Tony La Viña, Gab Mesina, and Jayvy R. Gamboa
In a pivotal moment in the global response to climate change, the Board of the Fund for responding to Loss and Damage (FRLD), back in July 2024, selected the Philippines as the Board’s host country. The FRLD’s mandate “includes a focus on addressing loss and damage to assist developing countries that are particularly vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change in responding to economic and non-economic loss and damage associated with the adverse effects of climate change[.]”[1] With the significance of the FRLD to forwarding the Loss and Damage architecture, it is only fitting that its Board would be hosted in a climate vulnerable country that experiences loss and damage to an unimaginable extent.
As of the 3rd Board meeting in September 2024 in Baku, Azerbaijan, the Philippines and the Board have been undergoing talks to finalize the host country agreement. Here is what we know so far.
Uphill road to Philippines’ hosting
The process of selecting the host country for the FRLD Board began during the Board’s inaugural meeting in Abu Dhabi. The Board outlined criteria for the host country, including the ability to confer legal status to the Board, extend legal immunities, and immediate release of visas, among others.[2] A total of eight countries namely, Antigua and Barbuda, Armenia, the Bahamas, Barbados, Eswatini, Kenya, the Philippines, and Togo, submitted bids to serve as the host. By the 2nd Board meeting, the privilege of hosting was awarded to the Philippines thanks to the leadership shown by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources throughout the entire process.
The Philippines had moved swiftly to accommodate the hosting of the FRLD Board in the country. Just around a month after the selection, President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr., with the Philippine Congress’ unequivocal support, signed into law Republic Act No. 12019, otherwise known as “The Loss and Damage Fund Board Act”.[3] The law provides juridical personality and legal capacity to the Board. It also allows the Board to enter contracts, manage property, hold legal proceedings, and perform other activities necessary to its mandate.
Critically, the legal instrument allows the Board to move forward and eventually conclude its negotiations with the World Bank as the host and trustee of the Fund which is essential to the operationalization of the FRLD.
The details of the hosting will be further specified in the host country agreement, which is still in the pipeline.
Moving forward, the FRLD Board will be coming to Manila on December 2 to 5, 2024 for the first time with the Philippines as its host country. Notably, the Philippines has also requested to host two Board meetings per calendar year. Thus, in addition to the 4th Board meeting in December, the Board will also meet in the Philippines for the 6th Board meeting in July 2025 and the 7th Board meeting in late September of the same year. However, it has yet to be finalized whether the Philippines as the Board’s host country as well as other countries hosting the succeeding Board meetings will shoulder all expenses related to these meetings.
Finding genuine climate leadership
In as much as being selected as the FRLD Board’s host country is a success for the Philippines in the international stage, it also presents an opportunity to reflect on grassroots experiences. It is a question of whether global leadership reflects local realities on climate action.
At the dawn of the COP 28 decision in Dubai on the operationalization of the FRLD,[4] President Marcos Jr., through the Head of Delegation Environment Secretary Toni Yulo-Loyzaga, had immediately expressed the Philippines’ intention to secure a seat in the FRLD Board[5] – which was realized through former Finance Undersecretary Mark Dennis Joven appointment to the Board.[6] Of course, this was followed when the Philippines’ threw its hat as the Board’s host country, which, again ended in the country’s favor. Philippine government officials have quickly preached, as expected, of the country’s commitment to climate action upon winning the bid for hosting the FRLD Board.[7]
However, these achievements in global climate leadership and the promise of a more progressive climate action are all said with the backdrop of the Philippines being declared as the most dangerous country in Asia for environmental defenders – a title which the country has consistently held for 11 straight years.[8] Moreover, 298 environmental defenders have been either killed or forcibly disappeared in the Philippines between 2012 to 2023,[9] reaching the third highest documented death toll for environmental defenders in the world.
Aside from killings, Philippine-based environmental and sustainable development organizations have also been the targets of harassment, surveillance, and/or freezing of assets by the State, severely hindering their capacity to operate and work for environmental, social, and climate justice at the margins of Philippine society.[10] This seems a far cry from a government which supposedly champions climate action.
As Klima Center, to which we belong, advocates, indigenous peoples, environmental defenders and activists, and those who empower and enable them to protect the country’s biodiversity are at the frontlines of climate action. If the country loses them and if the country fails to protect them, the Philippines cannot say that it indeed works for climate justice.
Thus, this is a call to action for the Philippine government to ensure that, while the country makes great strides in international climate governance and the Philippines’ hosting of the FRLD is still a feat to be celebrated by Filipinos, the work does not stop. We are at a critical time. The international community, civil society organizations, and the Filipino people should, by all means, support the Philippines in its hosting of the FRLD Board. However, genuine climate leadership cannot be measured by this alone. It requires action to finally stop the injustice in grassroots communities. This is the true burden for the Philippines.
[1] UNFCCC, Decision 1/CP.28
[2] See Background Paper on the Selection of the Host Country of the Board https://unfccc.int/sites/default/files/resource/Host%20country_final_rev1.pdf
[3] Republic Act 12019 ‘An Act Granting Juridical Personality and Legal Capacity to the Board of the Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage Due to Climate Change’
[4] Another Filipino was instrumental in the operationalization of the FRLD in the person of Dr. Rosa Perez of Manila Observatory, who was appointed as a member of the Transitional Committee that was mandated to draft recommendations to the COP on the operationalization of the FRLD.
[5] See https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1215383
[6] See full list of board members on the UNFCCC website
[7] See statements of officials from the Philippine News Agency (https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1228637) and publication of the DENR (https://denr.gov.ph/news-events/the-philippines-wins-bid-to-host-the-loss-and-damage-fund-board/)
[8] Declared by Global Witness and reported on by Rappler. https://www.rappler.com/philippines/deadliest-place-asia-environmental-defenders-2023/
[9] Data from Global Witness
[10] Kalikasan and CEC were harassed and surveilled as reported by Global Witness 14 June 2022; Leyte Center for Development had its bank assets frozen as reported by Rappler 3 May 2024; The CPA, an indigenous peoples CSO, had its bank accounts frozen as reported by Rappler 17 July 2024