Philippines urged to demonstrate capacity to host climate damage fund
MANILA, Philippines — Campaigners welcomed the Philippines’ bid to host a fund aimed at helping vulnerable countries cope with the costly and damaging impacts of climate change, but they challenged the government to demonstrate its capability to oversee the initiative.
Environment Secretary Maria Yulo-Loyzaga, who heads the Philippine delegation to COP28 climate talks in Dubai, said that the Philippines is most qualified to host the board of the loss and damage fund. The country is also seeking a seat on the fund’s inaugural board, which supervises and governs the mechanism.
Yulo-Loyzaga stressed that the Philippines is a “living testament to the effects of climate change” and has “abiding interest in promoting equitable and just rules in the governance of the global commons.”
COP28 opened last week with the formal establishment of the loss and damage fund long sought by climate-vulnerable nations such as the Philippines. The World Bank will initially serve as the interim trustee and host of the fund.
Joy Reyes, a climate justice lawyer, lauded the government’s bid to host the fund as it shows the country’s leadership in the loss and damage as well as climate justice agenda. The Philippines was one of the strongest voices during the 2013 climate talks in Warsaw, Poland that led to the adoption of an international mechanism on loss and damage.
Living Laudato Si executive director Rodne Galicha said the government’s bid “will largely help processes in attaining a swift actual operationalization and implementation of the mechanism given the context of loss and damage experience, and how the country is moving forward to resiliency.”
He, however, stressed the biggest challenge for the Philippines is to strengthen climate governance and inclusivity through a whole-of-society approach.
“With robust inclusive climate governance, we will be more than ready to take the responsibility,” Galicha told Philstar.com.
‘Meaningful’ engagement with CSOs
John Leo Algo, who serves as the national coordinator of Aksyon Klima Pilipinas, stressed the need for the government to prove that it has the capacity to host the fund.
“There must be a cost-benefit analysis that the government can present to show its capacity. More importantly, it has to prove that it can practice what it preaches across all levels,” he told Philstar.com.
“The government has to reflect justice-related principles in both substantive and procedural ways at the domestic level as much as the global level. That includes genuine and meaningful engagements with Philippine civil society groups, who are among the strongest when it comes to loss and damage-related engagements, in decision-making,” he added.
In pushing for the country’s bid to host the loss and damage fund, Yulo-Loyzaga said the Philippines will ensure the voices and experiences of the climate-vulnerable nations are heard and considered.
She also said the Philippines’ hosting of the loss and damage fund is similar to the country’s hosting of the Asian Development Bank and the regional headquarter of the World Bank.
Early in the Dubai meeting, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., in a message delivered by Special Assistant to the President Antonio Lagdameo Jr., called on the private sector, civil society, governments, and development funding institutions to support the Philippines’ bid to oversee the fund.
Pledges
Following the adoption of the agreement to operationalize the fund, several countries committed $726 million as of Friday.
However, the amount still falls short of the $100 billion per year that developing nations—historically the least responsible for greenhouse gas emissions—have said is necessary to cover losses from climate disasters.
“Now is the time for the Philippine delegation to urge those who have not yet provided pledges to give genuine and tangible commitments that communities can access,” Jefferson Estela, coordinator of Loss and Damage Youth Coalition, said in a briefing Monday.
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