ENDEAVOR “The world just had the hottest week on record, according to preliminary data,” the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), reported “after a series of scorching days saw global temperature records tumble” during the first week of July 2023, according to an Agence France Presse (AFP) dispatch. The WMO warned of “potentially devastating impacts on ecosystems and the environment,” especially with the unfolding of El Niño that could extend the deleterious impact of abrupt climate change into 2024. Also according to AFP, more than 670 wildfires are currently raging in Canadian forests, with spillover effects on neighboring United States, affecting more than 100 million people. A Vox report cites University of Pennsylvania climate scientist Michael Mann’s account: “Vermont was the site of heavy flooding that trapped people in their homes and shut down roads. Earlier this week, New York’s Hudson Valley similarly experienced torrential rains that led to severe flood warnings. Nationally, 11 million people remain under flood warnings as of Tuesday, while globally, countries including India, Japan, China, and Turkey have seen destructive flooding that has displaced millions of people and damaged property in the last year.” Climate change “is out of control,” says UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres as extreme temperatures “also cause health problems ranging from heatstroke and dehydration to cardiovascular stress.” AFP also reports that according to new research published Monday more than 61,000 people died due to the heat during Europe's record-breaking summer last year. Most of those who died were over 80 years old and women, according to the Nature Medicine journal. Finally, the AFP news report said: “The world has warmed an average of nearly 1.2 C since the mid-1800s, unleashing extreme weather including more intense heatwaves, more severe droughts in some areas and storms made fiercer by rising seas.” Dire warnings on climate change must be the most beaten down “broken record” in recent history. Only last March 2023, UN’s Guterres warned: “Every year of insufficient action to keep global warming below 1.5 degrees Celsius drives us closer to the brink, increasing systemic risks and reducing our resilience against climate catastrophe.” Specifically, he pitched to the Group of 20, composed of the world’s richest and most powerful countries, to fast-track the attainment of net-zero carbon emissions – originally targeted for 2050 – to be achieved decades earlier by agreeing to an acceleration agenda. This calls for solid commitments to the phasedown of oil- and gas-related activities, as well as clearcut targets in the shipping, aviation, steel, cement, aluminum, agriculture industries. Flashback to COP 21 at which the global summit on climate change was held in Paris in November  2015. Speaking in behalf of the Climate Vulnerable Forum (CVF) – an international partnership of countries most severely affected by climate change – then President Benigno S. Aquino III recalled that he and then French President Francois Hollande launched the Manila Call to Action on Climate Change earlier that year. The CVC countries bear a disproportionate share of the climate change burden in terms of deadly typhoons and similar natural disasters. Sounding a note of urgency, he said: “Since 2010, on an annual basis, climate injustice has claimed more than 50,000 lives from V20 countries — and this number will increase exponentially in the near future. Consider further the danger faced by island-nations such as Kiribati, Tuvalu, and the Maldives, whose existence is threatened by rising water levels. Their extinction will be a certainty, unless we pursue realizable goals that acknowledge that, for some nations, the fight against climate change is a matter of survival.” He shared the Philippine experience: “We have been working to break the vicious cycle of destruction and reconstruction, where affected locales, especially our coastal communities, slide back into an impoverished state with one calamity. The primary challenge has been to move our countrymen to less vulnerable areas, on the assumption that such do exist — or to make interventions that mitigate the impacts of climate change. We are indeed hard pressed to build back better especially in the aftermath of Haiyan, and I must submit: we cannot do this in isolation.” He ended his speech with a plea for solidarity: “Today, the Philippines, with the rest of the Climate Vulnerable Forum, a group that will soon grow to represent at least one billion people, makes our case. In the name of all our citizens, we ask you to give our proposal – for more climate financing for developing countries – the consideration it deserves. We likewise seek your support as the Climate Vulnerable Forum finalizes the Manila-Paris Declaration, which presents our aspirations for a world that is resilient and just, one where no one is left behind.” It has been nearly 10 years since super-typhoon Haiyan (local name: Yolanda) left an indelible imprint on the nation’s consciousness. According to official figures, 6,300 people were killed by Haiyan, a further 1,062 were missing, and 28,688 were injured. But the emotional scars of that extremely traumatic episode will not simply fade. Far from simply saying, “Never again!” all Filipinos of goodwill must commit themselves for doing what it takes to create a huge dome of safety and resilience that will protect our people’s lives and homes.