End this ‘climate madness’, Philippines tells global warming summit

Weather World Environment Climate Change

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November 12, 2013

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Peter Hannam

Environment Editor, The Sydney Morning Herald

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Raw force of Haiyan smashing into Philippines

RAW VIDEO: dramatic vision emerges ofthe moment typhoon Haiyan

hit the coast near Tacloban in the Philippines, causing widespread devastation.

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Looting threat aftertyphoon

The Philippines has made an impassioned plea to nations to act on climate change and prevent super

typhoons such as Haiyan, which has devastated much ofthe country, from becoming “a way of life”.

We refuse, as a nation, to accept a

future where supertyphoons like Haiyan become a fact of life

The country’s lead negotiator at the United Nations climate summit in Warsaw,

Naderev Sano, said Haiyan was “was [like] nothing we have ever experienced before, or perhaps nothing that any country has ever
experienced before”.

Japan’s Hiroshi Minami (L) with Naderev Sano from the Philippines at the Warsaw climate summit. Photo: Reuters

As

many as 10,000 people are feared dead in the city ofTacloban alone, with rescues yet to reach many other areas in the region.
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Mr Sano described his own family’s struggle afterthe storm – possibly the most

powerful ever recorded, with wind speeds reaching 314km/h by some accounts -with his brother“gathering bodies ofthe dead with his own
two hands”.

To anyone who continues to deny the reality that is climate change, I dare you to get off your ivory tower and away from

the comfort of your armchair,” Mr Sano said, according to a transcript of his speech carried on a climate change website.

Residents pick

up wood between two cargo ships washed ashore after supertyphoon Haiyan hit. Photo: Reuters

You may want to pay a visit to the

Philippines right now.”

Scientists say that limited data on cyclone activity, particularly for basins otherthan the North Atlantic, make

it difficult to detect signs that climate change brought on by humans burning fossil fuels and land clearing is already contributing to
making storms such as Haiyan stronger.

However, warming sea-surface temperatures – one element contributing to cyclonic development-

are adding to the energy available when storms form, while rising sea levels mean the risk of inundation during such events is increased.
Climate models also indicate that in the future such storms may actually reduce in number but become more powerful when they form, while a
new paper has found rainfall patterns are already changing.

Click for more photos

TYPHOON HAIYAN SLAMS THE PHILIPPINES

This aerial photo

shows flattened houses in the city ofTacloban, Leyte province, in the central Philippines. Photo: AFP

View all 51 photos

What my country is going through as a result ofthis extreme climate

event is madness,” Mr Sano said, in a speech that ended with a standing ovation by delegates to the 19th Conference ofthe Parties
gathering. “The climate crisis is madness.”

Voluntary fast

Mr Sano’s comments came on the first day ofthe summit, which runs until

November 22. He said he would fast for the duration ofthe conference “in solidarity with my countrymen who are struggling to find food
back home and with my brother who has not had food for the last three days”.

The Abbott government has downgraded Australia’s attendance

at the Warsawtalks, sending Justin Lee, the Climate Change ambassador, ratherthan a minister, and vowing not to make any commitments other
than the pledge to reduce carbon emissions by 5 per cent on 2000 levels by 2020.

The government will mark the opening ofthe new sitting of

Parliament in Canberra on Tuesday with a batch of bills to scrap Labor’s carbon price and to dismantle climate change-related bodies.
Mr

Sano said emissions reductions targets of developed countries were “dangerously low and must be raised immediately”.

Even a reduction of

40-50 per cent on 1990 levels would lock the world into a changing climate, he said.

Developing countries now had to join rich nations in

making urgent emissions cuts as well, he said.

We cannot sit and stay helpless, staring at this international climate stalemate,” Mr

Sano said. ‘‘It is now time to take action. We need an emergency climate pathway.

We refuse, as a nation, to accept a future where super

typhoons like Haiyan become a fact of life,” he said.

Mr Sano also noted that another storm was forming in the western Pacific.

‘I

shudder at the thought of anothertyphoon hitting the same places where people have not yet even managed to begin standing up
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