Members of the Davao City Climate Change Action Network (DAVCCAN),
Development Round Table Series, the Stop the New Round Coalition and other
interest groups will look into climate change issues and examine solutions
to the climate crisis at a forum to be held on 24 November, at the
University of the Philippines in Mindanao.
Recent global disasters show that 99 percent of the casualties due to
climate change occur in poor and developing countries, such as the
Philippines, and are suffering the brunt of climate change but contributing
only to 1 percent of greenhouse emissions while industrialized countries
continue ignoring climate change negotiation agreements.
This is one of the concerns to be discussed by Larry Lohmann, an
environmental expert based in the United Kingdom, who is conducting a
speaking tour in the country from 28 November to 3 December 2009 with the
theme “ In Search of Just Solutions to the Climate Crisis.”
Lohmann is a founding member of the Durban Group for Climate Justice, an
international network of independent organizations, individuals and people’s
movements who reject the free market approach to climate change. He works
with The Corner House, a UK-based research and advocacy organization.
His books include Pulping the South: Industrial Tree Plantations in the
Global Paper Economy (with Ricardo Carrere) (Zed, 1996) and the edited
volume Carbon Trading: A Critical Conversation on Climate Change,
Privatization and Power (Dag Hammarskjold Foundation, 2006).
Journals which have published Lohmann’s articles include the International
Journal of Environment and Pollution; New Scientist; Race & Class and
Science as Culture; Organizations and Society; Asian Survey; and, Bulletin
of Concerned Asian Scholars.
The Davao leg of the speaking tour is coordinated by the Alternate Forum
for Research in Mindanao (AFRIM), Inc. in collaboration with the Focus on
the Global South-Philippines and members of the Davao City Climate Change
Action Network, a coalition composed of schools, government agencies, local
government units, non-government organizations and individuals chaired by
Councilor Leo Avila, and by the Development Roundtable Series and Stop the
New Round Coalition in Mindanao, civil society alliances which are concerned
on Mindanao agriculture, food, environment, and trade issues.
The convenors recognize the urgent need to discuss climate change concerns
and strategies needed to be implemented at the local, national and
international levels. The rising trend of typhoons, floods, landslides, and
other water-induced disasters in the Philippines has also become a
Mindanao-wide concern. The island is vulnerable to these disasters with the
increased activities on logging, mining, and intensive land use changes and
conversions including massive plantation expansions into forest and
agricultural lands.
AFRIM, Inc.