Young Kagay-anon speaks on climate change in EU high-level forum

A Kagay-anon was one of only two Asians to be selected as a Young Leader for Development for the European Development Days 2019 organized by the European Commission in Brussels, Belgium from June 10-21.

As one of the 15 young leaders from across the globe, Val Amiel Vestil, 23, was tasked to speak in a high-level panel on climate change and inequalities with the topic, “Finding the path towards an inclusive and green transition leaving no one behind.”

Vestil remarked in his speech that governments should stop the debate and be bold and courageous in making transformative decisions that protect the interests of the planet and its people.

“The conversation on the climate crisis is no longer a debate on economic or political interests it is now a debate on human survival. And this is problematic, because our survival as a species should never be a subject of debate in the first place,” he said

Vestil said he represented the Philippines and Cagayan de Oro City to give “face to the story of our vulnerability” to the impacts of climate change. He shared about the deadly Tropical Storm Sendong which hit the city in 2011, leaving over 110,000 families affected.

He recalled: “Historically, our city had never experienced storms as devastating as Sendong because ours is a region in the Philippines that is not prone to tropical storms… This implies that the climate crisis will strike anywhere, anytime, in the most unlikely of places.”

Climate-induced catastrophes have a multiplier effect on inequalities, he reported.

“In my city, hundreds of thousands of families were displaced into unsafe environments which posed numerous health risks, with families being forced out of their unlivable homes into evacuation centers that disrupt their normal lives,” he said. (pr)