ISTANBUL — A group of Filipino youth joined 500 young people from 134 countries at the Global Power Shift summit last week here, the first-ever international summit dedicated to building a global youth movement to solve the climate crisis.
The Filipino delegates are: Feby Basco-Lunag representing the Cordillera Youth Network for Global Change, Philline Marie Donggay with the Climate Reality Project, Leon Dulce of Kalikasan People’s Network for the Environment, teacher John Lumapay, Marjorie Pamintuan of the Asia-Pacific Research Network, and Erin Sinogba representing Redraw the Line, a climate change campaign led by the Asia-Pacific Media Alliance for Social Awareness.
They discussed the impacts of climate change like worsening drought, devastating storms, sea-level rise that threaten many island nations and coastal communities.
“Young people from around the world came to Global Power Shift to build a movement that can create the political will necessary to solve the climate crisis,” said May Boeve, executive director of 350.org, an international climate campaign that helped convene the summit. “The 500 young people who attended this summit are heading home with the skills, tools, and connections necessary to inspire millions more to join the youth climate movement.”
“We are fast approaching 2015, the year in which governments have to reach a new climate change agreement that guides the longer-term international response to climate change,” said Christiana Figueres, executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. (Zeph Danieles)
