Source: Business Mirror, the (Philippines)
Source type: Newspaper
Published on: 31 May 2010
The newly-created CCC, led by Secretary Heherson Alvarez, represented the Philippines during the second Asia-Europe Meeting (Asem) Development Conference held at Yogyakarta, Indonesia, on May 26 and 27.
During the meeting, speakers from Cambodia and Europe have recognized the reforestation programs of the Philippines as part of the mitigation efforts to combat climate change, the CCC said.
Aside from the Philippines, countries belonging to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) such as Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam are also implementing massive reforestation programs which the officials explained as "gateways to a low-carbon community."
Dirk Messner, a professor and director of the German Development Institute, also stressed during the conference that "dangerous climate change can only be avoided by low-carbon development," adding that "if Asem countries [Asia and Europe] would go for low-carbon development, they could transform the global economy."
Alvarez, who is now in Norway for the Oslo Climate and Forest Conference 2010, hosted by Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg, said the Philippines has been pushing for massive reforestation to address climate change.
"The forest is important in our global fight against climate change because trees capture carbon dioxide in the atmosphere," Alvarez was earlier quoted, adding that the atmosphere is now loaded with greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide which causes global warming and climate change.
An output of the conference is the Yogyakarta Declaration, which will be an input to the forthcoming Asem-8 Brussels Summit on Oct. 4 and 5.
In the declaration, delegates recognized the challenges of forest protection, investment in research and development on low-carbon technology, training of experts on low-carbon matters, low-carbon growth with positive effects on job creation, awareness raising, and urbanization.
The conference was a follow-up to the Asem-7 Beijing Summit Declaration on Sustainable Development and the first Asem Development Conference held in Manila on April 20 and 21.
Asem is a vital forum for dialogue between Europe and Asia and is the main multilateral channel for communication and dialogue between Asia and Europe since 1996.
Around 200 high-level officials and experts from Asia and Europe, as well as representatives of international organizations and civil-society organizations attended the conference for a debate on the future of Asia-Europe cooperation for sustainable development that focused on three themes, namely, climate change and low-carbon development, social cohesion and policy coherence for development. -- J. Mayuga
J. Mayuga, The Business Mirror
http://businessmirror.com.ph/index.php?option=com_content&;view=article&id=25815:rp-reforestation-program-cited-by-climate-change-conference-in-indonesia&catid=45:regions&Itemid=71
