Climate change

I was surprised why, at the ABS-CBN’s vice presidential debate, Senator Loren Legarda was being asked what was so important about climate change that she focused on it as her campaign thrust. Why not focus on the economy, on graft and corruption? It seems not too many people are aware of the consequences of environmental degradation, and the need for governmental intervention on climate change. If highly educated candidates are not cognizant of the challenge of climate-related destruction, how much more the poor, who do not see the connection between climate change and gnawing poverty? The more that the deprived sector needs to be informed, and helped, in understanding what to some seems irrelevant, unnecessary, and not affecting the voting populace.

It’s fortunate that Filipino awardees of the Nobel Peace Prize have come to the defense of Legarda. Dr. Rodel Lasco, a member of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), who won the Nobel Peace Prize, has issued a statement about the vulnerability of the Philippines to disasters. He said, “The Philippines, although contributing less than 1 per cent to global greenhouse gas emissions is very vulnerable to climate-related disasters. If we don’t address climate risks, our national aspirations will not be met.”

The Philippines, he said, faces an average 20 typhoons each year resulting in loss of lives and livelihood, and destruction of infrastructure. “With climate change, the country is foreseen to suffer stronger typhoons, more heavy rains, more flashfloods, more devastating droughts, and increased incidence of water and vector-borne diseases.”

Dr. Rex Victor Cruz, dean of the U P College of Forestry and Natural Resources, and also a member of the IPCC, adds “Loren Legarda’s agenda to focus on climate change, particularly on adaptation, is highly relevant and squarely meets head-on the impending adverse impacts of worsening climate that will have grave ecological an economic implications on our country. Her call to resolute actions now must be heeded by well-meaning citizens and more so officials or we will be consigning our country and future generations to serious problems that may be too daunting to solve.”

Notes on the scientists’ declaration show that in the Long-Term Global Climate Risk Index (CRI) for 2010, in 18 years the Philippines suffered every year almost 800 deaths in addition to an average of US$544 million worth of climate-related damages, and the 2010 Global Climate Risk Index places the Philippines ninth most vulnerable country to extreme weather events.

What should be of great concern to us is the warning in the report “The Philippines: A Climate Hotspot,” that says that “even with a conservative one-meter rise in sea level, 64 out of the 81 provinces in the Philippines would be in danger of sinking and potentially displacing some 1.5 million Filipinos.”

The Asian Development Bank report “The Economics of Climate Change in Southeast Asia” states that the Philippines has “high concentration of population along coastline, heavy reliance on agriculture for livelihood, high dependence on natural resources and forest, high poverty incidence,

The Philippines is situated on the Pacific typhoon belt, and so is hit yearly by 20 typhoons, seven of which is highly destructive.