WWF-Philippines Calls for Filipinos to Join Earth Hour 2023: The Biggest Hour For Earth

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MANILA, PHILIPPINES - The countdown to the Biggest Hour on Earth is set for March 25, Saturday, when millions of people across the world will converge around major world landmarks, cities, and communities to switch off their lights for 60 minutes – starting at 8:30 pm, as part of a global movement to save the planet. In the Philippines, national landmarks, office buildings, government offices, and individual houses will all join in as a sign of a broader commitment towards addressing our planet's sustainability.

In photo are (from left): Ludwig Federigan from the Climate Change Commission, Ms. Andrea Valentine A. Villaroman - City Government Department Head III, Quezon City LGU, Hon. Josefina 'Joy' Belmonte - Mayor of Quezon City, Ms. Katherine Custodio - Executive Director, WWF-Philippines, Atty. Angela Consuelo Ibay - WWF-Philippines Climate and Energy Programme Head and National Director for Earth Hour Philippines, Ms. KD Montenegro - Individual Donors Program Manager, WWF-Philippines, and Ms. Mikee Cojuangco-Jaworski - WWF Philippines’ Earth Hour Ambassador

The Earth Hour global celebration started as a symbolic event in Sydney, Australia in 2007 and has grown into one of the world’s largest grassroots environmental movements spanning over 7,000 cities and 193 countries and territories. The Philippines joined in 2008, making this year’s Earth Hour the fifteenth time the celebration is observed.

Several community partners will also be participating in this year’s main Switch Off event in the Quezon City Memorial Circle: World Vision Philippines, Oxfam Pilipinas, Boy Scouts of the Philippines, Association of Young Environmental Journalists, and De La Salle University among others. Their participation demonstrates solidarity among fellow environment and development groups in coming together for a common cause to tackle climate change, biodiversity loss, and environmental degradation.

As humanity's unsustainable demands on the natural world are leading to climate breakdown, habitat loss, and decline of wildlife, Earth Hour is celebrated every year on the last Saturday of March as an opportunity to invite individuals and institutions to take substantive measures for the planet. The core message of this movement lies in going “Beyond the Hour” – essentially, the actions people can do after the lights go back on.

"This year's Earth Hour is about the Biggest Hour for Earth – an hour wherein we begin to do good for our shared tomorrow and our shared home. As we face an uncertain future with our planet's deteriorating biodiversity, further threatened by our changing climate, two of the biggest challenges we confront, we must act sooner and more decisively. Thus, we are reaching out to governments, cities, businesses, and individuals to be part of the solution in bringing positive changes for the planet,” said Atty. Angela Ibay, Climate and Energy Program Head of WWF-Philippines and Earth Hour Pilipinas National Director.

“The Philippines has repeatedly been on the top list of countries most vulnerable to climate change, and we are a mega-biodiverse country. Many do not realize that nature is our climate's secret ally. We want Filipinos to not only appreciate what we have, but we also stand to lose. Thus, we all need to be responsible in shaping our future, and hopefully, we'll be changing the ending for the positive – for both people and the planet,” Ibay said.

WWF-Philippines’ Earth Hour Ambassador Mikee Cojuangco-Jaworski shared what this movement means for everyone saying: “Having been an Earth Hour Ambassador for so long has taught me one important lesson, it is that there are always people who care regardless of their nationality, their social status, their job, or even their age.”

“There are so many people who care about the planet. We have to keep that in mind amid so much negativity. The fact that we are able to see each other again face-to-face after what seemed like an eternity being in lockdown shows that things can get better for the planet,” she said.

This year’s Earth Hour celebration in the Philippines will be the first in-person event since 2020 before lockdowns due to COVID-19 forced the celebration to go online. For a decade since its inception back in 2007, Earth Hour focused on building awareness of climate change. In 2018, the movement’s focus pivoted to include both climate and nature as their interconnectivity became more evident, with human activity causing direct negative impacts on nature and the environment, contributing to biodiversity loss and climate change.

While COVID-19 has prevented people from interacting in person, this has been an opportunity to connect to millions of people in digital spaces and engage with decision-making institutions to secure a new deal for nature with the aim of halting the loss of biodiversity by the end of the decade.

Quezon City has been a continuous partner of WWF-Philippines and Earth Hour for many years. Earth Hour was last held in Quezon City Circle in 2015. Quezon City was also a finalist in the recent One Planet Cities Challenge (OPCC) 2021-2022. OPCC is a friendly global competition initiated by WWF to recognize cities for their climate actions and ambitions and assess whether they align with the goals set forth in the Paris Agreement in limiting climate change to 1.5 °C.

