Climate change its effects in the Philippines

I had the pleasure of listening to the former US president Bill Clinton in his talk, “Embracing Our Common Humanity” last Wednesday at the Manila Hotel. It was inspiring to hear encouraging words coming from a powerful man — that Filipinos have done great all around the world. He said that we are smart enough to know what to do and that our huge population should be a positive factor that can lead us to where we want to go. We just need to know exactly what we want and the direction we want to take.

I was particularly interested in his discussion of our natural resources. He mentioned the great potential of our country’s geothermal resource. He said, “Based on personal experience, about 97 percent of the world’s climate scientists are saying that global warming and climate change are real. And that the whole economic model could crumble unless we figure ways to sustain the growth of wind and geothermal resources. That’s why I’m predicting that in the next 10 years, the Philippines will be flooded by people studying geothermal resources. So you have to try and speed up power and keep it going.”

By the way, the Philippines is currently ranked as the world’s second largest developer of geothermal energy. The country is positioned in what many refer to as the Pacific Ring of Fire. We have several active volcanoes and the country is surrounded by both the Pacific Ocean and some parts of the Indian Ocean. Most of these areas have abundant resources. It spells out our significant advantage on geothermal energy.

Geothermal energy is renewable energy that can reduce dependence on fossil fuels. It has the ability to reduce harmful pollution from energy production and consumption and reduce emission of greenhouse gases.

At present, 17 percent of the country’s energy is generated from geothermal energy. It represents a total of 2 gigawatts (GW) of energy (base on government reports in 2009). The government has set a goal to increase this figure by year 2020 from 2 GW to 4.5 GW from geothermal energy. If this measure works it will double our renewable energy usage.

The government’s strategy of providing tariff exemptions and tax holidays for renewable power projects to attract investors is laudable. In the past three months, a total of 87 contracts have been signed to 18 companies. And as geothermal energy continues to grow in the next few years, then perhaps we can say that Clinton’s prediction may become a reality.

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The Philippines has been experiencing temperature stings brought about by climate change. Reports say that extreme weather events have occurred more frequently since 1980. These include deadly and damaging typhoons, floods, landslides, severe El Niño, La Niña events, earthquakes, droughts and forest fires. Badly affected sectors include agriculture, fresh water, coastal and marine resources and health.

In a research done by Mudjekeewis D. Santos Ph.D., OIC of the Marine Fisheries Research Division, he stated that African and Southeast Asian countries are most economically vulnerable to climate change impacts in fisheries resources.

The Philippines is the 8th top fish producing country in the world with 70 percent of the communities located in coastal areas; 10th in aquaculture production and 3rd in aquatic plants production. Seventy percent of our protein diet also comes from fish.

As the center of marine biodiversity in the world, we have the highest number of marine organisms. Climate change has brought about a dismal picture of these resources. Sea surface temperatures projected to reach 1-3 degrees centigrade by the end of the century will cause fishes to move to cooler areas reducing fish supplies for people in the Coral Triangle region including the Philippines. With the doubling of atmospheric carbon dioxide, corals become more fragile. The projected rise of 30-60 cm by 2100 in sea level with ice melting 4-6 meters by 2100, will cause the flooding of low islands and low lying areas will result in land erosion, sea water intrusion in coastal land areas, population displacement and landward growth movement of mangroves.

The increase in the frequency of tropical cyclones in our country will weaken the skeletal framework of corals, accelerate erosion of our beautiful beaches and prevent normal harvest of marine species including fish species used as food.

This study further recommends that government should adapt measures to lessen the impact of climate change on our aquatic ecosystem and fisheries. It should strengthen planning and policy formation for the conservation and rehabilitation of habitats; enhance information and education campaigns on conserving, restoring and maintaining biodiversity; encourage the institutionalization of good practice and mechanism of co-management in local fisheries communities; recognize and empower the youth and women in generating income from fisheries-related activities and access to non-fishing livelihood; set up weather warning system accessible to fishermen; improve vessel stability and safety communications; mandatory training of fishermen on safety of life at sea; and rehabilitate coastal fisheries so as to reduce the need to fish offshore.

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In his speech, Clinton noted that we should develop an attitude of hope and aspiration. He said, “We have to make a united and conscious effort to move forward and focus on education, health care and the environment if we want to live fully in the 21st century…We are at the dawn of a whole new age of our history. Singapore succeeded in a short time because they are a smaller country. China got into high gear in development sooner because they are a much more authoritarian nation.”

He poignantly said, “I wouldn’t worry about why you haven’t gotten there. I would worry about the kind of basic ideas that would be driven home to get where you want to go because you can do that. There’s no doubt in my mind about that.”

Climate change is real. It is obviously happening in the Philippines. We know its effects on our environment. Government, big and small industries should get a common act together. We must not waste time… we should act now! –Sara Soliven De Guzman (The Philippine Star)