By Perfecto T. Raymundo, Jr.
QUEZON CITY — The Quezon City local government is hosting the C40 Cities 2024 Climate Action Implementation during the Southeast Asia Regional Academy Global Workshop.
During the opening program of the five-day event on Tuesday (Sept. 3) at Novotel, the C40 Climate Action Implementation was highlighted.
The cities that joined the event were Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta, Quezon City, and Cape Town.
Mayor Joy Belmonte has been serving Quezon City for 15 years now. She started as Vice Mayor in 2019. She is the 11th Mayor of Quezon City.
Mayor Belmonte acknowledged Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr, Mayor of Freetown, Sierra Leone in South Africa, Laure Beaufils, United Kingdom Ambassador to the Philippines, Shruti Narayan, C40 Managing Director of the Regions and Mayoral Engagement, and Regional Director, South and West Asia, Vice Mayor Gian Carlo Sotto, and the City Council and the Barangay officials, among others.
Belmonte cited the onslaught of Typhoon Enteng that has brought a wide ray of effects.
C40 has been an invaluable partner in this regard toward renewable energy.
By the end of the decade, 30,000 Green jobs will be created.
This regional academy is part of the C40 Cities Southeast Asia Regional Academy Global Workshop.
Our plan prioritizes inclusive climate action.
Through Urban Farming Program, thousands have been productive in the agricultural sector.
Integration of Resource Colectors thereby expanding the creation of good green jobs in Quezon City.
We have the chance to shape our city in the face of climate change challenges.
Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr, C40 Co-Chair Mayor of Freetown, not as big as Quezon City and has 1.5 million people climate change has already significant impact, particularly in agriculture.
The population has grown exponentially. The city experiences extreme weather condition because of climate change.
Together with Mayor Belmonte, they have made an agenda in 2019 and targeted to create 120,000 green jobs by 2030.
In Quezon City, you are the climate action leaders to address the impact of climate change.
Freetown Tree town with 5,000 climate ambassadors in the city to plant trees, monitor the growth of trees and now has 1.2 million trees.
Trees are planted along hillsides, cemeteries, and most especially in the backyards.
Inclusive climate action is the answer of C40 to climate change.
Inclusive just and fair climate action where no one is left behind wherein the mayors are providing solutions by creating good green jobs through urban gardening.
In the high level panel discussion: Inclusion in the Global South, Ambassador
Laure Beaufils said that she was inspired by both Mayors Aki-Sawyerr of Freetown and Joy Belmonte of Quezon City.
Climate action does not necessarily promote inclusion and rights.
Climate action is also about social justice, equality which makes it more energizing.
UK government is very proud to be contributing to C40 in climate action though planning and now moving to implementation.
All things must be done in order to mitigate impact of climate change.
Shruti Narayan said that C40 is really working on loss and damage such that in the area of climate migration.
In the social aspects such as the creation of green jobs.
Milag San Jose-Ballesteros noted the participation of women in the construction sector.
Mayor Belmonte said that Quezon City practices local governance in the grassroots level such that several sectors are involved.
Mayor Yvonne said that the action plan is integrated in the agenda which is not in the city but in the community.
You can present the problem in a manner that is understandable to the people.
We have public toilet in informal settlement.
The inputs are collected to generate biogas from the informal settlement with public toilet.
Narayan noted that there are about 100 cities which are members of C40 gathered together to share and learn.
We have a lot of pure learning in the next five years for cooperation in global platform which will bring city mayors together for international collaboration for climate action.
How to plant one million trees in two years was the challenge taken and accepted by Mayor Belmonte.
Ambassador Beaufils cited the presence of International Financial Institutions to help the C40 in their initiatives.
In a press conference on the 2024 Climate Action Implementation, Mayor Belmonte noted the C40 Cities and the Philippines is included in the Global South.
In 2025, Belmonte said, there will be knowledge sharing initiatives. Building stationary structures also contribute to carbon emission.
Green buildings and transport with libreng sakay and starting to electrify.
There will be a total of 350 kilometers of bike lanes as mode of transport by 2028.
She noted that there were 93 to 142 barangays which were flooded during the onslaught of Typhoon Carina.
Communities are trained for evacuation as well as the drainage project and collaborate with Congress to implement the flood control projects to mitigate the impact of climate change.
They chose the best Mayor to lead the C40 Cities and Mayor Sawyerr is courageous and brave on the platform of climate action such as planting 1.2 million trees in Freetown.
Identify the budget for climate action and hopefully would not be slashed by the City Budget Office.
During the pandemic, when there was the need for food security and the putting up of urban farms came from the people themselves and the city government just helped them.
The Covid-19 pandemic hit hard the Philippines from March 15, 2020 until December 2022.
Mayor Belmonte stressed that there are now 175 kilometers of bike lanes and by 2028,, it will be 350 kilometers of bike lanes.
She expressed the hope that politicians will include in their agenda the climate action plan for the mitigation of impact of climate change in the coming May 2025 mid-term elections.
The city has local climate action plan such that there will be net zero of carbon emission by 2050 and would need about US$1.5 billion.
Mayor Aki-Sawyerr said that they have high emission reduction target such as in the construction. Less than four percent is the contribution of Africa to carbon emission. 70 percent of C40 cities have high targets.
Sawyerrr cited the leadership of Mayor Belmonte as hands on, dedicated and data driven Mayor.
She ran for office for Climate action and in E-bola outbreak in Africa had people engaged and started with the voice of the people and involved them.
Sawyerr ran for mayor in 2018, she carried the climate action to climate change was her campaign.
Climate change is the great challenge.
Ambassador Beaufils said that C40 is bringing mayors together to Innovate and listen to their communities and go in the national level.
Beaufils cited the World Bank which said that 14 percent of the Gross Domestic Product will be affected by 2040 if the Philippines will not adapt to climate change mitigation measures.
Let’s do more in addressing the impact of climate change.
The US$1.5 billion now cited by Mayor Belmonte will be huge amount in the coming years.
Beaufils said that the Philippine government has taken a national comprehensive plan on climate change.
Narayan said that we’re in the midst of climate breakdown.
1.5 at 2 to 3 degrees on average not good on emission. The frequency has come to a call to action.
C40 has signed up to provide data driven to implement the action on climate change such as in the emission areas.
It has to be locally led climate change action and not just copy what others are doing now.
Quezon City is now into urban farming and has been showing the best practices in the world in so far as climate action is concerned.
