Shell backs climate change initiative

Major players from the Philippine business sector, including Shell Companies in the Philippines (SCiP) and non-government organizations have banded together in spearheading a climate change project. Dubbed “The Philippine Imperative,” the project draws up a roadmap of solutions with adaptation and mitigation strategies to complement the government’s effort in combating the effects of climate change in the Philippines. Among the expected impacts of global warming in the Philippines will be severe drought in Western Mindanao, a major agricultural region, and increased rainfall in Central Luzon, the country’s rice bowl. The Philippine Imperative project aims to drive the urgency of addressing climate change in both the private and public sector to find immediate solutions, especially to the large-scale problems that accompany global warming, ranging from poverty to the detrimental effect on the country’s biodiversity heritage. (April 5, 2009)