One million Filipino youth clamor for climate action

MANILA–More than a million Filipino youth signed a campaign urging world leaders to seal a climate deal that will oblige countries to reduce its carbon emissions and prevent the catastrophic impacts of climate change.

 

The #Nowph campaign is a project by the Climate Change Commission (CCC) and National Youth Commission that aims to solidify the youth’s stance as an actie voice in urging world leaders to get their act together at the Paris climate talks.

 

“Unlike other signature campaigns that ends upon the collection of signatures, what we want with the Nowph campaign is a long-term engagement of our youth on how they can actively participate in the country’s climate agenda,” said CCC assistant secretary Joyceline Goco.

 

The signatures were collected over the last six months in different parts of the country. Almost half of the Philippines’ 92 million population are youth aged 5 to 24 years old.

 

#Nowph member and campaigner Edisen Mamauag, a senior high school student from Jaen town in Nueva Ecija, said the initiative is a good way to provide the youth a voice on how to tackle important social issues such as climate change.

 

“We need to start with the youth to ensure the sustainability of present action on climate change into the future. We have a misconception that most youth are apathetic but there are also many young people who are interested to learn more by providing them access to the right kind of information and tools for learning to champion a cause such as those related to ensuring resiliency against climate change,” Mamauag said.

 

 

He stressed that he is engaging his fellow youth and schoolmates to discuss solutions on how they can help lower their carbon footprint, aside from actively joining education workshops on climate change.

 

“I am optimistic with the potential of #Nowph to work with other Filipino youth so we can engage our national and local leaders on climate change efforts and to tell them that the youth is willing to work with them to provide solutions. We also believe in the power of peer learning as we keep ourselves updated on important global talks such as the Paris climate summit. We must act with local solutions while also keeping tabs on global developments on the issue,” Mamauag said.

 

Mamuag added that he looks at global youth efforts online to get ideas on how other youth abroad help craft talks and initiatives to engage their communities.

 

“I hope the world leaders will think of our future and the importance of a climate deal in Paris. Our future and our very survival as part of a vulnerable nation is dependent on it,” said Mamauag.

 

Apart from gathering one million youth signatures both online and offline, CCC and NYC held nationwide education and awareness campaigns to make the youth understand the importance of a climate deal as a commitment among countries—both developed and developing—to lower their carbon emissions, said Goco.

 

One avenue for continuous engagement is social media, wherein the youth can use the #Nowph to report and document their own initiatives in school and at their community on engaging their peers about the climate change issue, said Goco.

 

Goco added that the #Nowph network will also be part of future education campaigns such as the inclusion of climate change in the K+12 curriculum and other volunteer-driven events on how to raise awareness on climate change.

 

 

photo credit: #Nowph