ON THE ENVIRONMENT

AND THE
SOCIAL IMPACTS OF
CLIMATE CHANGE

AGHAM
May 11, 2009
Davao City
 OUTLINE

Introduction

Environmental Problems

Climate Change

Conclusion
INTRODUCTION
 OUR ENVIRONMENT IS INTERLINKED

Man’s interaction with nature

Resources for the production of
his needs

Food, clothing, shelter

Tools, processes, technologies

Man’s interaction with man

Relations with others

Dominance of a segment of
society over others
 ADVANCES AND CHALLENGES
 Great and exciting advances
– e.g. Information technology,
automation, genetics and medicine

one billion people are hungry

 Greatest challenges
160 million more malnourished – Famine and hunger, rapid
ecological destruction,
every day world wide: 70,000 breakdown of health systems,
persons join hungry and starving social decay and disintegration
masses
ENVIRONMENTAL
PROBLEMS
 DEFORESTATION

Phil. forest reduced from
70% (1909) to 18.3%
(1999)

Increased demand for

cheap and plentiful wood
in Europe, Japan and the
US

¾ of world's commercial
timber output is utilized
by only ¼ of population
BRIEF HISTORY OF LOGGING IN THE COUNTRY

Land area
(km2) Spanish colonization
300,000 (270,000 km2 forest cover =90% of total land
area)
250,000 American colonization (210,000
km2)
200,000 Nominal Philippine
Independence
150,000 (150,000 km2)

100,000
Post EDSA Revolution
(8,000 km2)
50,000

0
1400 1500 1900 1950 1990
1900s 70% 1988 23% 2010 6%
 MINING
Philippine Mineral Metallic
Reserves

13 metallic ores COPPER4.8
COPPER4
B MT

7.1 B MT

29 non-metallic

51 B MT
Non-metallic

Philippine production

Gold (2nd) limestone
marble

Copper (3rd)
 MINING

Mining for export

Large scale plunder of
the environment for
larger profit

Mine spills, acid mine
drainage, no clean up
of mining activities

Large scale TNC plunder

in mining is one of the
main causes of
environmental
degradation in the
country
 Mine tailings

Militarization occurs
in mining areas
 SHRINKING LANDS FOR FOOD PRODUCTION

 Agricultural production is in crisis.

– Erratic production trends, heavily dependent on the
serendipitous weather
– From a rice exporter to a rice net importer
– Shrinking agricultural lands
– Philippine gross erosion rate is at 2,046 million metric
tons per year – 5.2 million hectares of total land area are
severely eroded
– Recurrent drought has degraded semi-arid parts of food
producing regions
– An average of 2,227 has. of irrigated rice lands is
converted to settlements and industrial uses annually =
permanent loss of agricultural resources
 as of 1991
1991:: 11,
11,337 has.
 as of 2001
2001:: 600
600,,000 has.

 Croplands are also threatened by industrial and chemical

pollution, such as mine tailings spills

 Compounding the problem is the continued shift to

production of export crops using high yielding varieties
(HYVs).
 WATER

Only 2.53 % of world water is

freshwater

Asia has less than 36% of the
world's water resources

Almost all developing countries
are exposed to polluted water
sources

Mega-dams, privatization
 WATER POLLUTION

Oil spills: Petron

Guimaras, Visayas

more than 10,000 fishermen
and their families

Rapu-rapu mine spill

Drinking water

Costly, low pressure

Privatized
 DECLINING MARINE
RESOURCES
• RP regarded as "Center of Marine
Biodiversity" in the world,
surpassing the Great Barrier Reef of
Australia.

• Around 2,500 fish species

• Rich coral reefs, with 488 out of 800

known species worldwide

• Longest discontinuous coastline

worldwide

• 24 major fishing bays and gulfs, half

of these have annual yield levels of
50 metric tons
The irony of
bountiful seas
• Declining catch

• Declining maximum
sustainable yields

• Degraded coral
reefs
• Only 4% of coral
reefs in good
condition

• Decreasing
mangrove areas

• Pollution
• Overfishing
• 90% fish stocks depleted in 50 years
• Large trawlers, purseiners, foreign
fishing vessels poaching in Phil.
waters

• Monopoly control of fishery

resources
• RA 8550 (Fisheries Code)
• RA 8435 (AFMA)

• Open access policies

• Treaty of Commerce and Navigation
with Japan, US, Australia, Canada-
overfishing by foreign firms

• Privatization of municipal fisheries

• Displacement – VFA, JPEPA

URBAN POLLUTION

Large-scale factories
remain top contributors
of pollutants

Underdeveloped
countries become
dumping grounds

Obsolete and dirty

technologies imported in
the Philippines
URBANIZATION AND RURAL
POVERTY
Industrial development results in
urbanization, which in turn creates
problems like overcrowding and pollution
and strains the environment.

