Inquirer
Date: November 19, 2018

Dear Editor,

I am writing to you regarding the Philippines’ support for Taiwan’s participation in upcoming 24th Session of the Conference of the Parties (COP24) to be held on 2-14 December 2018, in Katowice, Poland.

At the conference, the participants are expected to work out and adopt a package of decisions to better ensure the full implementation of the Paris Agreement. This will help focus international efforts on mitigating and adapting to the impact of climate change.

However, due to political pressure, Taiwan can only attend the COP sessions as an NGO observer.

As a result, when the world meets in Poland in December, the people of Taiwan will have no voice in those talks. This is not right. The people of Taiwan should be treated equally to make a substantial contribution to the protection of Mother Earth.

Taiwan’s absence from the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) undermines this simple fact and weakens the world’s ability to act as one. It is unjust to keep Taiwan excluded from the UNFCCC and leave Taiwan to deal with the impact of climate change on its own.    [FULL  STORY]