Carbon dioxide and other human activities. She added that stronger greenhouse effect will warm the oceans, partially melt the ice and will contribute the projected sea level rise in coming decades.

The transport sector also contributes a large percentage of carbon dioxide emissions, she said, “Even while the Philippines is not a major emitter of carbon dioxide in the entire world, yet according to a study, the Philippines is considered as the sixth most vulnerable to the impact of climate change.”

She emphasized the need for increasing the level of understanding of the public as well as educating them about adaptation to climate change.

PIA 6 director Janet C. Mesa urged the participants also take active part in global warming as she encouraged everyone to join in the launching of the Earth Hour 2012 on March 31.

Earth Hour is a global environmental initiative started in 2007 in Sydney, Australia where both households and businesses made a stand against climate change by switching off their lights for one hour.

Mesa said she hopes that the seminar on electricity conservation in households and schools will move the participants to share what they learned from the lectures to their friends and to the rest of the community so that they will be more aware of their energy usage and its effect on the environment.

Senior Science Research Specialist Genevieve L. Almonares of DOE discussed on the DOE Efficiency Plans and Programs, while Joan Sotelo and DOE, and Engr. Randy Pastolero of the Panay Electric Cooperative, gave household energy conservation tips; and teaching consumers how to read electric meter and understand electric bill, respectively. (JCM/VWV-PIA6 Iloilo)