DENR in the Philippines to plot flooding hazards in towns affected climate change

GMA News (Philippines): The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) on Monday said it will conduct geohazard mapping in 97 priority coastal areas in the provinces of Cagayan, La Union, Iloilo, Aklan, Antique, Negros Oriental and Cebu. DENR Secretary Ramon Paje said that the project, to be implemented by the Mines and Geo-sciences Bureau (MGB), will target towns that will be affected by climate change and rising sea levels.

“With the completion of our geohazard mapping project on landslide- and flood-prone areas, the MGB is now set for coastal geohazard mapping, with particular attention on the effects of the rising sea level due to climate change," Paje said. In a report to Paje, MGB Acting Director Leo Jasareno said that the study will also look into environmental changes, such as the erosion and accretion or sedimentation of shorelines.

Coastal erosion is a result of a number of geologic, oceanographic and atmospheric factors, including the relative sea level rise due to climate change. However, the rise of sea levels can also result from man-made activities such as beach mining, Paje stressed. He said that beach resorts and other infrastructure constructed along coastal areas are the ones that will be primarily affected by erosion due to rise of sea level….

A view of the coast in Ginatilan, Cebu, shot by Mike Gonzalez (TheCoffee), Wikimedia Commons, under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license