Climate change shifts path of typhoons to lower latitudes

MANILA, Philippines - Most of the typhoons that hit the Philippines last year followed the Pacific-Visayas-West Philippine Sea path, an indication the country’s traditional typhoon belt has shifted.

This was according to recent international, regional and national fora that tackled climate change and the typhoons it spawned.

The latest was the Second International Conference on Agricultural and Rural Development in Southeast Asia 2014 organized by SEARCA and co-sponsored by 16 global, Asian, and national institutions and organizations held at the Shangri-La Hotel in Makati City last November. 

The ARD2014 participants – more than 400 scientists, economists, academics, government policymakers, farmer-leaders, representatives of civil society organizations, and other stakeholders – agreed that the “poorest of the poor” fisher folk and farmers are the most vulnerable to climate change.

Records show that 81 to 90 percent of Filipinos are coastal inhabitants, who are also among the country’s most deprived, reported Socioeconomic Planning Secretary and National Economic and Development Authority director general Arsenio Balisacan, who is also SEARCA director.

Around 81 to 90 percent of the populations of Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines live in coastal areas, Balisacan said. It was almost 100 percent in Brunei Darussalam, 52 percent in Vietnam, and 31 percent in Thailand.

Christel Weller-Molongua of the Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Internationale Zusammenarbeit GmbH said “the future of agriculture in the ASEAN region will be strongly influenced by certain challenges, among them climate change, biodiversity loss, a fast-growing population, and rising pressure on land resources. . . Helping the poor population to become more resilient will be crucial.”

Randy Hautea, global coordinator of the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications, added that “achieving agricultural and rural development is challenged by limiting agricultural resources, increasing population, and uncertainties in climatic conditions brought about by climate change.”

Appropriate strategies and solutions to overcome these challenges would include policy adjustments, education initiatives, resource management, and development of appropriate and new technologies, he said.

  Patricio Faylon, executive director of the Philippine Council for Agriculture, Aquatic and Natural Resources Research and Development said ARD2014 “may shape the future of agriculture in Southeast Asia, as well as improve the lives of our countrymen in the rural areas.”

Aristeo Portugal of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization said the response to Yolanda highlighted the significance of effective cooperation between FAO and the Philippine government.

He said FAO continues its mandate to fight hunger amid the increasing number of extreme disaster events by taking a collaborative and multidimensional approach to building resilience, enhancing relief response, and implementing comprehensive long-term rehabilitation.