04/02/2005 - Together
with a thousand protestors from Filipino
communities and local environment groups,
WWF has called on participants of the Clean
Fossil Energy seminar of APEC, the Asia
Pacific Economic Cooperation, to stop promoting
coal and to switch to renewable energy.
The seminar, held in the Marriot Hotel
in the city of Cebu from January 26–29,
was attended by the coal industry, power
sector and government officials from the
United States, Japan, Australia, Thailand,
China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, and
the Philippines.
They met to discuss recent developments
in clean fossil fuel technology and policy
work to promote the use of fossil fuels
as a primary energy resource. Outside the
Marriot Hotel local anti-coal activists
gathered with banners to reject new coal
power plants.
Many of them had travelled long distances
to register their disgust about a government
that is embracing dirty coal power and ignoring
the negative impacts. Coal power is perceived
as a major threat to the environment, to
people’s health and to their livelihoods.
Therefore opposition against it gains massive
support among the affected communities in
the Philippines. The preferred alternative
to coal power is energy generated from renewable
sources, such as wind power, solar energy,
and biomass.
The rally in Cebu was peaceful, with priests
mediating between the police and the protestors.
But the protestors made their objection
to coal power very clear.
“There is no such thing as clean fossil
fuels, in particular there is no such thing
as clean coal”, said one of the marching
protestors.
Before the APEC seminar WWF held a press
conference, together with the Cebu Alliance
for Renewable Energy, representatives from
local communities, Greenpeace, and a national
coalition of anti-coal activists in the
Philippines.
At the press conference WWF criticized
the flawed energy demand forecasting methodology
used by the Filipino government. According
to a WWF report the country’s power needs
are exaggerated and the estimated over-capacity
will cost consumers US$ 4 billion.
“A flawed projection is a costly mistake
and will be used to justify the construction
of new coal-fired power plants”, said Ina
Pozon, Campaign Officer at WWF Philippines.
The protest in the city of Cebu has sent
a clear signal to the Filipino government
that the people want something else.
