SPIRE leaders meet Ambassador Buensuceso

Ms. Johanne Sæther Houge, Ms. Elisabeth Helseth, and Mr. Guri Storaas, Norwegian students and leaders of SPIRE, a Norwegian based NGO with international affiliations, paid a courtesy call on Ambassador Elizabeth P. Buensuceso on 20 April 2009 to discuss climate change and the Philippine Government’s policies and plans of action to address the issue.

SPIRE is a member-based youth organization affiliated with the Norwegian Development Fund.

The organization works cross-politically on global problems regarding trade, development, the environment and food and agriculture. In terms of the environment, SPIRE concerns itself with how resources are managed and believes that development must also take into consideration its effects on the environment.

Ambassador Buensuceso informed Ms. Houge about the Philippines’ strong commitment towards addressing the issue of climate change and enumerated several projects and steps that the Government has taken to address the issue. Aside from being one of the first signatories to and supporter of the Kyoto Protocol and the UNFCCC, the Philippines, created in 1991 the Inter-Agency Committee on Climate Changed, passed the Clean Air Act of 1999 (R.A. 8749) and most recently, created the Climate Change Commission through RA 1890.

The Ambassador further informed the NGO about the appointment by President Arroyo of a Presidential Adviser on Climate Change in the person of Mr. Heherson Alvarez and further pointed out how, in close coordination with NGOs, both local and international, the Philippines will push for even lower emissions targets in the upcoming UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen this December.