But in the Philippines,

“urbanization” happens not as a
result of industrialization, rather
as a result of rural poverty and
lack of jobs as a whole.
ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENDERS AT RISK
 ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENDERS AT RISK
communities and individuals are
actively opposing the
presence of entities that promote
the devastation of our ecosystems
and the plunder of our
national patrimony

human, civil, and political rights

violations committed
against environmental defenders are
militarization, human rights
violations and legal
harassment.

Presence of military
detachments and police

Lafayette Rapu-Rapu island,
Albay

Filminera in Masbate

Marcopper in Marinduque

TVI in Zamboanga del Norte

Xstrata in South Cotabato,

NMRDC in Mt. Diwalwal

Rio Tuba in Palawan

Crew Minerals in Mindoro
Oriental

Climax Arimco/Oxiana in Nueva
Vizcaya, Abra, Batangas,
Zambales, Surigao del Norte,
and

Surigao del Sur.
ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENDERS AT RISK

Murder of envi
defenders

From January 2001 to
July 2007- 17 killed

Recent : Boy Billianes,
2 IP Leaders in
Mindanao

SLAPP (Strategic
Lawsuits Agaisnt
Public Participation)
ENVIRONMENTAL CRISIS

The rapid destruction of
the environment is a
direct result of the
rapid, unchecked
appropriation of
the world's environment environmental
destruction
resources for the plunder

benefit of a few.
CLIMATE CHANGE
 WHAT IS CLIMATE CHANGE?

IPCC…. any change in climate over time, whether due to
natural variability or as a result of human activity

Accelerated warming of surface due to human-related

releases of greenhouses gases
ACCELERATED TEMPERATURE CHANGE

1900’s – hottest century

2005 and 1998 – hottest years;

1995 to 2006, (except 1996) =
Top 12 hottest years since 1850

Increase in temperature
in the last 50 years was
0.13 degrees centigrade/decade
which is twice faster
than the last 100 years
of 0.6 degrees centigrade
 THE GREENHOUSE EFFECT

Increasing levels of
GHGs
in the atmosphere make
Greenhouse gases for a warmer world
(GHGs) trap heat from leading
the sun to keep the to abrupt changes in
Earth warm. climate!

CO2
Methane Nitrous Oxide
N2O CO2 N O CO2 HFCs
CO2 CH4 2
N O HFCsCH4
PFCs
Carbon Dioxide SF6CO2
CH4 NO2 COCH2
4CH4 2
COCO
2 SF6CO2
CO2 CO2CO
2
SF6
2

SF6
H2O HFCs
PFCs
Water vapor
 GREENHOUSE GASES
• Carbon dioxide CO2 - second most
common GHG. makes up about 25% of the
natural greenhouse effect.
•occurs naturally through photosynthesis,
volcanoes, forest fires.
• Burning of oil and gas (for heat,
transportation, industry), cement
manufacturing,
•deforestation and other land uses.
• Nitrous oxide N2O
•Also occurs naturally.
•Methane CH4 - third most •Burning of oil, gas, coal, and wood,
common GHG fertilizers, coal mining.
•Occurs naturally as things
decompose and from livestock
digestion. Occurs naturally as things
decompose and from livestock OTHERS: Water vapor, Sulfur
digestion. hexafluoride (SF6,
• Oil and gas production, coal mining, Perfluocarbons (PFCs),
landfills.
Hydroflurocarbons (HFCs )
HEALTH IMPACTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE

Relationship between
temperature and
malaria parasite
development time

Climate suitability for stable malaria transmission across the diverse topography of Zimbabwe,
based on United Kingdom Meteorological Office (UKMO) global climate scenarios

Source: Patz, Jonathan A. and Olson, Sarah H. (2006) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 103, 5635-5636
HEALTH IMPACTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE

 Heat stress
 Asthma
 Vector-borne diseases
HIGH
(e.g., malaria, dengue, filariasis)
 Water & food-borne diseases
(e.g., diarrhea, cholera, typhoid, hepa, polio)
 Nutritional deficiencies
 Deaths, injuries, psychological disorders
(due to social, economic,
demographic disturbance)
 Myocardial infarction
 Tuberculosis
 Arteriosclerosis
 most cancers
 sexually-transmitted diseases
LOW
 HURRICANES/TYPHOONS
(CATEGORY 4/5)

