Javea Maria Estavillo, the Philippines’ youth delegate to the recent 28th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28), calls for the immediate establishment of climate financing in a race to save Earth. 

“As climate change impacts worsen, the need for climate financing for the Philippines becomes more acute and urgent. Already, we are struggling to capture in numbers the economic loss and damage we sustain from climate change events,” Estavillo said in her speech. 

Between 2011 and 2021, the Philippine Development Plan recorded the country’s loss and damage at P673.30 billion from tropical cyclones. This totals 7.6 percent of the country’s gross domestic product by 2030 and 13 percent by 2040.

“It is imperative to lobby for climate financing for loss and damage from countries with more financial resources, especially those that are the largest contributors to climate change, following the commitments under the COP, Kyoto Protocol, and Paris Agreement,” Estavillo said.

While these agreements exist, developed countries have been moderate in making the financial commitments needed to assist vulnerable nations. 

Estavillo is also campaigning for the role of youth in climate change and the impacts of innovation, technology, and data analysis in fighting the changes to the Earth’s climate system.

“Empowering the youth with science and data will amplify our voices and be crucial in lobbying for policy-level change,” she said. 

Estavillo, a 17-year-old incoming senior at British School Manila, is bound for Stanford University. She interned as a climate change and loss analyst at the Manila Observatory. She also attended the pre-COP conference in Bonn, Germany last June 2023.