PHL praised for leading vulnerable nations in fight vs. climate change

The member-states of the Climate Vulnerable Forum (CVF) praised the Philippines for leading the fight for climate justice during the 19-month servitude as head of the group of highly susceptible nations to the adverse effects of climate change.

"The Philippines has set the bar very, very high. This forum has achieved a huge momentum and the Paris Agreement session, the COP21 has been exemplary to demonstrate what the Philippines and the CVF have achieved," Dr. Shiferaw Teklemariam Menbacho, minister of Environment, Forestry and Climate Change of Ethiopia and the incoming chair of the CVF said.

"The climate challenge, however, is far from being resolved. So, in taking forward the work of this important group, we will strive to continue to strengthen our impact. The lives and livelihoods of our people are at stake and we cannot gamble that away," he added.

Since January 2015, the Philippines has been the chair of the CVF. The country is scheduled to turn over the position to Ethiopia at the end of the high-level Climate Policy Forum on August 15.

The CVF is a global intergovernmental body of collaboration exclusive to developing countries that are particularly vulnerable to the negative effects of climate change.

For his part, Secretary Emmanuel De Guzman of the Climate Change Commission (CCC) urged his colleagues to continue being "revolutionaries fighting for the planet's future."

"This is a revolution we in the CVF must lead because we are the countries that will fall first if the 1.5 degrees global warming limit of the Paris Agreement is breached," De Guzman said.

"We need to strengthen further our bonds and collaborate more, we need to be more vocal and more visible. It is in this context that we hold this seminar today," he added. —John Ted Cordero/ALG, GMA News