Source: Science Magazine, Sep 16, 2005

Changes in climate are already causing harm

Major floods per decade,

1950-2000
 Dry Season
PROBABLE IMPACTS
Reduced Stream
flow

Insufficient Water for

Irrigation

Total Crop Loss

Declining
Groundwater Level Limiting Water Supply for Domestic Needs
 PROBABLE IMPACTS
 Rainy Season Flooding of lowland areas
Increasing Flood Peaks

Silted Rivers

Excessive
Runoff
Landslides

Severe Soil Erosion

COASTAL AND MARINE RESOURCES

The Philippines is richest in marine

biodiversity and has the longest
discontinuous coastline and one
of the richest coral reefs in the
world. But fish production is in
crisis and fishing and breeding
grounds are diminishing.
The poor will face the greatest
challenges from climate change.
2 billion people in developing countries
affected by a climate related disaster 4,000

in the 1990s.

N umber affected (Millions)

3,000

Dev'ed
CIT
2,000
The rate has doubled this decade. Dev'ing
LDC

40 to 80% of the population 1,000

in developing countries versus a

-
few % in more developed countries 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s
 Developing countries
– Impacts are worse are the most
– Lower capacity to adapt vulnerable to climate
• Lack of financial, change
institutional and
technological capacity and
access to knowledge

– Climate change is likely to

impact disproportionately
upon the poorest countries
and the poorest persons
within countries
• Exacerbating inequities in
health status and access to
adequate food, clean water
and other resources.


0
5
10
15
20
25
USA

EU25

India

Germany

Canada
Top GHG Emitters (2000)

Italy

Ukraine

France

Australia

S. Africa
WHO ARE RESPONSIBLE?

Poland

S. Arabia

Pakistan
WHO ARE RESPONSIBLE?
 WHO ARE RESPONSIBLE?
UNITED STATES

US is the number 1 producer
of CO2 emissions.

25% of CO2 in the
atmosphere per year comes
from the US

US number 1 producer and
consumer of fossil fuels

79% of US CO2 emission
comes from the use of
petroleum and coal for energy
and electricity
TNCs
 1998, 4 out of the 11 biggest
producers of oil are TNCs (BP
Amoco-Arco, Exxon Mobil,
Royal Dutch Shell at Chevron-
Texaco).
 2005, oil TNCs like British
Petroleum, Exxon Mobil, Shell
Dutch controls 18% of global
oil reserves
 TNCs owns the biggest
agricultural plantations,
logging corporations, large
dams, energy plants, etc...
GHGs in RP

1999, Philippines emitted
75,998,000 metric tons of CO2 or
0.3% of world total emission.

From 1990 to 1999 our CO2
emission increased by 72%.

Currently we have a higher CO2
emission than some industrialized
countries like Switzerland (0.1%), New
Zealand (0.1%), Sweden (0.2%), Ireland
(0.2%) and Norway (0.2%), and also to
some oil producing countries (OPEC
members) like Bahrain (0.1%), Libya
(0.2%), Nigeria (0.2%) and Kuwait
(0.2%)
 WHO ARE RESPONSIBLE?

2004, Shell, Caltex, and
Foreign TNCs also controls
Petron or the Big Three our energy industry like
controls 83% of retailing Mirant (US) (bought off by
stations, 86% of total oil Marubeni of Japan) Enron
products sold and 100% oil Power Co. (US), Far East
refinery in the country Livingston (Singapore)

2006, Petron reported a net
7 out 9 coal power plants

profit of P6.05 billion while and all diesel-fired power
Shell reported in 2005 a net plant in the country is
profit of P5.7 billion owned by foreign and
private companies

natural gas in Malampaya,

Palawan, owns by Royal
Dutch Shell (45%) and
Texaco (45%).
ACTIONS AND RESPONSES TO CLIMATE
CHANGE

–Adaptation – any action including changes in

practices and decision making processes in order
to increase resilience and capacity to cope with
current and future changes (IPCC, 2001)

–Mitigation – the process of limiting the causes of

climate change through measures that could slow
down the build up of atmospheric GHGs
concentrations by reducing current and future
emissions and by increasing GHG sinks
SOME ADAPTATION AND MITIGATION
STRATEGIES
–Conserve water

–Use less energy

–Recycle

(the low carbon diet)

