RP world’s 6th most climate change-vulnerable country

THE Philippines is the world’s sixth most climate-vulnerable country with its fast-growing population exposed to flood, drought, storms and sea-level rise, according to an index of 170 nations released early this week.

The Climate Change Vulnerability Index, compiled by British-based global risks advisory firm Maplecroft, rated Bangladesh as the top vulnerable country because, in addition, it was also highly vulnerable to famine due to a much higher risk of drought and wider floods.

The other top nine most vulnerable in order are India, Madagascar, Nepal, Mozambique, the Philippines, Haiti, Afghanistan, Zimbabwe and Myanmar. Norway was at the bottom of the list of 171 nations.

The Maplecroft index is intended as a guide for strategic investment and policymaking and based the rankings on combined exposure to extremes such as droughts, cyclones and mudslides, sensitivity to damage tied to poverty, population, internal conflicts, dependence on agriculture and the capacity of a country to adapt.

It said the new global ranking cal-culated the vulnerability of the countries to the impacts of climate change over the next 30 years and it also showed some of the world’s largest and fastest-growing economies, such as India, as facing the greatest risks.

But according to Climate Change Commission Vice Chairman Heherson Alvarez, inclusion of the Philippines is no surprise. “Climate change is the most pressing environmental threat that we are facing right now, and the Philippines being one of the most vulnerable countries is evident with the recent Supertyphoon Juan.”  

Alvarez said with this new study, the country reiterates the importance of reaching agreement on climate change such as “deep and early cuts” of emissions by industrialized countries of at least 40 percent from 1990 levels to lessen the destructive impacts of typhoons, drought and floods.

“Although the December 2009 Copenhagen Accord failed to deliver a binding agreement that embodies our call for deep and early cuts,” added Alvarez, “it promised to work for a legally binding instrument at least during the next climate-change negotiations in Cancun, Mexico, by end of this year.”

Alvarez said the Cancun conference should aim for an outcome that would pave the way for a global legally binding agreement at the next meeting in South Africa in 2011.

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change meeting is meant to forge a successor climate deal to the Kyoto Protocol, which first round ends in 2012.

“While we convince the rest of the world that industrialized nations must cut their carbon emissions, we must also convince the Filipino people to prepare our communities to adapt to climate-change caused disasters,” said Alvarez.

He had urged the rich nations to fulfill their promise of providing the developing nations, including the Philippines, with a $30-billion fast-start financing.

Rich nations agreed at the Copenhagen summit in December 2009 to raise $100 billion a year from 2020 to help poor nations curb their greenhouse-gas emissions and adapt to the change’s likely destructive impacts.

“I am hopeful that there will be clarity on what the meeting should realistically aim to achieve, like on matters regarding transfer of technology, deforestation and forest degradation in developing countries issues, cuts in emissions, financing, and the capability of the developing countries in addressing the impacts of climate change,” added Alvarez. –Imelda V. Abaño / Correspondent, Businessmirror