Climate change mitigation

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LEADERS of various countries are meeting in Glasgow, Scotland until Nov. 12 in what is known as United Nations climate change conference of parties (COP26). Virtually and physically, the leaders and scientific experts are working on concrete action plans to combat global warming, which has caused massive, destructive and frequent heat waves, floods, thunderstorms, hurricanes, landslides, earthquakes and other natural disasters.

Specifically, the COP26 summit brought concerned parties together to accelerate action towards the goals of the Paris Agreement and the UN Framework Convention on Climate change. Host United Kingdom said it is committed to working with all countries and joining forces with civil society, companies and people on the frontline of climate change.

The UK has emphasized at the onset of the two-week summit that the group needs “to put people, nature and climate at the core of our food systems.” Simply stated, this means the 45 governments would “pledge urgent action and investment to protect nature and shift to more sustainable ways of farming” to cut greenhouse gas emissions.

‘It seems President Duterte has softened his criticism of the Paris Agreement as evidenced by the Philippines’ participation in international forums such as the COP26. This is a welcome development considering that our nation of 110 million cannot live in isolation from the rest of the world.’

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Examples of greenhouse gas emissions are carbon dioxide released by the burning of forests to clear land for farming, and methane from cows and other livestock as they digest food.

Supporters of the move include major economies led by the United States, Japan and Germany and developing nations such as India, Indonesia, Morocco, Vietnam, Gabon, Ethiopia, Ghana and Uruguay, aside from the Philippines.

Meanwhile, more than 10 new countries have signed up to a goal of protecting at least 30 percent of the oceans by 2030, as the seas suffer from warming and over-fishing. These countries are India, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Jamaica, St Lucia, Sri Lanka, Qatar, Samoa, Tonga, Gambia and Georgia.

It was pointed out at the summit that with the rising population, it was vital to curb global warming stoked by conventional farming, deforestation and other land use practices that account for about 1/4 of humanity’s planet-heating emissions.

The COP26 wanted to limit the rise in global temperatures to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7F) above pre-industrial times, the toughest ambition of the 2015 Paris climate agreement.

Average surface temperatures are already up about 1.2C.

UK Environment Secretary George Eustice said “to keep 1.5 degrees alive, we need action from every part of society, including an urgent transformation in the way we manage ecosystems and grow, produce and consume food on a global scale.”

It seems President Duterte has softened his criticism of the Paris Agreement as evidenced by the Philippines’ participation in international forums such as the COP26. This is a welcome development considering that our nation of 110 million cannot live in isolation from the rest of the world.

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