When Theresa Walgraeve and her husband set up their 15-room resort in Puerto Princesa, a city on the Philippine island of Palawan, they worried about mosquitoes and monsoon damp — and the high cost of electricity.
That’s when the island’s Zero Carbon Resorts program approached them with suggestions on how to save energy and costs — from solar panels and LED lights to rainwater harvesting, refillable bottles and bamboo roofs for extra cooling.
The Walgraeves enrolled in the program, made the changes and achieved significant savings, Theresa Walgraeve said.
Photo: AP
“They were not very big adjustments, but we were able to cut our electricity and water use by a fair amount,” she said.
“Many guests are also mindful and appreciate the fact that we are zero carbon. And we are happy that we make a difference to not just Puerto Princesa and Palawan, but also the Earth.”
In 2011, Puerto Princesa became the first Southeast Asian city to earn a “zero carbon” label, meaning it produces no more climate-changing emissions than it can offset, according to an audit by environmental partnership SEED and the Manila Observatory.
In fact, by preserving its forests, using “green building” design and shunning the diesel that once powered generators in homes and hotels, the city is “carbon negative” — meaning it pulls more carbon dioxide from the atmosphere than it emits, according to the audit.
That makes it an outlier in the Philippines.
But it — like other Philippines cities — has motivation to act: the nation is one of those most severely hit by wild weather triggered by climate change, with its coastal cities particularly vulnerable to rising sea levels and deadly storms.
A report by the world’s leading climate scientists, released yesterday, gives a stark warning that such threats will continue to grow unless the world can hold hikes in global temperatures to 1.5 degrees Celsius — just a half degree higher than today.
Around the world, cities are at the frontline of the battle to curb emissions, as urbanization surges. More than two-thirds of the world’s population is forecast to live in cities by 2050, according to the United Nations.
Cities consume also more than two-thirds of the world’s energy and account for about three-quarters of carbon dioxide emissions, according to the UN.
“High-growth Southeast Asian cities are very vulnerable, yet lagging behind in incorporating more renewable energy generation in their plans,” said Rob Roggema, a professor and urban sustainability expert at the University of Technology Sydney.
“Often, it is the lack of political will that is the reason. But it can be done — no matter how big or small the city — with the participation of residents and the private sector,” he said.
A GREEN EPIPHANY
Most cities around the world are already dealing with the effects of climate change, from hotter and more humid summers to deadlier storms and frequent flooding. A growing number are taking action.
Leaders of some of the biggest cities recently vowed to make all buildings carbon neutral by 2050. More than 70 cities have pledged to become zero carbon by mid-century.
Admittedly, Puerto Princesa is a smaller city, with a population of 223,000 people, according to the 2010 census.
But Palawan island, with its white-sand beaches and clear blue waters, is seen as a green leader in the country.
Twenty-five years ago, the island was being “ravaged” by illegal logging and fishing, and rampant mining, said Edward Hagedorn, who was elected mayor of Puerto Princesa in 1992.
Hagedorn — who hailed from a family of loggers — vowed in his victory speech to make the city “clean and green”, and protect its natural resources.
In two decades as mayor — after upending term limits — Hagedorn clamped down on commercial logging and mining, and introduced electric tricycles.
He also pushed the tourism industry towards more sustainable practices to draw more responsible visitors to its attractions, which include a subterranean river named in 2012 as one of the “new wonders of the world.”
That shift has helped replace jobs lost in mining and logging, he said.
“I had seen firsthand the destruction caused by rampant logging, fishing and mining,” Hagedorn said.
“When I won the election, I had an epiphany: I wanted to show that economic development is possible without destroying the environment. A low carbon pathway is the morally correct one,” he said.
At his urging, Palawan passed a strategic environmental plan in 1992. It declares the state must protect, develop and conserve its natural resources and enhance the environment while pursuing “socio-economic goals.”
The Palawan Council for Sustainable Development was set up to oversee this goal. One of its key actions was launching the Zero Carbon Resorts program in 2011 with funding from the European Union.
