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We will protect what we love. And she will protect us.

– Naima Penniman, from “Concentric Memory,” A Darker Wilderness: Black Nature Writing from Soil to Stars ed. Sharkey

Erin & Thomas

I have cared about the environment for a long time. When I was a kid, my troop learned about recycling in Girl Scouts and I was motivated to start in our St. Paul home’s kitchen. When worrisome commercials filled the spots between evening sitcoms, I convinced my mom to virtually adopt a polar bear. I was a member of my school’s Earth Corp and planned an annual punk rock concert called Rock Your Mother to raise money to convince school leaders to stop using Styrofoam trays and disposable utensils in the cafeteria.

Later, I worked on an urban farm with teenagers who taught their neighbors how to start backyard composting projects, in addition to transforming vacant lots into vegetable gardens. Coming up in the Only You Can Prevent Forest Fires era, I believed that if we each tried hard to reduce our waste, reuse what could be reused, and recycle every scrap, we could prevent the ozone layer from disappearing and save endangered animals. Now I know that the challenges we face are larger than individual efforts alone can reverse, and the challenges continue to mount. In addition to thoughtful consumption, systemic change and change at the policy level are what we need to truly face the climate crisis.

Black people have been wrestling with systems for generations. And, over the last few years, issues with our “in-justice” system have been in the forefront of the public conversation as we contend with very public examples of police violence and unevenly distributed policing and state prosecution. And, too, the question of the individual vs. the system has been at the forefront of the conversation about racial justice and equality.

A Darker Wilderness

Concurrently, the real changes that are necessary to address the climate crisis and the unequal impact of environmental injustice need to be made on the systems level. Rather than individual piecemeal changes, systems-level action is essential for corporations, governments, and institutions.

Over the last several years, I have been editing a collection of original essays, A Darker Wilderness: Black Nature Writing from Soil to Stars (Milkweed ’23), about the relationship of Black folks to nature since the first days of the America project. In the zenith of this research and crafting, I have learned about the ways Black folks have persisted in relationship to nature despite systemic public policies aimed to separate us from nature like Jim Crow Laws, Redlining, Sundowner town policies, and incomplete abolition. It is not surprising that environmental injustices follow these same patterns, leaving marginalized, under-resourced communities to contend with the worst consequences of toxic waste and industrial pollution.

The history of our country is marked by legislation and policy that worked to separate people of color from nature. Despite these barriers, Black folks have been in relationship with nature since before this country was a country. These relationships have been tainted and shaped by structural racism, but the marks of Black people’s stewardship and evidence of the African diaspora can be found across the landscape.

Three years ago, I entered a new relationship with nature through a particular piece of land and its stewardship. At the height of the pandemic and in the summer of 2020, a group of friends and I were invited to consider this new relationship with 36 acres of land in central Minnesota. I am uncomfortable with the traditional concept of land ownership, especially in a state and a country covered with stolen land and broken treaties. We talk about this work of care as stewardship and at the heart of the work is sharing. The Fields at Rootsprings is a retreat and respite center in Annandale, MN and there we are centering BIPOC and LGBTQ folks for rest. People visit the land to get away from the city, to wander the paths, to plan for the future, to grieve and mourn losses, to have fun with friends or their family, and some come to heal their relationship to nature. This is my new commitment to addressing the climate crisis.

Rootsprings Farm

By making space, by taking space in the outdoors, and by welcoming folks to join us we are fostering all kinds of new love for the land. And, it is the love for the land and our own wellbeing that will help us model and demand the changes needed to reduce strain on the environment.

My wife, Zoe, and I split time between Rootsprings and our place in the Twin Cities. The land welcomes us back when we arrive on the land, whispering that we are safe. The land is familiar but new each time. A gaggle of chickens and guinea hens meet our car; two tabby barn cats call out to announce us (and to demand the canned food they crave) and rub against the cuffs of our jeans. I am beginning to understand that there aren’t four seasons here but more like 25, changing every two weeks. One week is the week of the dragonflies, who dart across the path to the lake, the next is the week of the milkweed bobbing in the breeze. We’ve seen the Northern Lights and meteors, watched the juvenile deer watching us. There is order and mystery to it all.

We are confronting the evidence of climate change here on the land: seeing the little lake’s shores recede and the stream that feeds it shrink over the last two summers; facing record drought alongside farmers and gardeners across the state. Record snowfall last winter taxed the land. Our bird feeders sat empty a few times for a few months last year for fear of spreading avian flu. Big storms have blown through and fell trees in the forest. Buckthorn and other invasives have spread in our wetlands.

I know this land now, enough to love it and feel responsible to it and for it.

And I know that I am just beginning to get to know it.

We need to be in relationship to care, to feel a part of efforts towards a future. It is ours to care for and we are in deep need of its caretaking as well because we are nature. Our relationship to it and to each other matters.

Erin Sharkey

Erin Sharkey is a writer, arts, and abolition organizer, cultural worker, and film producer based in Minneapolis. She is the editor of A Darker Wilderness: Black Nature Writing from Soil to Stars (Milkweed Editions ’23). Erin is a founding coop member of the Fields at Rootsprings, a retreat and respite space in central MN, and co-founder, with Junauda Petrus, of an experimental arts collective called Free Black Dirt. She is the producer of film projects, including Sweetness of Wild, an episodic web film, and Small Business Revolution, which explored challenges and opportunities for Black-owned businesses in the Twin Cities in the summer of 2021. Sharkey has received fellowships and residencies from the Loft Mentor Series, VONA/Voices, the Givens Foundation, Penumbra Theatre, Coffee House Press, the Bell Museum of Natural History, Black Visions, Headwaters Foundation and the Jerome Foundation. She has an MFA in creative writing from Hamline University and teaches with the Minnesota Prison Writing Workshop.

Erin is a Climate Generation Window Into COP delegate for COP28. To learn more, we encourage you to meet the full delegation and subscribe to the Window Into COP digest.

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UN seabed regulator defends authority as mining firms seek to halt inquiry

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The UN body that regulates mining in international waters has defended its authority over ocean governance after two subsidiaries of deep-sea mining firm The Metals Company (TMC) launched legal action to halt an investigation into their conduct.

Speaking at the International Seabed Authority’s (ISA) annual meeting in Kingston on Monday, secretary-general Leticia Carvalho said the regulator’s role “matters more than ever” as governments grapple with growing pressure to exploit the deep seabed for minerals needed for the energy transition.

“The deep seabed belongs to no single country and no corporation; it belongs to all of us,” Carvalho said, describing its resources as “the common heritage of humankind”.

“If we lose sight of this,” she added, “we risk repeating on the ocean floor the same injustices and destruction we still strive to remedy on land.”

The conflict stems from TMC’s attempt to bypass the UN process by applying for US-sponsored ocean mining permits offered last year by the Trump administration. The Canadian firm aims to become the first company to mine the seabed for minerals like nickel, rare earths and manganese used in the production of both clean energy technologies and military equipment.

Several governments, including China, condemned the move as a “violation of international law”. In response, ISA member states agreed to open an inquiry into its licence-holders – among them two of TMC’s subsidiaries – to make sure they have complied with international law. If they are ultimately found to have breached those obligations, their exploration contracts could be revoked.

In June, the two TMC subsidiaries – Tonga Offshore Mining Ltd (TOML) and Nauru Ocean Resources Inc (NORI) – filed claims against the ISA at the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS), asking the court to suspend the inquiry while the case proceeds. The companies argue they are being targeted “without lawful procedural basis”, “in breach of due process”, and without “good faith”.

Environmental groups have accused The Metals Company of using legal tactics to block the investigation into its subsidiaries.

“We find ourselves in this Orwellian situation where these companies are trying to effectively get an injunction against the ISA from continuing its inquiry,” said Louisa Casson, who leads Greenpeace’s global campaign against deep-sea mining.

“The stakes are so high and that’s why we’re seeing this pretty extraordinary move to try to get an injunction against the ISA,” she added.

    Mining the deep ocean floor

    The ISA has been negotiating a mining code for the deep ocean floor for over 12 years without success. Nearly 40 governments, including the UK, France and Germany, have called for a moratorium or precautionary pause on deep-sea mining until there is sufficient scientific evidence that it can proceed without causing serious harm to marine ecosystems.

    Rather than wait for the UN process, industry frontrunner, The Metals Company, decided to apply for US permits offered by the Trump administration last year. In May, the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) certified TMC’s application to explore 120,000 square kilometers of sea floor.

    The firm wants to mine an area in the Pacific known as the Clarion-Clipperton Zone, which holds critical minerals inside potato-sized rocks found in the deep ocean floor known as polymetallic nodules. The minerals like manganese, nickel and rare earths are used in clean energy technologies like batteries and wind turbines.

