QUEZON CITY (MindaNews / 29 May) — Last March, the Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security released a paper on the impact of climate change on women stating: “The fields of climate change and Women, Peace, and Security (WPS) are often viewed as separate from one another. The sooner we acknowledge that they are inextricably linked, the sooner we can take synergistic action.
“The landmark UN Security Council Resolution 1325 formalized the Women, Peace, and Security (WPS) agenda. The WPS Agenda affirms the critical role of women in addressing security threats, and calls for women’s equal participation in conflict prevention, conflict resolution, and peacebuilding efforts. Climate change is increasingly recognized as a security threat. It drives insecurity both through direct negative impacts on environmental systems and through secondary risks such as political instability, population displacements, poverty, and hunger. Despite this reality, only about one in four WPS National Action Plans make a direct reference to climate. For the most effective response to the security threat posed by climate change, we must leverage frameworks such as the WPS Agenda to recognize the disproportionate impacts of climate change on women and the security threats they pose. The WPS Agenda also offers a valuable tool to ensure women’s meaningful participation in climate interventions.”
Clearly, the impacts of climate change are not gender neutral. Our guest on “She Talks Peace,” Maria Paz “Ipat” Luna, couldn’t agree more. Ipat, former DENR Undersecretary, has been engaged in environmental law and policy practice for three decades. She has managed several foundations and organizations for the conservation of the environment, built local consensus on important policy decisions affecting natural resources and habitats, particularly in protected areas and published numerous works in these fields. She has also assisted in crafting numerous public health policies. She is a member of the Environmental Law Alliance Worldwide (ELAW). She is an advisory member of the Global Just Transition Project organized by Foreign Policy in Focus. She has been described as “a naturalist — a native tree enthusiast, a birdwatcher and a trained rescue diver.” She has created a sanctuary in Mataas na Kahoy, Batangas, on the shore of Taal Lake with indigenous flora. Originally intended to be a home away from Manila, she and husband Howie Severino welcome guests, sharing their peace as well as ecological practices with them. She even put up an earth house – like her very own Hobbit house.
Acknowledging that climate crisis is the existential threat of our time, Ipat agrees, climate change has disproportionate impact on women who are 14 times more likely than men to die in natural disasters.
She is currently the Chief of Party of the INSPIRE Project of the Gerry Roxas Foundation that will be giving grants and establishing a Conservation Academy in the next five years. The Conservation Academy provides grants that can help csos improve capacity, support civil society work with and lobby government to deal with environmental protection as development runs rampant. Civil society is a vital part of the defense of bio-regions. She says that we have a small window of opportunity to shore up defenses but we need government to pro-active on climate change and environmental protection.
But will the Marcos-Duterte Administration be pro-active? Incoming Vice President Sara Duterte, when she was Davao City Mayor, confirmed her commitment to sustainable development and environmental preservation by establishing the Davao City Climate Change Commission (DCCC) through an executive order in 2021. What has happened since? And even more important: will she push through with the agenda over the next six years, supporting
policy reforms and programs that create a peaceful balance between economic development and the environment.
Ipat shared her agenda for the incoming administration. First, food and water security on a sustainable basis. This will include soil conservation, forest restoration, prioritization in the government’s “build, build, build projects.” Support the protection of our watersheds, like the Masungi Georeserve run by the Dumaliangs (She Talks Peace Episode 38). Second, rationalize or reform the Department on the Environment and Natural Resources, creating a separate agency that protects the environment and conserve our natural resources. Ipat believes the DENR is schizophrenic, managing both the extraction and protection of our resources. Thus, checks and balances are virtually impossible within DENR. Third, proactive action on climate change is vital. Thus far, government has only paid lip service to this existential threat. For instance, government declared a climate emergency but the laws passed do nothing to address the threat.
Ipat stressed that “the earth will be here for a very, very long time to come but our place on earth is in danger.” She believes the young are our hope. The older generation may be complacent but the young – like Greta Thunberg – have gone the distance, filing cases against their own governments, to defend the environment. They are the inventive ones who have stopped buying cars, preferring environment friendly bicycles. The older generation must listen to them and we have to “make decisions on their behalf, while we are still in a position to do so.”
Listen to what Ipat says on why many young people don’t want to marry and have children. Please Click, Play and Listen
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(MindaViews is the opinion section of MindaNews. Amina Rasul is the President of the Philippine Center for Islam and Democracy, an advocate for Mindanao and the Bangsamoro, peace, human rights, and democracy)
