Monday, the Filipino delegate to the ongoing climate summit, Naderev ‘Yeb’ Saño, dared climate change deniers to take a hard look at what’s happening not just in the Philippines, but the whole world. Over the weekend, the Philippines was hit by what may have been the largest typhoon to ever make landfall: Typhoon Haiyan. Reports are still coming in days later; death tolls were initially estimated to be over 10,000 with whole cities simply swept away, but more recent reports are placing the death toll lower but still substantial.
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“To anyone who continues to deny the reality
that is climate change, I dare them to get off their ivory towers and away from
the comfort of their armchairs,” Saño said. “I dare them to go to the
islands of the Pacific, the islands of the Caribbean and the islands of the
Indian ocean and see the impacts of rising sea levels; to the mountainous
regions of the Himalayas and the Andes to see communities confronting glacial
floods, to the Arctic where communities grapple with the fast dwindling polar
ice caps, to the large deltas of the Mekong, the Ganges, the Amazon, and the
Nile where lives and livelihoods are drowned, to the hills of Central America
that confronts similar monstrous hurricanes, to the vast savannas of Africa
where climate change has likewise become a matter of life and death as food and
water becomes scarce.”
He added, “(climate change deniers) may want
to pay a visit to the Philippines right now.”
Saño, currently attending Conference of the Parties
(COP) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Warsaw,
Poland, has gone on a fast at the summit “until a meaningful outcome is in
sight.” He told delegates Monday that, “We can stop this madness
right here in Warsaw.”
At this time, no one knows for certain how much of
a role climate change played in Typhoon Haiyan’s devastation. However,
scientists are largely convinced that climate change will increase the
intensity of tropical storms like typhoons and hurricanes. Warmer sea surface
waters likely translates into more precipitation and higher wind speeds. In
addition, rising sea levels are certainly increasing the height and extent of
storm surges, which can lead to more causalities and damage.
“Science tells us that simply, climate change
will mean more intense tropical storms,” Saño said. “As the Earth
warms up, so do the oceans. The energy that is stored in the waters off the
Philippines will increase the intensity of typhoons and the trend we now see is
that more destructive storms will be the new norm.”
Read more from ENN affiliate MongaBay. Read related story from ENN: Tiny islands with big climate change problems.
Haiyan survivor image via the
Guardian.