SWS: 8 of 10 affected by climate change

MANILA, Philippines - Eight out of 10 Filipinos have “personally experienced” the adverse effects of climate change in the last three years, according to a World Bank-commissioned survey released yesterday.

The release of the survey, conducted by the Social Weather Stations (SWS), came as the Philippines faces another onslaught of destructive typhoons with the start of the rainy season this month.

Studies also show the Philippines is one of the countries most vulnerable to climate-related extreme weather events and sea level rise caused by global warming.

The SWS poll said 85 percent of Filipinos claimed to have “personally experienced” climate change impacts in the last three years. Of this number, 54 percent described their experience as “severe” to “moderate” while 31 percent said it was “little.”

The proportion of those who have personally experienced climate change impacts is highest in the National Capital Region (91 percent), followed by the rest of Luzon (87 percent), the Visayas (84 percent) and Mindanao (78 percent).

The percentage of those who personally experienced climate change impacts are highest in urban areas (90 percent) compared to rural areas (79 percent).

“The SWS survey tells us just how pervasive the impacts of climate change are to the lives of many Filipinos,” said Lucille Sering, vice chair of the Climate Change Commission.

Scientists link climate change to the increase of global temperatures caused by rising emissions of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and methane.

The increased emissions of greenhouse gases have been attributed to human activities such as the use of fossil fuels, motor vehicles and power plants; degradation of forests, and change in land use.

Scientists said the warming of the earth is causing climate change, including extreme weather events like prolonged droughts, intense rains and flooding, storm surges and more deadly storms.

In the last several years, the Philippines has suffered extreme weather events including long dry spells, heavy rains as well as strong typhoons and floods like those caused by Tropical Storms Ondoy and Pepeng in 2009.

The storms dumped unusual amount of rains that submerged Metro Manila and nearby provinces.

“These problems are aggravated by harmful practices that have led to the destruction of forests, mangroves and corals, and the deterioration of the environment in general. Even some areas in Mindanao that we used to consider as ‘typhoon-free’ have recently been hit by very strong typhoons, floods and mudslides,” Sering said.

The World Bank Group on Wednesday launched a report titled “Turn Down the Heat: Climate Extremes, Regional Impacts and the Case for Resilience.”

The report said the increasing possibility that global temperatures would rise by two degrees in the coming decades due to climate change threatens to reverse hard-won development gains in the East Asia and the Pacific Region, including the Philippines. –  With Dino Balabo