'Filipino kids hit hard by climate change'

LUCKY BOYS Vice President Sara Duterte poses for a photo with two boys during the celebration of World Children’s Day on Sunday, Nov. 19, 2023, at the Quezon City Memorial Circle. PHOTO BY ISMAEL DE JUAN

By Ma. Reina Leanne Tolentino

VICE President and Education Secretary Sara Duterte said climate change has hit Filipino children hard, thus the need to address the crisis.

"This year, let us acknowledge the urgent need to address the climate crisis — a threat that disproportionately impacts children and threatens their prospects. The climate crisis is a child rights crisis that affects children's lives, education and health. And climate change is hitting Filipino kids hard."

She said typhoons cause flooding, landslides and storm surges in high-risk areas, affecting children.

The vice president said the country ranked first in the World Risk Index for 2022.

From 2016 to 2021, about 9.7 million Filipino children were displaced because of climate-change related events.

"These displacements caused increased diseases, respiratory illnesses and long-term mental health issues among children," she said.

"Disasters force children to miss school, affect their learning and their future. In rural communities, where agriculture is the main industry, these calamities generate food shortages and malnutrition," she added.

Duterte said children must be given "meaningful participation" in the fight against climate change.

"As adults, we must commit to walking the talk. We can start by reducing our carbon footprints and living sustainably. We must also promote programs that encourage kids to improve their community's disaster resilience. The upcoming COP28 presents a critical opportunity for the Philippine government to design and implement child-responsive climate action that prioritizes the needs and perspectives of children."

More deaths

Experts earlier warned that more people will die from extreme heat and that without action, the health of humanity "is at grave risk."

The Lancet Countdown, a major annual assessment carried out by leading researchers and institutions, said more common droughts will put millions at risk of starving, mosquitoes spreading farther than ever before will take infectious diseases with them, and health systems will struggle to cope with the burden.

Last year people worldwide were exposed to an average of 86 days of life-threatening temperatures, according to the Lancet Countdown study. Around 60 percent of those days were made more than twice as likely due to climate change, it said.

The number of people over 65 who died from heat rose by 85 percent from 1991-2000 to 2013-2022, it added.

"However, these impacts that we are seeing today could be just an early symptom of a very dangerous future," Lancet Countdown's executive director Marina Romanello said.

Under a scenario in which the world warms by two degrees Celsius by the end of the century — it is currently on track for 2.7 C — annual heat-related deaths were projected to increase 370 percent by 2050. That marks a 4.7-fold increase.

Around 520 million more people will experience moderate or severe food insecurity by mid-century, according to the projections.

And mosquito-borne infectious diseases will continue to spread into new areas. The transmission of dengue would increase by 36 percent under a 2.0 C warming scenario, according to the study.

WITH AFP

PH gov't in talks to send 5 more PH eagles to Mandai Wild Reserve in Singapore

 

BY ANTONIO COLINA IV

  

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DAVAO CITY – The national government is in talks with Singaporea environment officials to send five additional Philippines eagles to the Bird Paradise in Mandai Wild Reserve in Singapore for “conservation breeding” under another loan program, an official of the Philippine Eagle Foundation (PEF) said.

 

Dr. Jayson Ibañez, PEF director for Research and Conservation, said the foundation has already pre-identified the birds that will be brought to the Singapore zoo once the agreement is finalized.

 

He said, however, that it remains unclear as to when the loaning of additional raptors will happen, but added that negotiations are underway.

 

Ibañez explained that the loan program is going to be part of the efforts to conserve the critically endangered Philippine eagle from extinction. 

 

“Just imagine all our captive birds are in one facility. If a catastrophe happens, all of them will die. That’s what they call ‘all eggs in one basket syndrome. Let’s distribute breeding stocks and spread the risks,” he said.

 

He said a risk assessment would still have to be undertaken by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), PEF, and other wildlife experts to identify the potential risks, including the threats and diseases.

 

He said that the five birds are all captive-bred, and that they can “tolerate the breeding conditions.” 

 

The Philippine eagle is a species declared critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature since 1996. To date, the PEF estimated that there are only 392 pairs of Philippine eagles in the wild.

 

In June 2019, the country sent Philippine Eagles “Geothermica” and “Sambisig” to Jurong Bird Park in Singapore for a 10-year loan program agreement signed by the Philippine government with Wildlife Reserves Singapore to protect the critically endangered raptors from extinction due to calamities and diseases.

 

However, 19-year-old Geothermica died last September from a fungal infection caused by Aspergillus molds.

 

“I don’t think there were lapses because Singapore zoo is one of the best facilities… Although it’s sad, we think it should not stop us from exploring cooperative breeding with the help of international partners because we cannot do it alone. There are successful partnerships or models that we can follow,” he said.

 

Of the five raptors, Ibañez said that four belong to two pairs, and the one male raptor would be paired with Sambisig.

 

He added that cooperative breeding saved critically endangered birds California condor and bearded vultures from going extinct.

An example to follow

 

By Fr. Roy Cimagala

Chaplain

Center for Industrial Technology and Enterprise (CITE)

Talamban, Cebu City

Email: roycimagala@gmail.com

ESPECIALLY when we enjoy a lot of blessings and privileges in our life, and yet also carry with us our share of shameful weaknesses, failures and sins, the example of Zaccheus, the rich chief tax collector who had great love for Christ, (cfr. Lk 19,1-10) should inspire us.

As we read in that gospel narrative, Zaccheus knew well who and how he was with regard to his spiritual and moral life. He had great faith and love for Christ, but given the nature of his work, he also had his dark and ugly part of his life. 

The life of Zaccheus resonates with many of us who find ourselves grappling with contrasting features of our life—an abiding, if dormant, faith in God, and a load of weaknesses and sins. We can have both love of God and a certain attraction to evil or concupiscence. What we should do is to follow the example of Zaccheus.

We should not be ashamed of our weaknesses and sins, and instead of letting them be the reason to stay away from God, they should rather urge us to go to God as quickly as possible. 

God always forgives. In the book of Ezekiel, we read, “Do you think that I like to see wicked people die? says the Sovereign Lord. Of course not! I want them to turn from their wicked ways and live.” (18,23)

And in the Gospel of St. John, we read, “For God sent the Son into the world, not to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him. He who believes in him is not condemned; he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.” (3,17-18)

And so, we should not stay long feeling guilty, sad, burdened, worried, afraid and ashamed when we commit sins. All we have to do is to ask for forgiveness and the grace of God, so we can start healing our weaknesses that gave an opening to temptations and sins, as well as gaining strength to do more good things.

We have to remember that Christ has already paid the ransom for all our sins. We should just be quick to ask for that ever available mercy of God and move on, atoning for our sins and doing a lot of good things.

Yes, in spite of our weaknesses, failures and sins, we can afford to live a happy, peaceful, hopeful and confident life, because Christ has assured us of divine mercy. In fact, Christian life is such a life.

This mercy of God, of course, is not meant to spoil us. Rather, it is meant to teach us how to repay love with love and to be God-like as we should. There should be an impulse in us to grow better and mature in our spiritual life of love for God and others. Absent this impulse, the only possibility is to get spoiled.

This love is shown when we develop a true and deep spirit of penance. We have to learn to acknowledge our sins and weaknesses and to go to regular confession. We cannot return to the right path unless we first acknowledge our mistakes. We should be man enough to do that, always at the impulse of grace which God never refuses to give.

As we can see, Christian life is truly a happy life. When we are not happy or when we are not at peace and hopeful, it can only mean one thing: we are not yet with Christ!