“According to the UN, cities are responsible for over 70% of global carbon emissions. However, cities can also drive emission reduction efforts and transition to a carbon-neutral future. Recognizing the crucial role of cities in creating a sustainable future, Quezon City made a conscious and deliberate effort to address climate change from a local perspective,” said Quezon City Mayor Joy Belmonte.

“We enhanced our local climate change action plan (LCCAP), which outlines our efforts up to the year 2050 to reduce emissions and adapt to climate change. Integral to the development of the LCCAP was the conduct of a GHG emissions inventory, which allowed the city to measure and better understand the emissions contributed by different sectors. Based on the inventory, the stationary energy sector accounts for 60% of carbon emissions. This refers to fixed locations such as homes, buildings, and factories. Reducing emissions in this sector is critical. Hence, a combination of measures such as increasing the use of renewable energy sources and improving energy efficiency are our priority actions,” Belmonte added.

WWF-Philippines Executive Director Katherine Custodio highlighted the importance of the in-person gathering, stating: "Earth Hour has always been about individual actions that taken collectively makes a difference. By having an event like Earth Hour we are affirming the power of our individual simple action. We are affirming that people care about our shared future.”

“You may have heard the argument that the Philippines emits only 0.39% of GHG-so why should our country commit to further reduction. Well, if all the countries that account for less than a percent in total account for a third of global GHG. That is a big component. Please also remember that we are one of the most impacted by climate change - and if we don’t act who will?” she added.

March 25 will also be the start of the annual Earth Hour Virtual Run, a self-paced virtual run that aims to promote a sustainable and healthy lifestyle, raise environmental awareness, and support conservation efforts of WWF-Philippines. The run will last for a month up to April 22, wherein participants can choose their running distances from 10 km to 60 km. The registration started on February 3 and will end on April 9.

KD Montenegro, WWF-Philippines’ Individual Donor Program (IDP) Manager said that the continuing partnership with Pinoy Fitness for this year’s Earth Hour Virtual Run reflects the “sustained commitment and responsibility towards protecting the environment.”

“Because we are runners and into fitness, we understand that a healthy environment is necessary for us to have a healthy body. Pinoy Fitness provides this platform for Filipinos to stay fit and give back to the environment. We believe in going beyond Earth Hour and literally going the extra mile to ensure a healthy future for everyone,” she added.

Earth Hour 2023 is co-presented by Quezon City Government, together with our Official Communications and PR Partner, COMCO Mundo League of Enterprises, and supported by the Department of Energy, Climate Change Commission, League of Cities of the Philippines, League of Provinces of the Philippines, Department of Agriculture, Court of Appeals, Department of Health, Armed Forces of the Philippines, Department of Information and Communications Technology, National Historical Commission of the Philippines, and the National Parks Development Committee

Visit www.earthhour.org to learn more about events happening this Earth Hour around the world. Follow WWF-Philippines on social media for updates and events related to Earth Hour Philippines 2023. Lend your support to the environment with the official Earth Hour hashtags #EarthHour2023, #EarthHourPhilippines2023 and #BiggestHourForEarth.

WWF-Philippines continues to push for Extended Producers Responsibility Scheme

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An Extended Producers Responsibility roadmap was released by conservation group World Wide Fund for Nature Philippines (WWF-Philippines) on Thursday, highlighting the substantial impact of plastics in our environment and how adopting the EPR scheme can effectively change this worsening plastic problem.

The updated report entitled “Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) Scheme Assessment for Plastic Packaging Waste in the Philippines”, WWF-Philippines proposes an EPR scheme where the responsibility of implementing the scheme for building high-quality recycling capacity should be assumed by an industry-led, non-profit Producer Responsibility Organization (PRO), acting as the system operator, with strict monitoring and control systems carried out by the government.

In the first edition of the EPR study, it was shown that in 2019, the number of plastic items consumed by Filipinos was 2.15 million tons per annum. Thirty-five percent (35%) of the consumed plastics leak into the open environment while 33% are disposed of in sanitary landfills and open dumpsites, with only 9% recycled because of our lack of capacity to recycle both high and low-value plastics.

WWF-Philippines pushes for an EPR scheme as a critical policy tool that holds producers accountable for the full life cycle of their products and packaging. EPR is an environmental policy approach that emerged in the 1990s and is now increasingly recognized globally as a useful tool for accelerating the transition to sustainable waste management and a circular economy. This scheme encourages waste reduction through the elimination of unnecessary packaging of products and the development of more environmentally friendly packaging design.

"We must take collective and immediate action. The proposed EPR scheme aims to build on the country's current waste management system, integrating ongoing actions, and have collaborative action from various stakeholder groups. This way, we can stop plastic waste leakage in our nature." says Czarina Constantino, WWF-Philippines’ National Lead for the No Plastics in Nature Initiative.

