MANILA — President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. has urged world leaders to immediately operationalize the “Loss and Damage Fund” recently adopted at the 28th Conference of the Parties (COP28).

In his message delivered by Special Assistant to the President Antonio Ernesto Lagdameo Jr, Marcos said the country would declare its "intent to host the Loss and Damage Fund.”

The fund — which will be sourced through the pooled contributions of developed countries with high carbon emissions — was meant to cover financing needed that could not be addressed anymore by regular climate finance, the environment department earlier said.

• PH to push for creation of ‘Loss and Damage’ fund in COP28

"The Philippines’ call for the immediate operationalization of this Fund to assist developing and vulnerable countries to respond to droughts, floods, and rising sea levels exacerbated by climate change,” said Marcos Jr.

“We urge partners from the private sector, civil society, partner countries and governments, and developing funding institutions to support the Philippines in this bid. You have been there for meaningful collaboration with our government to tackle the climate crises,” he added.

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This, for the Philippines, is not just an environmental issue. This is a matter of the country's survival, said the Philippine leader.

“The challenges we face are huge, but so are the reasons to be hopeful,” he said.

While the Philippines’ carbon emissions contributes less than 1 percent of the world’s total, it is one of the countries that is frequently hit by droughts and typhoons.

In 2021, the Philippines ranked 121 out of 185 countries in terms of vulnerability against the effects of climate change, according to research from the Notre Dame Global Adaptation Initiative, a research effort from the University of Notre Dame in the United States.

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