The Commission on Rights (CHR) looks forward to the significant role that the Philippines will take in the international climate change dialogue, as it has been selected as the lead State for the Loss and Damage Fund (LDF) Board.
Loss and damage, a term initially introduced during international climate negotiations, refers to a range of negative consequences and extreme events brought upon by the climate crisis. In turn, the LDF Board, established during the United Nations Climate Conference (COP 27) last year, aims to provide financial assistance to nations who are heavily impacted by the effects of climate change.
Together with seven other State contenders, the Philippines has expressed its intent to host the LDF Board. This undertaking entails that the country will hold a “formidable voice” in advancing climate action across the globe, as a representative of climate-vulnerable countries.
The LDF Board, which consists of 26 country parties, holds the responsibility to operationalize the fund. Such will mainly focus on “assist[ing] developing countries that are particularly vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change.” [1]
Developed countries who pledged to the Fund have accumulated $700 million as of writing. This will be utilised as a new channel for multilateral financing to bolster global efforts towards responding to economic and non-economic loss and damage associated with the climate crisis.
It must be noted that the Philippines has long made strides in promoting human rights in the context of international climate negotiations. In 2015, the Philippines also served as the Chair of the Climate Vulnerable Forum, an international partnership which focuses on South-South cooperation on climate change issues.
The Commission positively views this development, as this will provide the Philippines better opportunities to engage with like-minded countries who also put the climate crisis at the top of their State interests, especially those who also suffer from the same detrimental effects of environmental degradation. We hope that this will pave the way towards lobbying for stronger and more coordinated global initiatives which promote a human rights-based approach to enhancing environmental governance on the international level.
We look forward to the Congress’ swift passage of a law related to this matter, in order to confer the legal personality and capacity to the LDF Board. We envision that this will supplement the Philippines’ efforts towards climate adaptation and mitigation measures, while giving emphasis to the financial aid that this will provide for climate-related initiatives.
CHR also takes this opportunity to reiterate its recommendations on the National Inquiry on Climate Change (NICC) report [2], which emphasises the significant impact that would result from global collective action by States. This also includes collaboration with the private sector, through mechanisms which encourage businesses to take part in practices which respect, protect, and fulfil human rights.
This also runs parallel to the Commission’s proposal for the establishment of an Inter-NHRI Inquiry Mechanism, an NHRI-cooperation-based international mechanism which looks into human rights violations and abuses with cross-border implications and transboundary harm. This is an offshoot of CHR’s NICC report, which highlights the collaborative undertaking of States and other stakeholders to ensure that the rights of all are being enjoyed within the context of climate action.
As the Philippines takes the helm of the LDF Board, we welcome this landmark development and hope that this will prompt decisive and collective global efforts towards lobbying for the full enjoyment of the rights of all in the context of climate action.###
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[1] Report of the Conference of the Parties on its twenty-eighth session, held in the United Arab Emirates from 30 November to 13 December 2023, FCCC/CP/2023/11/Add.1 https://unfccc.int/sites/default/files/resource/cp2023_11a01_adv.pdf
[2] National Inquiry on Climate Change, https://chr.gov.ph/nicc-2/