The proposed EPR roadmap incorporates the existing country’s solid waste management infrastructure such as Materials Recovery Facilities (MRF), junk shops, and recycling facilities that aims to recover recyclable wastes. The informal waste sector, an important contributor to the Philippines’ recycling rate, has also been integrated into the EPR system. Initiatives from the businesses and civil society organizations have been included.

For the past few years, EPR started gaining traction and support among the policymakers as the House of Representatives recently passed House Bill 9147 also known as the “Single-Use Plastic Products Regulation Act” as the proposed substitute bill for plastics that includes an introductory provision for EPR. Meanwhile, in the Senate, Senate Bill 2425 also known as the “Extended Producers Responsibility Act” is now on its Second Reading.

“The battle against unnecessary plastics will be successful only if we have concerted effort from all stakeholders – supported by an enabling policy environment. Let us therefore strengthen our call for the passing of EPR into law, with good implementation, so that we can stop plastic pollution together,” says Katherine Custodio, WWF-Philippines Executive Director.

The proposed roadmap is part of the No Plastic in Nature Initiative - WWF’s global initiative to stop the flow of plastics entering nature by 2030 through the elimination of unnecessary plastics, doubling reuse, recycling, and recovery, and ensuring remaining plastic is sourced responsibly. Through this initiative, WWF-Philippines has been working with cities on plastic leakage, policymakers to advocate for a global treaty on plastic pollution and EPR, businesses to transition to circular business models, and the general public to campaign and act.

To know more about WWF-Philippines and its initiatives, please visit https://wwf.org.ph/

WWF-Philippines, Cisco Systems make pitch for food security in Northern Palawan amid pandemic

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A farmer plants rice in a field on the island municipality of Dumaran, Northern Palawan. WWF-Philippines and WWF-Singapore are pushing for food security for Dumaran. Photograph © Alo Lantin / WWF-Philippines

Philippines – In a bid for sustainable food security, the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) Philippines, with the help of Cisco Systems, has committed to the construction of food sheds in rural communities in Northern Palawan.

The project comes in response to livelihood disruptions caused by the pandemic. With lockdown restrictions making travel between towns difficult, many farmers and fishers have had difficulty selling their produce. Regional tourism has also plummeted, pushing coastal communities once reliant on visiting tourists further into poverty.

Loss of livelihood and rising poverty has also placed additional pressure on natural resources, as ailing communities increasingly turn to fishing to meet their daily needs.

To counteract this, WWF-Philippines will oversee the construction of food sheds in twenty communities across the island of Dumaran. A third-class municipality in Northeastern Palawan, Dumaran is separated from the mainland by a thin stretch of water – and in turn has suffered resource shortages throughout the pandemic.

“What they need is a way to grow their own food in the absence of stable livelihoods. With a food shed, you can grow healthy food for less land, with less of an impact to the environment. Food sheds offer a very good, very stable supplement to their current food production methods,” added WWF-Philippines Project Manager Monci Hinay.

Hinay has overseen the construction of food sheds in farming communities across the country. Through the Sustainable Food Systems program, he and his team have promoted sustainable livelihoods and food securities in towns struggling with sparse resources.

The food sheds slated for construction in Dumaran are a combination of low-tech, low-cost gardening innovations that are easily replicable in rural communities. Made of bamboo poles and recycled plastics, the food sheds combine container gardening and hydroponics systems in a multi-level food production system that can handle both poultry and a wide variety of crops.

Each food shed also lowers environmental pressure from fishing communities. With a sustainable supply of fresh produce growing in each food shed, their reliance on fisheries decreases, granting fish stocks room to grow.

Home to endangered species like the Philippine Cockatoo and the Philippine Pangolin, Dumaran is a biodiversity hotspot and an important site for conservationists. Dumaran and the neighboring Araceli are part of a group of six municipalities that comprise the Northeast Palawan Marine Protected Area (MPA) Network, a system of connected MPAs established by WWF-Philippines for the conservation of the regions’ marine resources.

“We’re looking at a win-win scenario, both for these communities and for the environment. People need to eat. The environment needs room to recover. With these food sheds, both is possible,” said Hinay.

A fisher checks on his nets off the coast of Araceli, Dumaran. The communities of Dumaran rely on their fisheries for livelihood, but pandemic restrictions have made it difficult for them to sell their produce. Photograph © Alo Lantin / WWF-Philippines

Dumaran fishers gather shells along the beach as fishing boats pass behind them. The food sheds to be constructed by the WWF Network will help address food security, while granting communities an alternate source of livelihood for the pandemic and beyond. Photograph © Alo Lantin / WWF-Philippines