The 48-nation Climate Vulnerable Forum (CVF), an international cooperation group of developing countries tackling global climate change, has named Deputy Speaker and Antique lone District Rep. Loren Legarda as its Ambassador for Parliaments.
“Through my acceptance to become an Ambassador for Parliaments of the CVF, I am committing to lend my unequivocal support to make sure that the message of urgent climate action is clear,” she said in a statement, after she was recently appointed as one of the CVF’s ambassadors, along with other five other global advocates against climate change.
Among those who were named as CVF ambassadors were former Maldives President Mohamed Nasheed (ambassador for ambition), Kathy Jetnil- Kijiner, Climate Envoy of the Marshall Islands (ambassador for culture), former Minister of Finance of Costa Rica Rocio Aguilar, (ambassador for finance), Tosi Mpanu-Mpanu, Founder, LDC, Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Initiative (REEEI) for Sustainable Development of the Democratic Republic of Congo (ambassador for renewable energy) and Saima Wazed Hossain of Bangladesh, World Health Organization Expert Advisory Panel on Mental Health (ambassador for vulnerability).
“The CVF plays a very significant role in pushing for a more ambitious climate commitment that would deliver beneficial results to vulnerable countries. It is a platform that gives vulnerable countries the voice to urge the rest of the world to take urgent climate action,” said Legarda, a commissioner for the Global Commission on Adaptation (GCA).
The House leader conveyed her support to the proposed creation of a parliamentary union among the 48 CVF nations, which is currently led by Bangladesh.
She relayed to Abul Kalam Azad, Special Envoy of the Climate Vulnerable Forum Presidency that such proposal would forge "a stronger bond and collective voice to advance the causes of vulnerable nations.”
Legarda, Asia Pacific Regional Champion and Global Champion for Resilience, noted that in 2008, 10 key parliamentarians from across Asia, Africa, the Americas and Europe met in Manila aimed at making disaster risk reduction a primary tool for climate change adaptation.
According to her, the “Manila Call for Action of Parliamentarians on Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change Adaptation” was launched to call on all parliamentarians in the world to make disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation a national priority and a key consideration in development planning.
In 2010, Legarda said she initiated a three-day United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR) Consultative Meeting for Asian Parliamentarians with the theme, “Disaster Risk Reduction: An Instrument for Achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)”
It was attended by legislators from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Maldives, Nepal, Philippines, and Thailand.
During the meeting, the Asian parliamentarians vowed to lobby for an increase in national investment on disaster risk reduction initiatives and to facilitate direct access to international funds intended for climate change adaptation, Legarda noted.