"Super Typhoon" Bopha is evidence that climate change is real and the world must act on it with urgency, the head of the Philippines climate delegation at the UN climate conference underway in Doha, Qatar said on Tuesday.
While the full extent of damage from "Super Typhoon" Bopha, which hit the Philippines early Tuesday morning, is still uncertain, Naderev "Yeb" Saño, the Commissioner of the Philippines Climate Change Commission, told Democracy Now! that the certainty of climate change must be met with worldwide action.
"Hurricane Sandy, and now Typhoon Bopha that’s wreaking havoc in the Philippines right now, these are clear examples that we need to call for urgency and that climate change is really happening. We need not engage in the perpetual debate on whether climate change is happening or not," said Saño.
What is needed is nothing short of a new world order, he charges.
"What we need to come to terms is how the whole world is pursuing development. Climate change is a development issue more than an environmental issue, or maybe equally an environmental issue and development issue. So, sustainability is the key here. And all of the things that we are seeing around the world, these are manifestations of unsustainability of practices, of short-sighted practices. And we must be able to arrive at a world order that addresses all of these things."
Meteorologist Dr. Jeff Masters has reported on the unusual and historic nature of Bopha, writing that the storm was "the strongest typhoon ever recorded to hit Mindanao, which rarely sees strong typhoons due to its position close to the Equator," and was the second most southerly Category 5 typhoon recorded.
At the time of this writing, Bopha is reported to have killed over 50 people and displaced tens of thousands in the Philippines.
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Watch the Democracy Now! interview with Amy Goodman and Yeb Sano:
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Al Jazeera has a video report from a disaster shelter in the Philippines: