DAVAO CITY—Climate-change activists, some losing families during the onslaught of Supertyphoon Yolanda, criticized US President Donald J. Trump’s favoring the continued use of fossil fuels and reminded him his visit to the Philippines coincided with the commemoration of Yolanda’s devastation of Eastern Visayas.
“While Trump seems to deny climate change and apparently defends fossil-fuel interests, Filipinos have learned the hard way that climate change is real and happening now,” said Yeb Saño, executive director of Greenpeace Southeast Asia, whose family is from Eastern Visayas, the region hit hardest by Yolanda.
He said Greenpeace “stands with typhoon survivors and all those impacted by climate change, and especially with the brave activists fighting for climate justice through the courts.”
rump’s tour of Asia, which ended Tuesday, coincided with the commemoration of Yolanda’s fourth anniversary and the Climate Change Conference in Bonn last week.
“This year’s spate of extreme weather events are a clear signal to governments and corporations that they must step up action on climate change. Fossil fuels must stay in the ground. Government delegations’ meeting in Bonn must stand up and propel climate action forward or be held accountable for their inaction.”
Greenpeace Asia said Yolanda “packed 300 kilometers-per-hour winds and a 7.5-meter storm surge that locals said claimed many more lives than the official toll of 6,329, and displaced millions of people who are still rebuilding their lives.”
“The Yolanda commemoration honors those lost, and celebrates the second lease on life that survivors feel they’ve been given, as well as the fighting spirit that the local Waray-Waray people are famous for,” the group
said.