Philippine government 'needs to do more on climate change’

Business Mirror (Philippines): Despite observations worldwide showing a significant increase in global temperature, developing countries, like the Philippines, are bearing the brunt of high costs of climate change and the majority of Filipinos seem to remain complacent about it.

Dr. Leoncio Amadore, former director of the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa), said unless the government takes urgent action to address climate change, socioeconomic and environmental problems, like in agriculture, food security and health, in the country would be adversely affected. Moreover, Amadore said extreme weather events threaten to destroy the country’s rich natural resources.

While the country is very much involved in policymaking on climate change, the former Pagasa director said much still needs to be done on the national level, particularly by having more basic research on the social dimensions of climate change, like its impact on the different sectors of the society. “Priority attention should also be given to hazard analysis, vulnerability assessment and adaptation measures. The issue of climate change should form a part of all policymakers’ concerns,” he said.

…“The sectors and systems most vulnerable to climate change are agriculture and food security, water resources, coastal and marine resources, and health and human settlements,” he said….

Entrance to a coastal cave in the Philippines, shot by Paul Chin, Wikimedia Commons via Flickr, under Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 2.0 License