Environmental Issues: Climate Change
“Climate change is not a typhoon that visits your country once or twice a year.
Climate change is a day-to-day problem,” Duterte said in his speech during the
Asia-Pacific Healthy Islands Conference 2018 in Davao City. This problem is a major
problem here in the Philippines whereas our country has been experiencing devastating
typhoon that cause a lot of death and calamities. According to the CNN news, The
Philippines is ranked as one of the countries’s most severely hit by wild weather
super-charged by climate change. Veronica Cabe is one of the survivors in the
devastating typhoon ketsan which killed 500 people. This experience caused her to
blame someone, she became a petitioner in a landmark complaint– soon to be
examined by a national inquiry – which accuses global oil, mining and cement
companies of human rights violations by playing a role in driving climate change. Major
rice-producing and fishing areas in the country were distraught by a series of typhoons,
the strongest of which was Ompong. The sector incurred about P26.7-billion in
damages after its landfall (Philippine Inquirer 2018).
Piñol said that the nature of agriculture relies on favourable weather conditions
this is from the view of economic managers. And yet our country, the Philippines is
visited by an average of 20 typhoons every year. For this year, the country was already
hit by 19 typhoons, and the state weather bureau is expecting six more. The
Department of Agriculture had projected a harvest of 19.4 million metric tons (MT) of
rice this year, but after several farm lands were destroyed by natural calamities, it cut its
projection down by 800,000 MT to 18.6 million MT (Philippine Inquirer 2018). This
research aims to aid the problem of climate change through citing causes and effects
and formulate solutions to the problem.
https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/07/25/18/climate-change-a-day-to-day-problem-duterte
https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1053143/climate-change-prompts-agri-department-to-shift-p
lanting-season
https://news.mb.com.ph/2018/03/22/can-philippines-storm-survivors-hold-companies-toaccount-for-climate-damage/
Causes
1. Illegal Logging
According to Rappler, another cause of Climate Change is Illegal Logging
because these activity reduces the country’s forest cover. Forest loss is a major source
of carbon emissions, and consequently this has attracted much attention within the
context of global negotiations on Climate Change.
2. Cultivating rice
According to Rappler, growing rice in flooded fields requires organic fertilizers,
which emit methane when they decompose. 44% of emissions from agriculture come
from rice cultivation thus cause Climate Change.
Effects
1. More intense El Niño
The El Niño phenomenon occurs when the surface of ocean waters in the
southern Pacific becomes abnormally warm. The energy created by this warming is so
great that it can create an imbalance in the weather in different parts of the world. In
Southeast Asia, it can lead to abnormally dry conditions.
El Niño can also make other weather events like storms highly unpredictable.
Weather will have extreme highs and lows, making it "increasingly difficult to accurately
predict weather patterns for purposes of planning and normal business operations,"
says a WWF-Philippines study
2. Sea surface temperatures to rise
By the end of the century, sea surface temperatures are expected to rise by 1 to
4 degrees Celsius. This can lead to more powerful storms because storms get their
strength from heat rising from the sea.
In the Philippines, 4 and 5 degree Celsius spikes above the normal sea surface
temperature have been recorded. Warmer seas kill coral reefs and can thus lead to a
decline in fish catch, putting food security in danger.
3. Ocean acidification
The shift in the Ph levels of our oceans can lead to widespread coral reef death.
Because of the imbalance, shrimps are not able to develop skins, oysters cannot
develop shells. Fish larvae may not be able to develop bones. This further endangers
food security and the livelihood of fishermen.
4. Sea levels to rise by 4 to 6 meters
Current data show an increase in sea surface heights. Scientists say this is due
to the melting of ice sheets in northern portions of the globe like Antarctica and
Greenland. Sea level rise by 4 to 6 meters can submerge low-lying communities like
Tacloban City which stands only 3 meters above sea level.
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