France’s Hollande heads to typhoon-hit Philippine town

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Philippine President Benigno Aquino (R) shows the way to French President Francois Hollande at the Malacanang Palace in Manila on February 26, 2015 -© AFP

GUIUAN (PHILIPPINES): French President Francois Hollande will on Friday visit a remote Philippine town that was devastated by one of the world’s strongest typhoons, seeking to sound a global alarm on climate change ahead of a crucial UN summit.

Hollande is on a two-day trip to the Southeast Asian archipelago, regarded as a frontline state in the struggle against global warming, as part of his campaign to build diplomatic momentum ahead of the Paris summit in December.

On Thursday, he launched an appeal with Philippine President Benigno Aquino in Manila for world leaders in Paris to secure a “universal, equitable and ambitious climate deal” that would avert catastrophic global warming.

Their appeal offered a show of unity they said could serve as a model for rich and poor nations, whose divisions infamously led to a similar effort at a UN summit in Copenhagen in 2009 ending in disarray.

“We have a duty to act together and that’s why I came here to the Philippines, to launch an appeal, to seal an alliance,” Hollande said on Thursday.

Hollande will on Friday fly to Guiuan, a small coastal town in the eastern Philippines that was among the first hit when Super Typhoon Haiyan roared in off the Pacific Ocean in November 2013 with winds of 315 kilometres (195 miles) an hour.

Haiyan, the most powerful storm ever recorded on land, killed or left missing more than 7,350 people across already deeply impoverished farming and fishing communities.

Rebuilding those communities is expected to take many years and cost billions of dollars.

In the meantime, hundreds of thousands of typhoon survivors will continue to live in danger zones along the coast and remain extremely vulnerable to future storms.

The Philippines endures about 20 major storms or typhoons every year but scientists say they are getting stronger and more unpredictable because of climate change.

In their joint appeal on Thursday, Hollande and Aquino highlighted that people in the Philippines had “endured an unprecedented series of extreme weather events in the last few years”.

“We are reminded that while the developing countries have contributed least to climate change, they are the ones that suffer the most from climate change impacts,” the appeal stated.

The goal of the planned Paris pact, which must enter into force by 2020, is to limit warming to two degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) over pre-Industrial Revolution levels.

Scientists warn that on current trends, Earth is on track for double that or more — a recipe for catastrophic droughts, fiercer storms like Haiyan and other extreme weather events.

Hollande, the first French head of state to visit the Philippines, brought a high-profile delegation with him, including Oscar winner Marion Cotillard, who has been a long-time environment campaigner.

Fellow French actress Melanie Laurent, as well as UN climate chief Christiana Figueres and Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, were also with Hollande. -AFP