Press Release
October 7, 2009

Climate change a threat to human lives
LOREN CITES "DOABLE AND IMPLEMENTABLE" STRATEGIES
TO AVERT NATURAL DISASTERS

As the country recovers from the onslaught of typhoons Ondoy and Pepeng, Senator Loren B. Legarda underscored the need for good governance and an efficient disaster response and management system to minimize the impact of natural calamities.

"While we cannot avoid natural disasters, we can prevent them from turning into epic human tragedies if we are adequately prepared," said Loren who chairs the Senate Committee on Climate Change.

She blames poor urban governance and the non-implementation of the Solid Waste Management Act for the massive flooding in Metro Manila. The Senator and environment advocate is pushing for a P10 billion supplemental budget for disaster-stricken towns, saying that "we must pour in funds to our local government and empower LGUs to take action."

"We already know the problem. What we lack is the political will and a sense of urgency to arrest the impacts of climate change. It took a typhoon of Ondoy's magnitude to remind us of what we could have prevented," laments Loren.

She adds, "Climate change and other man-induced disasters destroy lives and halt economic progress. After the wanton destruction of our environment, nature is fighting back with unimaginable consequences."

Loren in her privilege speech yesterday called on LGUs to enforce Solid Waste Management (SWM), implement a fast clean up drive, dredging of waterways, and massive tree planting. She urged Congress to expedite the release of funds for these efforts.

"What we often fail to see is the human face of climate change. It translates to agricultural loss, food scarcity and the loss of livelihood for millions of people. It can instantly take lives as we have seen in the 270 Ondoy and Pepeng fatalities," said Loren.

The bill seeking to establish the Climate Change Commission to coordinate, monitor and evaluate the programs and action plans of the government relating to climate change will be signed this month.

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