National Grassroots Climate Change Conference 20-21 April 2009 Balay Kalinaw UP Diliman

1. Philippine Climate Watch Alliance
#26 Matulungin St. Central District, Diliman, Quezon City
Tel.: +63 2 9248756 fax: +63 2 9209099 email:pcwa.secretariat@gmail.com
Press Release
21 April 2009
FISHERFOLKS AND CLIMATE ACTIVISTS TO DEMAND
MORE ACTIONS AGAINST CLIMATE CHANGE
UP Dilliman, Quezon City - A few days after the Supreme Court concluded their forum on environmental
justice, fisherfolks from all over the Philippines who attended the 1st National Grassroots Conference on
Climate Change organized by Philippine Climate Watch Alliance (PCWA) are worried about the
accelerating impacts of warming planet.
Vince Cinches the Executive Director of Central Visayas Fisherfolk Development Inc. (FIDEC INC.) one
of the many convenors of Philippine Climate Watch alliance in their paper presented during one of the
workshops in the conference on the impacts of climate change to coastal communities, fisheries and
fisherfolks, said that quot;Climate Change becomes an additional and more sustained burden of poor
fisherfolks nationwide. Even before we felt the impacts of climate change, we have been marginalized
by off-shore mining, commercial fishing, privatization of sea waters, reclamation projects, and fishery
laws among others. We should remember that such projects are carbon intensive that contributes to
increase in global warming gassesquot;
quot;Climate change has further marginalized the poor coastal people, through massive decline of fish
catch, rising cost of fishing, and collapse of ecosystem among others, being poor diminishes capacity to
respond to the impacts of climate change, the change in climate is accelerating, the community cannot
keep up with the pace.quot;
quot;What is alarming on the other hand is that the warming planet has opened up new fronts of vulnerability
in the community, we have stronger and frequent storm surges, seas are inundating our homes because
of rising sea level, breeding grounds of marine species are collapsing because of acidity and warm
waters. We no longer have potable waters to drink because of salt water intrusion.quot;
Fernando Hicap, the National Chairperson of the activist fishers group PAMALAKAYA
saidquot;Governments and their cohorts in big monopoly businesses are the main culprits why the planet is
ailing and we the poor are paying dearly since we don't have the capacity to adopt and respond to
climate change. The poor should rely on each other to rescind anti-people and anti-environment
policies.quot;
quot;This grassroots meeting is an important venue for us not just to strongly register the position of
community people in the current discourse regarding global warming but to consolidate our ranks and
turned it into a decisive force in making culprits accountable while dramatically reducing our carbon
footprintquot;
Mr. Vince Cinches, executive director of FIDEC and convenor of PCWA said that the conference is not
just first in the country but in the whole Southeast Asia as well.
He added that the conference is an important contribution of the Filipinos in the ongoing global initiatives
against climate change especially that the Kyoto Protocol will soon end and will undergo renegotiation.
quot;We wanted to ensure that the provisions of international policies regarding climate change should have
more teeth against polluters, have more binding policies and responsive to the needs of the poor people
around the world.quot;
On April 22, Earth Day, the group will hold a protest action to demand accountability from government
and corporations and to demand real actions against the specter of climate change.##