    But the area is also a little-understood ecosystem inhabited by thousands of unnamed species. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the world’s largest environmental network, says mining this area would threaten the existence of over half of all molluscs reliant on deep-sea vents.

    A field of manganese nodules in the ocean floor. (Photo: photo by NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration and Research)
    A field of manganese nodules in the ocean floor. (Photo: photo by NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration and Research)

    Governments launch inquiry

    Seeking to discourage companies from bypassing the UN process, the ISA’s member states unanimously agreed to open an inquiry into whether holders of its exploration licences complied with their contractual obligations under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

    “The stage we’re at now is countries grappling with what they can do about this. What tools do they have to constrain this pathway that would go against international law,” Casson said.

    Both NORI and TOML continue to hold ISA exploration contracts in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone. NORI’s license, however, expires later this month on July 21st and is up for review.

    The inquiry is currently ongoing, but Casson said that if governments decide to cancel NORI’s license, other firms could apply for the ISA permit and compete for mining rights in the area.

    “If that happens, it could really put into jeopardy TMC USA’s application (for US permits) because then suddenly that area could be open for a competing claim,” she explained. “At the moment, TMC is trying to kind of play both sides and shore up the area so that there will be no competition.”

    Deep-sea mining firms push back

    The cases before ITLOS are the first contentious disputes over deep-sea mining to reach the court designed for maritime disputes and the first brought directly by private contractors against the ISA. Among the companies’ legal advisers is former ISA secretary-general Michael Lodge.

    Both NORI and TOML claimed that, unless the inquiry is suspended, there is a “real
    and imminent risk of prejudice” that “may have significant legal and practical consequences” for
    their activities.

    The claim was backed by the Pacific island nation of Nauru, which has sponsored TMC’s push to mine the Clarion-Clipperton Zone and would benefit from the economic activity. The country raised “concerns on the adherence of due process with respect to the treatment of NORI”.

    The mining companies allege that the ISA has singled them out among other applicants by requesting additional documentation, and that the UN auditors did not give them an opportunity to “meaningfully respond” to their concerns.

    The ISA rejected those allegations as “wholly unsupported assertions”. It added that, given TMC’s application for US mining permits, it had done “what any reasonable regulator would do”: with the unanimous support of member states, it opened an inquiry simply to establish the facts.

    A view of the International Seabed Authority council meeting in Kinston, Jamaica. (Photo: Andrés Felipe Carvajal Gómez/ ENB)
    A view of the International Seabed Authority council meeting in Kinston, Jamaica. (Photo: Andrés Felipe Carvajal Gómez/ ENB)

    Delay tactics

    A decision from the maritime court is now expected by July 18, which has added to a “climate of significant regulatory uncertainty”, according to global law firm HSF Kramer.

    As ISA countries meet in Kingston this week, the court’s president asked them “not to act in any way that could hinder any order” the court may make.

    At the hearing representing the ISA, renowned human rights lawyer Philippe Sands said the deep-sea mining firms were engaging in “strategic litigation” meant to delay the inquiry and send the ISA into a years-long legal process.

    “It’s a delaying tactic, and nothing would make them happier than for you to kick this into the long grass for two years while you sort out the merits. That is what they want this Tribunal, the Chamber, to do. You are being instrumentalized in this process,” Sands told the judges.

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    28 quotes from next UK leader Andy Burnham on climate, net-zero and fossil fuels

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    The UK’s incoming prime minister Andy Burnham has remained tight-lipped on his views on climate change during his leadership campaign.

    When asked his views on reversing Labour’s manifesto pledge to stop new North Sea drilling in June – a move that the oil-and-gas industry and right-wing media have pushed for in recent months – he said he had “something of an open mind” on the issue.

    But a trawl of Burnham’s past comments about climate change, net-zero and fossil fuels reveals a different picture.

    Just a year ago in June 2025, Burnham, while mayor of Greater Manchester, gave his support to the fossil fuel treaty – a proposed international pact on phasing out coal, oil and gas – calling it a “lifeline” that “all governments” should join.

    In a video message endorsing the treaty, he also said that “there should be no turning away from net-zero”.

    During his last bid to be Labour leader in 2015, he used similar language, saying:

    “Labour under my leadership will never turn our back on either our duty to tackle climate change or the prospects offered by the green economy.”

    Burnham has spoken about the threat of climate change since at least 2008, noting in 2021 that accelerated action could “create thousands of good jobs”, but also warning that net-zero risked becoming the “next Brexit”.

