Climate Change Network for Community-based Initiatives - CCNCI

𝐄𝐍𝐕𝐈𝐑𝐎𝐍𝐌𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐀𝐋𝐈𝐒𝐓𝐒 𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐃𝐄𝐌𝐍 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐄𝐂𝐎𝐋𝐎𝐆𝐈𝐂𝐀𝐋 𝐕𝐈𝐎𝐋𝐄𝐍𝐂𝐄 𝐎𝐅 𝐒𝐀𝐍 𝐌𝐈𝐆𝐔𝐄𝐋 𝐂𝐎𝐑𝐏𝐎𝐑𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍 🌳

Environmentalists condemned the cutting of decade-old trees, on the morning of May 26, permitted by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) in order to give way for the construction of the Southern Access Link Expressway (SALEX) funded by the San Miguel Corporation in connection to their airport expansion project.

Protesters formed human chains around the trees that are marked to be cut in the coming months of the construction of the aforementioned project. The groups states that the DENR is complicit in enabling the collusion of large private businesses and corrupt government officials that advance infrastructure projects that enrich corporate profits rather than concerning themselves with the welfare of the public and the environment.

Kalikasan People’s Network for the Environment, the lead organizer for yesterday’s protest, stated that projects of this nature affect the most vulnerable communities who are already facing floods, extreme heat, and air pollution. KPNE National Coordinator Cathleen De Guzman stated that offsetting the damage is not enough justification for cutting a tree that took decades to grow.

Furthermore, they questioned the role of DENR as the primary institution that, for the longest time, has uncritically approved the environmentally destructive projects of large corporations. In a recent interview with Manila City Mayor Isko Moreno, he states that the cut trees will be transferred to Intramuros as it is the only available open space that can accommodate the number of trees.

The Climate Change Network for Community-based initiatives vehemently condemns the toppling of trees in urban areas where a large concentration of our carbon emissions are being housed. The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) recently classified the heat index values of up to 51°C as “danger” category which translates to a higher vulnerability to heat-caused illnesses such as cramps, exhaustion, and stroke.

This record high was felt on May 19, 2026 with the heatwave seeing an upward trajectory in the past few days. DOST-PAGASA released updated data on the highest computed 5-day Heat Index in the past 5 days and it recorded heatwaves in Pasay City & Quezon City that were categorized under “danger.” This is made worse by a laggard response from the government to a worsening climate crisis.

In achieving climate resilience, more trees are needed to act as carbon sinks which can absorb harmful emissions while also releasing much needed oxygen. In our highly urbanized administrative regions, mass transportation is needed to move a high volume of people in one center. Exacerbated by the dominance of private vehicles in our city streets translates to over 35.42 million tons of carbon emissions in 2022 alone.

𝐈𝐧 𝐬𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐦𝐬, 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐜𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐮𝐟𝐟𝐨𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐯𝐚𝐥 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐣𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐠𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐯𝐢𝐨𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞!

𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐜𝐥𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐬 𝐨𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐒𝐚𝐫𝐚 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐁𝐚𝐭𝐨?

The dramatic turn of events that unfolded in the senate has proven that our government is rotten to its core. The senate provided protective custody to an absentee public official in order to secure the senate leadership that can potentially sway the results of an impeachment trial in favor of a morally bankrupt political family.

At present, public clamor is loud and divisions from civil society are made apparent due to the volatile discourse. Opinions clash in both digital and physical spaces. As a climate institution, The Climate Change Network for Community-based Initiatives (CCNCI) offers its firm position regarding the political landscape of our nation.

𝐃𝐑𝐎𝐔𝐆𝐇𝐓 𝐈𝐍 𝐆𝐎𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐍𝐀𝐍𝐂𝐄 𝐂𝐀𝐔𝐒𝐄𝐒 𝐒𝐈𝐆𝐍𝐈𝐅𝐈𝐂𝐀𝐍𝐓𝐋𝐘 𝐃𝐑𝐈𝐄𝐑 𝐋𝐀𝐍𝐃𝐒 🍃

A CLIMATE RESEARCH ON THE PROJECTED SUPER EL NIÑO

The Climate Change Network for Community-based Initiatives demands the creation and institutionalization of a government program that addresses the devastation caused by El Nino to our agricultural sector that gives priority to our poorest farmers, rooted from their genuine grievances, and places great urgency on the preventive aspect of disaster-resilience rather than addressing its immediate damage to the sector.

