Climate: Manila, François Hollande calls for “ambitious” – Le Point

In the Philippines, the country symbol of the devastating effects of global warming, French presidents and the Philippines on Thursday launched the “Call of Manila” for a successful global climate conference that France meet in late December in Paris. “We call on the international community to reach an ambitious, fair and global climate,” proclaimed “solemnly” Francois Hollande and Benigno Aquino in this appeal read by the actress Marion Cotillard in their presence in the dampness of the gardens Philippine presidential palace. The outcome of the Paris Conference, says the text, concern “billions of people’s lives.”

“Change the world to save the planet”

“Calling Manila is that the world is more just between the developed and fragile countries, between rich and poor countries, between generations too, “launched in the wake of President Hollande, the first day of an official 48-hour visit, the first by a French head of state in this archipelago since independence in 1947. The generations that have “collected resources on the planet” now have “a duty to act to ensure that their children, their grandchildren can just live on this planet, “he further emphasized,” not yet “sure of reaching an agreement in Paris in late December.

Francois Hollande, converted of recent date to ecology, “you have to change the world to save the planet.” Developed countries, he argued, were “sufficiently taken resources” and “damaged the planet” that their “primary duty” is to “do justice” to developing countries. Thursday, Paris and Manila, he said, “sealed an alliance that aims to take the world with it.” But one of the keys to the success of the Conference of Paris, he said, will be the UN green fund that must be “made available to vulnerable countries, like the Philippines, fragile, emerging countries and the poor “to enable them to cope with climate challenges. Without the funds, meant to capitalize $ 100 billion per year by 2020, “we will not convince them to sign the Paris agreement,” he warned. The 195 countries will “do everything possible to meet the challenge of climate change,” said echoing the Philippine president.

The head of the French state had proclaimed the end of November its willingness to “leave trace “in history by pulling off a” historic climate agreement “- universal and binding. – in Paris

unheard Violence

If called” scared “by the consequences of global warming climate, Francois Hollande travels the world for several months to call for the mobilization of the UN in Davos and Canada to the Pacific Islands. France wants to avoid at all costs the reissue of the dismal failure of the Copenhagen Conference in 2009.

The Philippine archipelago is one of the most affected countries in the world by elevation temperatures. On unprecedented violence, unprecedented in the annals, the super typhoon Haiyan and winds of 230 km / h had more than 7,350 dead November 8, 2013, razing towns and villages. Each year, the Philippines, a developing country with 100 million people, are swept from June to October by a score of storms and typhoons. And their frequency increases. The French president has said he had proposed to his counterpart a “contribution” of € 50 million from the French Development Agency “with high climate component projects to prevent future disasters.” On Friday, he will make a two-hour stopover on the island of Guiuan to see firsthand the heavy legacy of Haiyan typhoon.

In the eyes of Paris, the Philippines is a “preferred partner” in the context of the Paris conference, embodying a “progressive voice among developing countries” while others cultivate a “North-South divide” with developed countries, emitters of greenhouse gases.

On economic issues, Francois Hollande highlighted the “considerable” needs of the Philippines in the field of sustainable development, infrastructure and renewable energy that it amounted “to more than $ 100 billion.” A series of agreements were signed during the rest of his visit for the extension of Metro Manila, adduction or treatment of water, photovoltaic power or electricity generation projects from ocean currents for isolated islands.