Climate Change or Global warming is the greatest threat facing the planet Earth. If nothing is done to arrest it, this devastating process will be irreversible, thus lethal to Mother Earth. The youth, to whom the future belongs, will be the vulnerable recipient of this threat.
The advocacy on climate change in Sarangani among the youth started last July 2008. Since then activities on Climate Change were launched by the youth themselves in their respective municipalities. Today, all those efforts and initiatives culminate in the Youth Camp in Malungon, Sarangani Province. The culminating activity is a three day affair - January 9 until the 11th of January 2009. This is initiated and organized by OND HESED Foundation and in partnership of World Vision, SPECTRUM and the Third World Network (TWN).
The participating youth comprises largely the Sangguniang Kabataan of Sarangani Province, some members of the Catholic Youth Movement of few parishes of the Diocese of Marbel and those that belong to other NGO/POs youth sectors. They come together to consolidate their different resolutions to further advance their campaigns on the issues of Climate Change. It is hoped that the Youth Camp will provide an avenue for the participants to make a provincial platform to discuss the different resolutions made during their respective municipal consultations on climate change. It is also envisioned that this will serve as a forum among the youth to discuss community-based actions to address climate change focusing on adaptation and mitigation strategies; to concretize youth-oriented actions that will serve as inputs to the development of municipal and provincial level strategies on climate change; and to mobilize the youth to strongly urge local governments to adopt municipal and provincial level policies and strategies on climate change.
This youth camp went through a process: the focus group discussion, the different municipal consultations and were participated by more or less 20-30 youths. The youngest of them was 11 years old from Alabel. The aim was to bring these environmental issues into the awareness of the youth and for them to organize as a potent force for change.
The organizers strongly believe that human activities are big factors in the warming up of the earth or the increase of temperature that intensely affects and threatens the survival of all life forms including humans. We believed that the changes in the atmosphere have likely influenced temperature, precipitation, storms and sea level. These changes have impact on the weather as experienced in persistent torrential rains causing landslides and flash floods, killing people and other creatures, destroying properties and environment along its paths; changes in the distribution of good quality water to crops, livestock and inland fish production, loss of arable lands due to increased acidity and associated salinity, ground water depletion, changes in livelihood opportunities, migration of fishers and communities; impact on Coastal and Marine Ecosystems as observed in massive coral bleaching in various reefs, fish kills and high mortality of cultured giant clams in ocean nurseries; impacts on food security and health risks as many biological organisms linked to the spread of infectious diseases are especially influenced by the fluctuation in climate change variables like dengue fever, malaria sensitive to such climate parameters as temperature relative humidity and rainfall climate related.
Climate Change is an ethical or moral issue. Climate change is a question of justice, responsibility, and common good. For instance, it is unfair or unjust that those who contribute least to climate change are the ones who suffer most. The women, the children and the villages of the poor in Third World countries suffered most of the consequences of climate change. It is therefore imperative that we focus on the ethical or moral principles that center on issues of climate change. There is a need to consider seriously the principle of equal rights to emission tempered with sustainable development. We need also to consider the precautionary principle as we chart our policies and strategies on mitigating climate change.
We are therefore calling our government leaders together with the leaders of other sectors of our society to be guided by these ethical or moral principles in charting appropriate strategies to at least mitigate the increasing impact of greenhouses gases. We urge them to be critical in their ways of doing things and to enjoin the youth in the campaigns to save the Mother Earth from devastation.
The advocacy on climate change in Sarangani among the youth started last July 2008. Since then activities on Climate Change were launched by the youth themselves in their respective municipalities. Today, all those efforts and initiatives culminate in the Youth Camp in Malungon, Sarangani Province. The culminating activity is a three day affair - January 9 until the 11th of January 2009. This is initiated and organized by OND HESED Foundation and in partnership of World Vision, SPECTRUM and the Third World Network (TWN).
The participating youth comprises largely the Sangguniang Kabataan of Sarangani Province, some members of the Catholic Youth Movement of few parishes of the Diocese of Marbel and those that belong to other NGO/POs youth sectors. They come together to consolidate their different resolutions to further advance their campaigns on the issues of Climate Change. It is hoped that the Youth Camp will provide an avenue for the participants to make a provincial platform to discuss the different resolutions made during their respective municipal consultations on climate change. It is also envisioned that this will serve as a forum among the youth to discuss community-based actions to address climate change focusing on adaptation and mitigation strategies; to concretize youth-oriented actions that will serve as inputs to the development of municipal and provincial level strategies on climate change; and to mobilize the youth to strongly urge local governments to adopt municipal and provincial level policies and strategies on climate change.
This youth camp went through a process: the focus group discussion, the different municipal consultations and were participated by more or less 20-30 youths. The youngest of them was 11 years old from Alabel. The aim was to bring these environmental issues into the awareness of the youth and for them to organize as a potent force for change.
The organizers strongly believe that human activities are big factors in the warming up of the earth or the increase of temperature that intensely affects and threatens the survival of all life forms including humans. We believed that the changes in the atmosphere have likely influenced temperature, precipitation, storms and sea level. These changes have impact on the weather as experienced in persistent torrential rains causing landslides and flash floods, killing people and other creatures, destroying properties and environment along its paths; changes in the distribution of good quality water to crops, livestock and inland fish production, loss of arable lands due to increased acidity and associated salinity, ground water depletion, changes in livelihood opportunities, migration of fishers and communities; impact on Coastal and Marine Ecosystems as observed in massive coral bleaching in various reefs, fish kills and high mortality of cultured giant clams in ocean nurseries; impacts on food security and health risks as many biological organisms linked to the spread of infectious diseases are especially influenced by the fluctuation in climate change variables like dengue fever, malaria sensitive to such climate parameters as temperature relative humidity and rainfall climate related.
Climate Change is an ethical or moral issue. Climate change is a question of justice, responsibility, and common good. For instance, it is unfair or unjust that those who contribute least to climate change are the ones who suffer most. The women, the children and the villages of the poor in Third World countries suffered most of the consequences of climate change. It is therefore imperative that we focus on the ethical or moral principles that center on issues of climate change. There is a need to consider seriously the principle of equal rights to emission tempered with sustainable development. We need also to consider the precautionary principle as we chart our policies and strategies on mitigating climate change.
We are therefore calling our government leaders together with the leaders of other sectors of our society to be guided by these ethical or moral principles in charting appropriate strategies to at least mitigate the increasing impact of greenhouses gases. We urge them to be critical in their ways of doing things and to enjoin the youth in the campaigns to save the Mother Earth from devastation.
