Declare a National Climate Emergency Now: A Crucial Plea for the Philippines’ Survival

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The writing is on the wall, and the waters have already risen.

From the suffocating floods drowning our cities to the blistering heat waves scorching our lands, the Philippines is in the eye of the climate storm—literally and figuratively. This is not a distant threat. This is not a slow burn. This is our current reality. And unless we rise as one nation and treat this for what it truly is—a full-scale emergency—we risk losing everything.

This is why the Green Party of the Philippines (GPP Kalikasan Muna), in solidarity with environmental coalitions and rights-based organizations like Rights of Nature PH, renews its resounding call: DECLARE A NATIONAL CLIMATE EMERGENCY NOW.

The Time for Half-Measures Is Over

Since 2019, environmental advocates have been raising the alarm. In 2023, the urgency escalated, and yet, the response remains underwhelming, fragmented, and tragically reactive. The result? Death tolls rise with every typhoon. Crops wither under intense heat. Islands drown while policies stagnate.

Enough is enough. We need more than sympathy. We need sweeping, institutionalized action.

A National Climate Emergency Declaration Is More Than Symbolic

Declaring a National Climate Emergency is not just for headlines—it’s a powerful legal and moral statement that aligns our national policies, budgets, and priorities toward climate survival. It sets the tone. It unlocks mechanisms. It forces government and private entities to act with the urgency the crisis demands.

But this declaration must come with teeth. That’s why we are also calling for the passage of a Climate Emergency Act that holds systems and institutions accountable to the people and to the planet.

A 20-Point Climate Action Agenda for National Survival

Our vision is clear. Our demands are actionable. These are not impossible dreams—they are necessary blueprints for survival:

• Nationwide shift to a circular economy to eliminate waste and overconsumption.

• Total ban on single-use plastics to curb pollution at the source.

• Moratorium on environmentally destructive projects, especially extractive and large-scale ventures.

• Full rehabilitation and protection of our vital watersheds—the lungs and kidneys of our ecosystems.

• Pass the Alternative Minerals Management Act and repeal the outdated Mining Act of 1995.

• Demand loss and damage claims from major polluters, including the filing of lawsuits both locally and internationally.

• Sign the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty, joining global momentum to end fossil dependency.

• Fully implement the Renewable Energy Act and prioritize solar, wind, and hydro solutions.

• Roll out the Environmental Education Act in all schools, barangays, and communities.

• Strict implementation of the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act, empowering LGUs to lead the charge.

• Fund breakthrough innovations, starting with the revival and scaling up of Project NOAH.

• Establish a dedicated Department of Water Resources to manage our increasingly scarce and mismanaged water supply.

• Comprehensively clean, declog, and restore our waterways, rivers, estuaries, and canals.

• Pass a Comprehensive Land Use Act and enforce a moratorium on agricultural land conversion.

• Expand sustainable and alternative mobility programs like biking infrastructure and e-vehicles.

• Implement a national stormwater management system to protect urban and rural areas from floods.

• Amend the National Building Code to enforce climate-resilient and green architecture.

• Promote community-level green infrastructure to build resilience from the ground up.

• Complete hazard mapping nationwide to better prepare for climate-related risks.

• Build separate, climate-resilient evacuation centers, ending the use of schools as default shelters.

The Price of Inaction Is Too High

How many more lives must we lose?

How many homes must be washed away? 

How many children must grow up in a world gasping for air, food, and water?

We cannot recycle our way out of this crisis. We cannot plant a few trees and pretend it’s enough. We must transform the way we live, govern, produce, consume, and educate. This is a systemic issue—and only a systemic solution will suffice.

It Starts With Political Will—And It Must Start Now

To the leaders of our nation, we say: This is your moment to lead. The climate crisis is not waiting for the next administration or the next fiscal year. Declare a climate emergency now—and mean it.

To our fellow Filipinos, let’s rise together—not in fear, but in furious, organized hope. Let us be louder, braver, and more relentless than the storms that batter our shores.

Because the real disaster is not the floods or the heatwaves. It is inaction. And history will judge us not by what we knew, but by what we did.

The earth is crying. The Philippines is drowning. Will you listen—or will you let it sink?

Declare a National Climate Emergency. Pass the Climate Emergency Act. Act now for a better, greener, and safer tomorrow.

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