LIWANAG WORLD FESTIVAL ON CREATIVITY AND
SUSTAINABILITY
29 January – 02 February 2013, Philippine
Women’s College, Davao City
Liwanag World
Festival in Davao City
To Be the First
Major Event in the Philippines to be Carbon Neutral
Program Addresses the Urgent Challenge of Climate Adaptation
The Movement of Imaginals for Sustainable
Societies Through Initiatives Organizing and Networking (MISSION), organizers
of the Liwanag World Festival on Creativity and Sustainability, today announced
in a media conference that Liwanag willbe the country’s first major gathering
to be carbon neutral. Liwanag, a unique world festival and the first of its
kind in the Philippines, is slated to open in a few days, starting on January
29 and ending on February 2, 2013, at the Philippine Women’s College in Davao
City.
“The era of destructive extreme weather events is
upon us and will escalate in the years to come”, emphasized Nicanor Perlas,
Liwanag Festival Director. “We have to contribute our modest share towards addressing
the challenge of climate change. And designing a major event to be carbon
neutral and encouraging others to do the same, is one of them”, Perlas
continued.
In addition, Liwanag organizers stressed that
climate adaptation means not just to be more knowledgeable of weather and
climate patterns. It also means converging this wisdom with how we structure
our economy, how we govern ourselves, how we consume, and whether or not our
lifestyle is climate friendly. “This is the reason why Liwanag’sProgram is designed
to encourage a deeper and more systemic approach to societal challenges like
climate change”, explained Shiela Castillo-Tiangco, climate change specialist
with Liwanag and a climate change presenter for The Climate Reality Project of
Al Gore, recipient of the Nobel Prize for Peace and former Vice-President of
the United States of America.
The recent floods that have swept through Davao
City, the venue of the Liwanag World Festival, underscored the urgent message
of climate change adaptation advocated by the organizers of Liwanag. “Abnormal
rains pounded on Davao City drowned many areas and displaced over 39,000
people”, stressed Leo Avila, former chief agriculturist of Davao City and
Festival consultant. “These same torrential rains also hampered rehabilitation
efforts in communities devastated by super typhoon Pablo”, lamented Avila.
Carbon emissions from technology and other human
activities, including vehicles, power plants, chemical fertilizers, and
industries, are among the major causes of climate change, the gradual heating
up of Planet Earth. With global warming comes from extreme weather events,
super typhoons, flooding and major disasters for human settlements. To be carbon
neutral means to offset carbon emissions with activities that take away carbon
from the air, including tree-planting efforts.
MISSION, through Leo Avila, asked Atty. Joey
Felizarta, OIC, of the Davao City Environment and Natural Resources Office, to
do a carbon footprint auditing of Liwanag. “According to Felizarta, Liwanag
will have a total carbon footprint of 77.41 tons of carbon dioxide emitted into
the atmosphere”, reported Avila. “The CENRO official further wrote that Liwanag
willhave to plant a minimum of 3,140 trees to offset the carbon emissions of
the event”.
“But we will not stop at 3,140 trees. We will
plant at least 6,000 trees to ensure that we do not add carbon gases that will
heat up the planet”, emphasized Perlas. “In addition, we will encourage all
Festival participants to do their small share of carbon saving and offsetting
practices. We will track participant commitments and report it in the Liwanag
website (www.liwanagworldfest.net).
In this way, we will walk our talk”, concluded Perlas.
“To achieve this, we will mobilize our more than
80 volunteers as well as students from the various colleges and universities of
Davao City”, explained Maya Vandenbroeck, Liwanag Head for Volunteers.
MISSION is organizing the Liwanag World Festival
with the support of its major partners, Lifebank Foundation, the Government of
Davao City, and ABS-CBN. World- class leaders, from abroad and the Philippines,
will take a systemic look at the challenges facing humanity and the country and
describe innovative practices that solve these challenges for the good of
society and the ecology.