The government must understand that disaster-resilience is a multifaceted initiative that goes beyond immediate aid and addresses the root causes of both natural and man-made disasters. It has become self-evident that our public officials legislate without grassroots knowledge of the genuine grievances of our nation’s most fundamental sectors.

At this stage in our climate crisis, we do not need bureaucrats that speak the distant legalese language unbeknownst to the majority of our citizenry, but a citizen with the concrete experience of the struggles of their sector. We do not demand a system that churns out momentary relief, but a government that works FOR the people.

𝐌𝐚𝐛𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐥 𝐚𝐧𝐠 𝐠𝐨𝐛𝐲𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐨, 𝐰𝐚𝐥𝐚 𝐩𝐚 𝐫𝐢𝐧 𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐮𝐬𝐲𝐨𝐧.
𝐏𝐚𝐚𝐧𝐨 𝐧𝐚? 𝐒𝐢𝐧𝐨 𝐧𝐚? 𝐊𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐚𝐧 𝐩𝐚?

𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐇 𝐃𝐀𝐘 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟔: 𝐍𝐎 𝐂𝐋𝐈𝐌𝐀𝐓𝐄 𝐉𝐔𝐒𝐓𝐈𝐂𝐄 𝐈𝐍 𝐔𝐒 𝐈𝐌𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐈𝐀𝐋𝐈𝐒𝐌!

ICYMI: The Climate Change Network for Community-based Initiatives enjoins other environmentalist organizations and groups in an indignation mobilization held on April 22, 2026 that called for an end to the US–Israel War Aggressions against Iran.

The broad coalition of environmental defenders, carrying with them their rallying calls, marched towards the US Embassy in order to hold to account the war aggressions that have claimed countless lives and left in its wake immense destruction to the global environment.

The mass mobilization was held in commemoration of Earth Day 2026 and serves as a reminder that now, more than ever, is the time to shed light to false solutions and forward genuine change that is created with the interests and welfare of the people in mind.

We have seen in the past few months the proliferation of false solutions peddled by our government in the form of renewable energy projects whose technologies are crafted from destructive mining that siphons the natural resources of agricultural communities.

Profit-driven interests have also permeated across our legislature with the national government openly prioritizing the creation of destructive waste-to-energy projects at the hands of wealthy conglomerates who are willing to compromise livelihood for profit.

Mining permits from foreign corporations have flooded their corresponding government institutions with each and every single one of them seeking to exploit our natural resources and destroy the livelihoods of our agricultural communities.

Imperialist nations and their war-mongering have left severe destruction at its wake which has released immense amounts of emissions that have pushed our planet even further away from recuperating its wounds from the greed of the global superpowers who debunk the real and present effects of climate change.

As a climate institution that seeks justice for our wounded earth, it is imperative to recognize that a major barricade in the achievement of climate justice is the persistence of US Imperialism and their never-ending interventions in the affairs of sovereign nation-states.

Their campaign of exploitation has bolstered greenhouse gas emissions and has solidified the US Military as the largest institutional emitter in the world generating over 636 million metric tons of CO₂ with their emissions, if they were a country, ranking 47th in the global list of carbon emissions.

Recent efforts to remove climate research studies in relation to national security was also undertaken by the United States Department of Defense whose secretary has been a loud voice for climate denialism and a staunch advocate for the perpetuation of US war mongering.

We call upon our colleagues in the frontlines of environmental defense to denounce the number 1 polluter and war criminal in the international community because it has become increasingly self-evident that there can be no climate justice without holding to account US Imperialism.