UNITY STATEMENT OF VARIOUS UPLB STUDENT ORGANIZATIONS AND INSTITUTIONS IN OBSERVANCE OF THE GLOBAL DAY OF CLIMATE ACTION
Before the pandemic metamorphoses the “normal” the world knew, the detrimental brunt of climate change has already established the “new normal” that knows no mercy in the hands of nature. But even with this, humanity continues to neglect the responsibility to make the necessary actions concerning climate change mitigation, adaptation, impact reduction, and early warning. In September 2019, millions of people took the climate protest to the streets notwithstanding time zones and cultural differences. The call for environmental justice is continuously growing and loud to seek attention from our world leaders. And this year, while the world seems to be left groping of what is to come as COVID-19 continuously ravages it, the environmental pressures and issues are still persistent, therefore, the campaign for immediate climate action should never cease.
We are expected to come up with solutions and act on it as we prepare for further detrimental damages caused by the government as they prioritize big companies and personal vendettas over the welfare of nature and humanity. Exploitation of natural resources and decline in our forest cover due to conversion of our forest lands - to pave way for projects such as mining, logging, and now, construction of Kaliwa dam - all contribute to overall changes in temperature, shifting seasons, rising sea level, and other climate change impacts; the nature’s ability to adapt and survive is tested. The government’s approval of these projects also gives the companies access to perpetrate horrible acts upon the country’s “the environmental defenders.”
Despite having served as a model of environmental laws, the Philippines has yet to effectively induce strict enforcement in its own territories. But with the recent passing of the Anti-terror law which operates under vague conditions, the fight of the environmental defenders now comes with the profusion of terror for their own lives. The issue of rights violation of our environmental defenders and the illegal land conversion are just two out of hundreds of ecological crises our country is facing. The poor air quality in the cities induced by rapid urbanization, deforestation, imported wastes, pollution brought about by large-scale companies that produce great amounts of (single-use) plastics (etc.). The same goes for the declining quality of water. The rapid clearing of our forests due to increasing demand, illegal and legal logging, mining operations, unsustainable shifting agricultural practices, poaching of numerous threatened species vital to the diversity of our ecosystems, and other destructive human activities. Combining these circumstances with the lack of government intervention and citizen participation drastically worsens the situation of our environment even more. We, as human beings, all share the responsibility of protecting the environment, through accepting accountability and awareness about the environmental crisis that we are experiencing, along with the initiative to act accordingly to bring the now-barren lands back into its luscious green predecessors. As mere stewards of the environment, it is our duty to protect it for the generations to come.
In Macli-ing Dulag’s own words as he fought to defend the ancestral land in Kalinga, “How can you own that which will outlive you?”.
Today, as we observe Global Day of Climate Action, the College of Human Ecology Student Council together with the College of Forestry and Natural Resources Student Council join hands in thrusting our commitment to protect the environment. We demand the government to heed the call of the people and the future generation for CLIMATE JUSTICE. Strengthen policies that ensure sustainability of projects, revise and strengthen laws that aim to provide protection to natural resources of the country such as NIPAS Act and IP Agenda for the protection of our Indigenous Peoples. We should act now!
Signed by:
College of Human Ecology Student Council
College of Forestry and Natural Resources Student Council
Association of Filipino Forestry Students
UPLB Forestry Society
UP Varrons Ltd.
Samahan ng mga Mag-aaral ng Teknolohiyang Panlipunan - UPLB
UP Kappa Phi Sigma - Conservation and Development Society
UP Society of Human Settlements Planners
UP Human Ecology Student Society
UPLB Human and Family Development Society
UP Oikos
Philippine Association of Nutrition Alpha Omega Chapter
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