WHY WE ARE IN PANAMA

The following are excerpts from an entry in Comm. Yeb Sano's Facebook account:

Pinoy Climate Team in battle for PHL survival as climate talks open in Panama

(Panama City, October 5) A battle-weary Philippine delegation quietly arrived in Panama with a vow to fight for the survival of Filipinos facing worsening climate change. At least three climate change-linked consecutive typhoons recently battered the country in a span of two weeks, resulting in damages reaching PhP 8 billion (USD 200 million).

“Millions of Filipinos are already suffering yet we are only seeing initial climate change impacts. Progress must be made in the climate treaty negotiations. We are here in Panama to tell the world that climate change is a matter of life and death for the Philippines,” said Commissioner Naderev “Yeb” Saño of the Climate Change Commission.

The CCC is leading the Philippine delegation in what is considered the most critical round of talks concerning the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Panama. The Panama round "has enormous implications on the success or failure of the Durban Climate Change Summit in November," Saño said.

Together with Saño are other government members, including Director Ivy Banzon  of the DFA, Dir. Alicia Ilaga of the DA and Albert Magalang of the DENR. The team is bolstered by a pool of advisers from civil society represented by Bernarditas Muller, Antonio La Viña (Dean of the Ateneo School of Government), Victoria Tauli-Corpuz (Tebtebba), Atty. Elipidio Peria (Aksyon Klima), Jasper Inventor (Greenpeace), Atty. Vicente Paolo Yu (South Centre), Shubert Ciencia (PRRM), Athena Ronquillo-Ballesteros (World Resources Institute),  Atty. James Kho, Joanne Dulce, Lawrence Ang, and Leticia Labre (Ateneo School of Government)...