    Burnham is yet to appoint his cabinet, but there is much speculation that he will select current net-zero secretary Ed Miliband as his chancellor – with their ally Miatta Fahnbulleh having a “strong chance” of taking Miliband’s former position.

    Below, Carbon Brief recounts 28 things that Burnham has said about climate change, net-zero, fossil fuels, energy and transport.

    Climate change

    “Tackling climate change isn’t just about protecting the planet – it’s a powerful opportunity to build a fairer, greener future for our communities and businesses.”

    Calling for local councils to be given more power and money for climate action, 29 November 2025


    “There is little doubt that Greater Manchester’s biodiversity has taken a hit over the years, with habitats being lost, destroyed and becoming less diverse due to the impact of development, climate change, pollution and invasive species…We are committed to delivering a city-region for all residents to enjoy – a fairer, greener and more prosperous place for everyone.”

    Statement after Greater Manchester declared a “biodiversity emergency”, 25 March 2022


    “Over the next decade, if we accelerate our response to the climate crisis, we can create thousands of good jobs, improve homes, overhaul our transport system and make [Manchester] an even better place to live.”

    Greater Manchester Green Summit, 18 October 2021


    “The environment has never been higher on the national and international agenda.”

    Statement after visiting a peat bog restoration project in England, 9 January 2020


    Andy Burnham (left) and others, including members of Massive Attack, endorsing the Fossil Fuel Treaty in June 2025
    Andy Burnham (left) and others, including members of Massive Attack, endorsing the Fossil Fuel Treaty in June 2025. Credit: Fossil Fuel Treaty

    “I think climate change [action] will be driven more quickly from the bottom up, if I’m honest. It’s the will of evolution if you wait for the government to act…When governments aren’t listening you get out and get your voice heard…so I think [climate protesters] deserve our encouragement, not our criticism.”

    Speaking to Manchester Evening News at a student climate protest in Manchester, 24 May 2019


    “Labour under my leadership will never turn our back on either our duty to tackle climate change or the prospects offered by the green economy.”

    Labour leadership candidate speech, 15 July 2015


    “Climate change can seem a distant, impersonal threat – in fact the associated costs to health are a very real and present danger…We need well-designed climate change policies that drive health benefits.”

    Speaking to the Guardian about a study on climate and health, 25 November 2009


    “The Stern report on the economics of climate change has changed the debate, in this country and around the world. It made it clear that the people who could suffer most from a failure to tackle climate change, or from a lack of ambition in our approach to it, are those living in the developing countries. They are the most vulnerable…[and] Stern said that the cost of not acting would be large. That is why the government took various measures in the recent spending review to ensure that we are prepared to face the challenges posed by climate change.”

    Speaking in the UK parliament on the economic impacts of climate change on his final day as chief secretary to the Treasury, 24 January 2008

    Net-zero

    “There should be no turning away from net-zero.”

    Speaking after giving his support to the fossil fuel treaty – a proposed global pact to introduce laws to phase out coal, oil and gas – on behalf of Manchester, 6 June 2025

    Fossil Fuel Treaty Initiative on Bluesky: The Fossil Fuel Treaty is not just a plan, said Mayor Burnham

    “An opportunity is opening up for Britain as other countries move away from net-zero. We should seize that…We can make Britain a green leader. This is not the time to tiptoe, it is the time to commit to this path.”

    Speaking at Innovation Zero World Congress in London, 29 April 2025


    “[We] need a government that fully buys into the 2038 vision because the UK will not get to 2050 unless places like Greater Manchester are freed up to go faster – and we’re ready to go faster.”

    Speaking about Greater Manchester’s aim to reach net-zero by 2038, 19 October 2022


    “In Greater Manchester we have plans to build 30,000 net-zero social rented homes because we recognise that a successful city region needs good quality, affordable accommodation for everyone.”

    Speech on the future of cities, 24 June 2022


    “By building a broad consensus behind the drive to net-zero, we can ensure that the transition is a fair one that delivers social justice as well as climate justice. This is an opportunity for all of us to show how cutting carbon emissions in our cities can make a real difference to our communities – away from the abstractions and rooted in the real world.”

    Panel discussion in Glasgow during the COP26 climate summit, 12 November 2021


    “To the extent that people have picked up anything from COP26, it’s a sense that the drive to net-zero will mean cost and inconvenience for ordinary people and offsetting for the wealthy and entitled. All of a sudden, you can feel how net-zero could become the new Brexit – a debate that gets very divided on class grounds…This has got to be a wake-up call. We cannot let this happen. We need to act now to build a broad social consensus behind the drive to net-zero. How to do that? It starts with taking control of the climate narrative from those steering it in the wrong direction and turning it around…We must show how, if done in the right way, the drive to net-zero is actually an opportunity to reduce the cost of living; to make people’s lives better and society fairer.”

