MANILA, February 14, 2013-Senator Loren Legarda today hailed US President Barack Obama’s strong stance to take action in combatting climate change and expressed optimism that with his leadership, other countries would follow suit in working for a climate-resilient world.
“President Obama’s directive to the US Congress to craft a measure that would encourage cut-down on pollution and greenhouse gas emissions gives us hope that we are on the road to building a climate-resilient world,” said Legarda, the United Nations Regional Champion for Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change Adaptation.
“President Obama should be a leader of the world and set an example by reducing the USA’s fossil fuel consumption, promoting use of renewable energy, providing better support for agricultural workers and vulnerable sectors, and assisting developing nations who bear the brunt of disasters caused by climate change,” she added.
In his State of the Union address, Obama said that if the US Congress does not pass a bill that would urge the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, he will do it himself through executive action, stressing that progress can be achieved without having to undertake measures that would result to increasing the threats of climate change.
The United States is one of the world’s largest emitters of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.
Legarda said that she hopes other world leaders would also take a similar stance on climate change because “it is a defining political issue that means livelihood, jobs, homes, and our very survival.”
“World leaders must not allow people to continuously suffer from floods, hunger, displacement, and economic setbacks. This is ‘disaster risk reduction politics’. The past disasters that have depressed many nations should remind world leaders of their great responsibility to lead people out of the crises and uncertainties brought about by unsustainable development, worsening disasters and climate change,” Legarda concluded.
