Bopha Strengthens Filipino’s Dedication to Finance

Filipino negotiators continue to press for the return of finance negotiations in the latest round of UN talks on climate change in Doha, Qatar. Their calls are all the more urgent with super typhoon Bopha having reached the southern islands of the Philippines early Tuesday morning.

Over 40,000 citizens were evacuated from their homes as wind speeds reached up to 195km per hour. There has been widespread power outages and damage to homes and public infrastructure.

“Even as I speak, my country is once again expecting a category four typhoon that is expected to be worse than the worst that we have had so far,” Bernaditas Mueller, a senior Filipino negotiator, said during the party’s intervention.

“We should be starting our Christmas celebrations, our midnight masses. Instead, we might be starting to count our dead.”

Shortly after the Philippines intervention, other developing countries took turns charging developed nations such as the US, EU and Japan of reneging on financial and emissions-reduction pledges made in the 2009 climate talks in Copenhagen.

A lack of ambition in the face of increased climate risks has been a common theme in statements delivered by African, Latin-American and Carribean countries.

“[Rich nations] do not want any decision on finance to come out of Doha and we cannot allow that,” said Naderev Saño, Deputy Head of the Philippine Delegation, in a press release.

“Although ideal outcomes arising from Doha remain elusive, it is good that the issues of long-term finance, reaching up to $100 billion per year, and medium-term finance, equivalent to raising $60 billion annually until 2020, are once more back on the agenda,” Saño said.

International youth at the negotiations have also issued a statement of solidarity to the Philippines Tuesday morning.

“The time for inaction is long lost, yet still the talks stagnate while those responsible for this crisis are able to stand in the way of justice.”

“For now, we stand with the Philippines. We stand with the millions of people around the world paying for the ignorance and arrogance of countries and fossil fuel corporations who put the interests of profits ahead of the needs of people.”

Bopha is the country’s 16th extreme weather event this year.

By Monica Christoffels, photo by Laura Owsianka.