Voices for Climate Justice Rise: Hundreds March in Global Day of Action, Calling for Clean Air, Accountability, and System Change

15 November 2025, Quezon City – In a powerful show of unity, hundreds of climate advocates, community leaders, workers, faith groups, and youth organizations converged at Welcome Rotonda for the Global Day of Action on Climate Justice, raising urgent calls for genuine climate action, protection of human rights, and a rapid, equitable shift away from fossil fuels.

Led by a broad coalition of people’s movements, including Philippine Movement for Climate Justice (PMCJ), Asian Peoples’ Movement on Debt and Development (APMDD), Freedom from Debt Coalition (FDC), Sanlakas, Aniban ng mga Manggagawa sa Agrikultura (AMA), Alyansa Tigil Mina (ATM), Oriang, Zone One Tondo Organization (ZOTO), Philippine Alliance of Human Rights Advocates (PAHRA), Philippine Misereor Partnership Incorporated (PMPI), Samahan ng Progresibong Kabataan (SPARK), W4JT, EcoWaste Coalition and its members from the informal waste sector (MARCEA Waste Workers Association and Bagong Silangan Resource Collectors Association), Bukluran Manggagawang Pilipino (BMP), National Confederation of Labor (NCL), Public Services Labor Independent Confederation (PSLink), Partido Lakas ng Masa (PLM), and other sectoral and grassroots formations, the mobilization opened with an ecumenical prayer, drum-led opening salvo, and introductory messages that underscored the worsening state of the climate crisis both globally and nationally. Speakers reminded the crowd that communities across the Philippines continue to face intensified storms, extreme heat, loss of livelihoods, and widening inequalities, while the world’s biggest polluters evade accountability.

From Welcome Rotonda, participants marched through key community areas, stopping at designated pit stops in Galas and Damayang Lagi where residents amplified calls for food sovereignty, defense of land and water, secure housing, and people-centered livelihoods. Along the route, cultural performances by various sectors brought forward creative expressions of hope and defiance, emphasizing the need to protect human rights, resist corruption, and demand climate finance and reparations for loss and damage.

Shey Levita, False Solutions Campaigner of the EcoWaste Coalition, addressed the crowd saying, “False solutions like waste-to-energy and other polluting schemes do not address the root causes of the climate crisis. WtE plants emit toxic air pollutants and greenhouse gases, threaten public health, and lock communities into unsustainable fossil-fuel dependence. Communities deserve real solutions that protect their health, secure their livelihoods, and ensure a just transition to clean energy. Today, we march to make our voices heard and demand urgent action for climate justice and clean air for all.”

This year’s march also placed a special spotlight on the country’s observance of Clean Air Month. Advocates pointed out that the fight for climate justice is inseparable from the struggle for clean, breathable air, noting that millions of Filipinos, especially children, the elderly, commuters, and low-income families, continue to suffer from air pollution caused by fossil fuel dependence, waste burning, weak enforcement of environmental laws, and inequitable urban planning. Groups renewed their call for the government to uphold the public’s right to clean air, strengthen monitoring and regulation, and reject projects and policies, including WtE, that exacerbate pollution and greenhouse gas emissions.

Sectoral leaders, including representatives from PMCJ, APMDD, AMA, ATM, Church groups, KPML, K4K, PAHRA, PMPI, Oriang, ZOTO, SPARK, W4JT member organizations, and PLM, delivered solidarity messages throughout the march, each reaffirming the collective demand for climate accountability, human rights protection, and systemic reforms. The energy of the crowd, sustained by drums, chants, and cultural performances, reflected a shared resolve to defend communities and the environment amid escalating threats.

The program concluded with a closing spiel and organized dispersal, echoing the unified message that the climate crisis is not only an environmental issue but a profound social and economic injustice that demands urgent action from governments, corporations, and global institutions.

“As communities on the frontlines of climate impacts, we refuse to remain silent,” the organizers emphasized. “We march today to demand clean air, climate justice, and system change, not tomorrow, not in the next negotiation cycle, but now. Our lives, our dignity, and our future depend on it.”

The Global Day of Action on Climate Justice, celebrated across countries, stands as a reminder that ordinary people, through collective action, continue to lead the call for a livable planet and a more just, humane, and sustainable world for all while firmly rejecting false solutions like WtE that threaten both people and the planet.