    Writing for the London Standard, 5 November 2021

    
Andy Burnham on X: We need to use Week 2 of COP26

    “The drive to net-zero is a chance to re-industrialise the north of England, this time in a clean way. Create really good jobs, future-facing jobs for people, better public transport, improve people’s homes…If we go quickly towards net-zero, it’s the quickest way to level up the country.”

    ITV interview at COP26, 1 November 2021


    “If we really embrace the drive to net-zero, that is the route to level up the country…But it needs substantial investment, upfront, now, of the kind that Rachel Reeves, shadow chancellor [and chancellor under Keir Starmer’s government], has been talking about. We need long-term predictable funding.”

    Interview with GB News at COP26, 1 November 2021


    “I would have preferred to hear slightly less about carbonated wine and much more about a decarbonised economy.”

    Referencing a UK budget, which included tax cuts for sparkling wine and other drinks, 28 October 2021


    “Decarbonising is not just about lowering costs on to people. It’s the route to get better, cheaper public transport. It’s the route to getting homes that are cheap to run. It’s actually the way we can create thousands of good jobs for the people who live in Greater Manchester. This is the route to levelling up the country by going further and faster on decarbonisation.”

    Speaking to Manchester Confidential, 20 October 2021


    “[I am] asking people to stop seeing the environmental agenda as a cost and a burden agenda. I think this is a barrier that we’ve got to get over. Already in the media interviews I’ve done today, people are saying ‘can you afford it?’, ‘can it be achievable when times are tough?’.

    “My answer to that is, at some point in the 21st century, all homes will be zero-carbon. At some point in this century, all buildings of any kind will be zero-carbon…All cars will be zero-carbon, all public transport will be zero-carbon…The question is: when? And surely the places that embrace those things first are putting themselves in a position of economic strength when it comes to facing up to the future. Rather than seeing the whole agenda as a burden, we’ve got to see it for the benefits that it can bring.

    “There may be a greater upfront cost in a zero-carbon home, but let’s stop thinking, as we tend to do in Britain, of the short-term, the short-termist approach to life. Surely let’s start talking to the public about the lifetime cost.”

    Greater Manchester Green Summit, 21 March 2018


    Fossil fuels

    “I’ve got something of an open mind, you know. I don’t have a sort of fixed position.”

    Speaking on the issue of new North Sea oil and gas in a New Statesman interview, 3 June 2026


    “We would fight this in GM [Greater Manchester]…Communities across the north would face all the danger and disruption while big oil and gas walk away with all the profits.”

    In response to Reform’s call for fracking, on X, 25 August 2025

    Andy Burnham on X: We would fight this in GM

    “I am proud to endorse the fossil-fuel treaty proposal today on behalf of Greater Manchester. It’s not just a plan – it’s a lifeline. It’s a call to end coal, oil and gas, hold polluters accountable…I urge all governments, nationals and subnationals to join this fight.”

    Statement upon endorsing the fossil-fuel treaty, 5 June 2025

    Fossil Fuel Treaty Initiative on X: In a historic moment, Mayor Andy Burnham

    “Fracking is the past, it is not the future.”

    Speech at London climate protest, 20 September 2019


    “I have called for a moratorium on fracking. Far too many potential risks and unanswered questions.”

    On X, 22 June 2015

    Andy Burnham on X: This explains why I have called for a moratorium on fracking

    Energy and transport

    “What I would do, if successful, is lay out a plan for more public control over water, energy, transport, so that over the period we can get those bills down, fares down, and give people and give businesses breathing space.”

    LBC interview, 2 July 2026


    “I am all in favour of tough decisions at a national level. I don’t believe there should be a third runway at Heathrow, for instance. But I think those are decisions for national government.”

    Guardian interview, 13 June 2019


    “There is a debate to be had about aviation, isn’t there? There are changing public attitudes about aviation. Rather than just saying no to people flying, don’t we need to accelerate research into low and zero-carbon forms of aviation?”

    Guardian interview, 13 June 2019


    “Today, I stand alongside the mayors of some of the greatest cities in the world. I’m committed to a cleaner, greener and healthier future for Greater Manchester. Around a third of greenhouse gas emissions in our city-region come from transport.”

    When signing the C40 Fossil-Fuel-Free Streets Declaration, which includes support for zero-emissions vehicles and walking and cycling, on behalf of Manchester, 14 September 2018

    The post 28 quotes from next UK leader Andy Burnham on climate, net-zero and fossil fuels appeared first on Carbon Brief.

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    A strong El Niño spells more climate pain for the Philippines

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    Suresanathan Murugesu is the country director of Action Against Hunger in the Philippines

    The Philippines is caught in an extreme weather trap. Here, forecasts for a strong El Niño in the months ahead do not just indicate a period of drought – they also point to torrential rain and flooding.

    It could hardly come at a worse time, threatening communities that are still struggling to recover from previous typhoons, such as last year’s Typhoon Tino, as well as two strong earthquakes – in Cebu in September 2025 and last month’s 7.8-magnitude quake in Mindanao.

    Forecasts point to the arrival of one of the most intense El Niños in recent history this year and into 2027, with the United Nations warning that it could be the strongest in decades around the world.

    The peak of the El Niño is expected towards the end of the year, but the weather phenomenon is already estimated to have caused agricultural losses of nearly €30 million (£25.9 million), potentially affecting the livelihoods of 4 million farmers.

      On the climate frontline

      For many, El Niño is a figure in a report or a distant headline, but for those of us who live and work on the ground, it is a reality that is already hitting the most vulnerable families.

      When I travel through the communities of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region – in the south – or speak with families on the island of Siargao or in the Zamboanga region, I do not see data or graphs.

      I see a father looking at his cracked rice field, wondering how he will pay off the debts from a harvest that is already lost before it has even begun. I see a mother walking under a relentless sun because her village’s well has dried up, carrying the water that sustains the health of her children and her entire community.

      And what we are seeing today – 26 provinces experiencing drought and millions of dollars in agricultural losses – is only the beginning.

      Loss and damage fund delays first project approvals as needs dwarf resources

      Many Filipino families are still trying to rebuild and recover after last year’s typhoons and the two earthquakes. In Mindanao, where the recent magnitude 7.8 earthquake displaced more than 90,000 people and destroyed over 19,000 houses, uncertainty remains about when the people will be able to fully recover and return home. 

      Today, they are trying to protect the meagre possessions they have and, if they are lucky enough to have their home unscathed by typhoons and earthquakes, their homes from flooding; tomorrow, they will have to survive the hardship and impact of drought.

      The effects of El Niño threaten to exacerbate their troubles.

      Struggle for basic needs

      Many low-income Filipino families already face significant challenges to meet their basic needs.

      In our daily visits, we see how life is becoming increasingly difficult for millions of people. Rising fuel and transport costs are driving up the price of basic foodstuffs, making them unaffordable for many families. At the same time, crop failures and income losses are leaving households without livelihoods, while disasters contribute to further suffering.

      A farmer collects rice along the side of the road during a hot day in Candaba, Pampanga, Philippines, April 30, 2024. REUTERS/Eloisa Lopez

      A farmer collects rice along the side of the road during a hot day in Candaba, Pampanga, Philippines, April 30, 2024. REUTERS/Eloisa Lopez

      But we are not just talking about hunger. We are talking about health, safety and dignity. Water shortages are forcing many people to resort to unsafe sources, increasing the risk of disease. And, as is the case in so many crises, it is the most vulnerable who bear the heaviest burden: walking long distances every day to fetch water or food, enduring enormous physical strain and facing risks of violence and insecurity.

      Building resilience

      Faced with this reality, our response is based on a simple idea: to be there before the crisis reaches its most critical point. At Action Against Hunger, we work alongside communities to anticipate the situation, assessing the impact of the drought and activating early response mechanisms to protect their livelihoods and access to water.

      We translate climate forecasts into concrete action plans: from support for farmers to programmes ensuring safe water. All of this is done in coordination with local authorities and international partners, because we know that what we do today will make the difference tomorrow.

      A supercharged El Niño is coming – are we ready?

      The hardest months are yet to come. But the question is not just what will happen, but what we are doing now to prevent it. How many tables will remain empty and how many children will see their health compromised will depend on our ability to act in time.

      We cannot stop El Niño. But we can prevent it from becoming a crisis of human dignity. We cannot afford to look the other way whilst the earth cracks and opportunities disappear. Because behind every statistic, there is a family struggling to get by. And that is a reality we cannot ignore.

      The post A strong El Niño spells more climate pain for the Philippines appeared first on Climate Home News.

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