Developing countries such as the Philippines are bearing the brunt of the cost of climate change, with huge economic losses from extreme weather like cyclones and droughts, activists said yesterday.
"The impacts of climate change will be most catastrophic to countries who are the least able to cope," Greenpeace Southeast Asia campaigner Abigail Jabines said.
Jabines said four successive cyclones toward the end of 2004 alone cost the Philippines 7.61 billion pesos (U.S$152.3 million), while a 1998 drought in the south damaged 828 million pesos worth of crops.
In a media briefing ahead of this week's climate change conference in Nairobi, Kenya, Greenpeace urged the Philippine government to invest heavily in renewable energy sources, citing studies suggesting that unchecked climate change will have disastrous economic impact, especially on developing countries.
Jabines said developed countries are not solely to blame for dumping billions of tonnes of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. Instead of avoiding industrialized nations' mistakes, the Philippines still relies for energy on coal, she said.
"It is imperative for the Philippines to switch to renewable and sustainable energy sources," Jabines said, noting that the country has harnessed less than 1 percent of its energy needs from renewable resources such as solar and wind power.
Studies have shown that carbon dioxide emissions heat the Earth's surface, leading to more water vapor in the air and contributing to higher temperatures.
South Korea’s air force yesterday apologized for a 2021 midair collision involving two fighter jets, a day after auditors said the pilots were taking selfies and filming during the flight and held them responsible for the accident. “We sincerely apologize to the public for the concern caused by the accident that occurred in 2021,” an air force spokesman told a news conference, adding that one of the pilots involved had been suspended from flying duties, received severe disciplinary action and has since left the military. The apology followed a report released on Wednesday by the South Korean Board of Audit and Inspection,
About 240 Indians claiming descent from a Biblical tribe landed at Tel Aviv airport on Thursday as part of a government operation to relocate them to Israel. The newcomers passed under a balloon arch in blue and white, the colors of the Israeli flag, as dozens of well-wishers welcomed them with a traditional Jewish song. They were the first “bnei Menashe” (“sons of Manasseh”) to arrive in Israel since the government in November last year announced funding for the immigration of about 6,000 members of the community from the states of Manipur and Mizoram in northeast India. The community claims to descend from
Indonesian police have arrested 13 people after shocking images of alleged abuse against small children at a daycare center went viral, sparking outrage across the nation, officials said on Monday. Police on Friday last week raided Little Aresha, a daycare center in Yogyakarta on Java island, following a report from a former employee. CCTV footage circulating on social media showed children, most younger than two, lying on the floor wearing only diapers, their hands and feet bound with rags. The police have confirmed that the footage is authentic. Police said they also found 20 children crammed into a room just 3m by 3m. “So
‘TROUBLING’: The firing of Phelan, who was an adviser to a nonprofit that supported the defense of Taiwan, was another example of ‘dysfunction’ under Trump, a US senator said US Secretary of the Navy John Phelan has been fired, a US official and a person familiar with the matter said on Wednesday, in another wartime shakeup at the Pentagon coming just weeks after US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth ousted the Army’s top general. The Pentagon announced his departure in a brief statement, saying he was leaving the administration “effective immediately,” but it did not provide a reason or say whether it was his decision to go. The sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Phelan was dismissed in part because he was moving too slowly to implement reforms to
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