Philippines Registers Record Participation--Earth Hour Org.
30 Mar -- The Philippines topped the Earth Hour global register for cities, towns and districts taking part in Asia, with more than 650 communities taking part.
A man lights a cigarette in front of a large balloon showing the Earth Hour logo before lights are turned off as the Philippines participates in Earth Hour in Manila on March 28, 2009. More than 80 countries signed up to participate in turning off lights for 60 minutes from 8:30 to 9:30 in the evening local time in a effort to raise global awareness on climate change. AFP PHOTO/JES AZNAR (Photo credit should read JES AZNAR/AFP/Getty Images)
The event started with the darkening of the Rizal Shrine, a major Manila landmark honouring Filipino national hero Dr. José Rizal. The massive Mall of Asia in Pasay City, the world’s fourth largest mall, also went dark in a ceremony that drew several hundred people.
The ceremony was broadcast live to homes around the country by Studio 23, one of the largest television networks in the Philippines.
The Philippines is one of the half dozen countries that share the Coral Triangle – a world centre of marine biodiversity - home to six of the seven marine turtle species, more than 3,000 species of fish, the heaviest bony fish of the deep (the 1,000 kg mola) and the coelacanth, a species thought until recently to have gone extinct with the dinosaurs some 65 million years ago.
But more than 18 per cent of the region's coral reefs were damaged or destroyed in a bleaching event linked to rising sea temperatures in 1998-99, underlining the immense risks climate change poses to the environment, food security and the economies of coastal and island countries and communities.
Source: Earth Hour Org. Site.
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