DAVAO CITY – Climate Change Secretary Heherson Alvarez is calling for communities to act in helping curb climate change, particularly lessening its consumption of various equipment that produce carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

Speaking before the Club 888 media forum here recently, Alvarez revealed that there is a need to urge community action despite having guidelines in decarbonization or the lessening of carbon in the atmosphere.

“We need guidelines. But for it to be operational, we need community action. Even by just doing small acts of decarbonization such as lessening our consumption of fuel,” he said, citing the use of air-conditioning units to only at least an hour per day.

Alvarez also expressed concern on food plantation systems especially here. “We have to protect food plantation systems and where else can you find food plantation systems in vast scale, but here in Davao,” he said.

In a statement, Alvarez also urged the business community to support the global endeavor of reducing carbon dioxide emissions through investing in environmental programs that could cut energy and water usage of their companies.

He reported that at least 1.5 tons of carbon dioxide is being thrown by every individual per annum.
Alvarez disclosed that the Philippines has been calling for deep and early cuts in carbon dioxide emissions by Annex-1 countries of at least 30 percent from 2013 to 2017, 50 percent from 2018 to 2022, and at least 95 percent by 2050, which are all based on 1990 levels.

“Deep and early cut will moderate, if not avert, the accelerating destructive storms brought about by climate change. We are extremely vulnerable because we are in the southwestern pacific area where there is occurrence of many depressions, these depressions mature into storms and violent storms sometimes enter the archipelago,” he said.