While member resorts did not receive financial assistance, they could request an audit, and were advised on how to make improvements to increase energy efficiency, said Adelinea Benavente-Villena, who leads the project.
Lessons from the experience now have been incorporated into a Zero Carbon and Green Building Policy for Palawan, passed last month.
“We are an island eco-system, so we are particularly vulnerable to climate change impact,” Benavente-Villena said.
“The measures we introduced in the tourism sector - renewable energy sources, use of local materials and green technologies — are being extended to other sectors, as well.”
UNEVEN PROGRESS
The push for zero carbon has had mixed results worldwide. While some cities have made significant progress in reducing emissions, there have also been some notable failures.
Masdar City in Abu Dhabi, touted as the world’s first emissions-free city, remains behind schedule and sparsely populated.
South Korea’s Songdo, billed as the world’s greenest city, also has faced challenges meeting its low-carbon aims.
Cities in the Philippines have struggled too. The capital Manila and popular tourist destinations including Cebu are battling choked streets and rising pollution.
President Rodrigo Duterte earlier this year called Boracay island, a popular resort, a “cesspool” and ordered its closure for six months, warning of a looming environmental disaster.
In contrast, Puerto Princesa’s popularity as a favored destination for eco-friendly tourism has steadily grown, with more than 850,000 visitors last year compared to 12,000 in 1992, said Frances Victorio, who worked on the greenhouse gas audit in 2009.
Today, Puerto Princesa has the largest forest area in the Philippines, at 65 percent, and boasts one of the healthiest coral reefs, said Victorio, a former chief of the Philippine Climate Change Commission.
The city “will most probably remain carbon-neutral until at least 2030,” according to the audit, when population growth and vehicle emissions threaten to outpace efforts to cut emissions.
Still, “it’s a good example of what can be achieved if people put their heads together and work for a common goal,” Victorio said.
“We had good leadership, and everyone was ready to pitch in for the greater good of clean air and clean water for us, our children and our grandchildren.”
In late October of 1873 the government of Japan decided against sending a military expedition to Korea to force that nation to open trade relations. Across the government supporters of the expedition resigned immediately. The spectacle of revolt by disaffected samurai began to loom over Japanese politics. In January of 1874 disaffected samurai attacked a senior minister in Tokyo. A month later, a group of pro-Korea expedition and anti-foreign elements from Saga prefecture in Kyushu revolted, driven in part by high food prices stemming from poor harvests. Their leader, according to Edward Drea’s classic Japan’s Imperial Army, was a samurai
The following three paragraphs are just some of what the local Chinese-language press is reporting on breathlessly and following every twist and turn with the eagerness of a soap opera fan. For many English-language readers, it probably comes across as incomprehensibly opaque, so bear with me briefly dear reader: To the surprise of many, former pop singer and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) ex-lawmaker Yu Tien (余天) of the Taiwan Normal Country Promotion Association (TNCPA) at the last minute dropped out of the running for committee chair of the DPP’s New Taipei City chapter, paving the way for DPP legislator Su
Located down a sideroad in old Wanhua District (萬華區), Waley Art (水谷藝術) has an established reputation for curating some of the more provocative indie art exhibitions in Taipei. And this month is no exception. Beyond the innocuous facade of a shophouse, the full three stories of the gallery space (including the basement) have been taken over by photographs, installation videos and abstract images courtesy of two creatives who hail from the opposite ends of the earth, Taiwan’s Hsu Yi-ting (許懿婷) and Germany’s Benjamin Janzen. “In 2019, I had an art residency in Europe,” Hsu says. “I met Benjamin in the lobby
April 22 to April 28 The true identity of the mastermind behind the Demon Gang (魔鬼黨) was undoubtedly on the minds of countless schoolchildren in late 1958. In the days leading up to the big reveal, more than 10,000 guesses were sent to Ta Hwa Publishing Co (大華文化社) for a chance to win prizes. The smash success of the comic series Great Battle Against the Demon Gang (大戰魔鬼黨) came as a surprise to author Yeh Hung-chia (葉宏甲), who had long given up on his dream after being jailed for 10 months in 1947 over political cartoons. Protagonist