 ADAPTATION STRATEGIES
Adaptation Effect on Water Effects on Effects on Local
Strategy for Resources Institutions Communities
Forestry & Agri.
Proper scheduling + More efficient water - Increase cost for 0
and planting use training, technical
assistance , R & D
Soil and Water + Conservation of - Increase cost for - Cash expenses
Conservation Water training, technical
Measures assistance , R & D
Establishment of fire + More vegetative + Less expense on -More labor demand
lines cover promote good fire fighting + Less damage to
vegetative cover crops from fire; more
income
Controlled Burning + Less damage to 0 0
watershed cover
Construction of + Better water quality - Increase cost of + Less soil erosion;
Drainage Facillities (less sediment load) implementation less flooding; greater
yield
Source: Toward Developing Philippine Adaptation Framework , Paper presented by Rex Victor Cruz and Florencia B. Pulhin during the
Executive Forum on Environmental Economics, June 25-29, 2007, SEARCA, UPLB.
 MITIGATING MEASURES
Mitigation technologies and practices for Agriculture and
SECTOR Forestry (IPCC, 2007)

• Afforestation
Forestry • Reforestation
• Forest Management
• Reduction of Deforestation
• Harvested wood product management
• Use of forestry products for bio-energy to replace fossil fuel use
• Improved crop and grazing land management to increase soil carbon storage
Agriculture • Restoration of cultivated peaty soils and degraded lands
• Improved rice cultivation techniques and livestock and manure management
to reduce CH4 emissions
• Improved nitrogen fertilizer application techniques to reduce N2O emission
• Dedicated energy fuels crops to replace fuel use
• Improved energy efficiency in agriculture
• Composting of organic wastes
• Controlled waste water treatment
• Recycling and waste minimization
 ACTIONS AND RESPONSES TO CLIMATE
CHANGE

GOVERNMENT However....
RESPONSE:

Oil Deregulation Law

Formation of Presidential
Clean Air Act
Task Force on Climate

EPIRA Law
Change

Clean Development
Mechanism

Mining Liberalization and
Commercial Logging

Land Conversion
 ASSYMETRIC RESPONSIBILITY AND
VULNERABILITY

Inverse relationship between

climate change vulnerability and
responsibility

Primary emitter countries must
change their production activities
and consumption of energy and
seek sustainable solutions.

Basic human needs, economic
and social development need
adequate energy and
infrastructure.
 CARBON OFFSET/CDM

Carbon offset mechanisms shift out
carbon mitigation and reduction out of
industrialized countries towards
developing countries.

Distort development activities while

keeping consumption and production
activities of industrialized countries.

Clean Development Mechanisms

(CDM) and carbon trading effectively
marketize carbon emissions

Shuffles around responsibility to
curb emissions.
 RECOMMENDATIONS

Develop a strategic and

comprehensive plan to reduce
CO2 and GHG emission of the
country

Study the current status and

impacts of climate change and
global warming to the
different sectors

Massive education campaign

to inform the people on
climate change and how they
will cope and mitigate its
effects and impacts.
ENVIRONMENTAL CRISIS
Rapid destruction of the
environment:

Direct result of rapid,

environmental
unchecked environmental
destruction

appropriation of plunder

resources for the

benefit of a few.
ENVIRONMENTAL CRISIS

Pursuit of effective Quest for a better

reforms system of
in environment governance
PEOPLE’S RESPONSE TO THE CRISIS

Our environmental
advocacy is
•People-oriented
• Scientific
• Patriotic
RECOMMENDATIONS

Develop a energy industry
which is not dependent on
imported resources and fossil
fuels.

Seek and develop clean, cheap
power resources and energy
plants.

Impose moratorium on the
construction of coal power
plants.

Develop an efficient mass
transportation system

Banning technologies that are
pollutive

Develop products that are cost
effective
 RECOMMENDATIONS

Community based disaster response

Capacity building for vulnerable
communities

Work for social change – structural and
systematic;

Defend our patrimony against foreign
and local plunder

Popularize and implement proper and
sustainable use of our natural
resources

Popularize correct perspective towards
environmental issues – pro-people,
patriotic, and scientific orientation

Get involved and organize

Conduct information and education
activities

Lobbying work

Actively oppose policies, programs
and policies that are anti-
environment and anti-people
PHILIPPINE CLIMATE WATCH ALLIANCE
philclimatewatch.org

Philippine Climate Watch Alliance

Convened last February 20, 2008

Philippine Climate Watch

Environmental groups,
workers, peasants, urban
poor groups

Individuals

Grassroots conference on
climate change on April 20-21
NETWORK OPPOSED
TO BNPP
REVIVAL!
(NO TO BNPP REVIVAL!)
(NO2BNPPREVIVAL.ORG)

YOUTH STOP BNPP REVIVAL!

(STOPBNPPREVIVAL.WORDPRESS.COM)
PEOPLE’S SCIENCE SCHOOL (PSS)
pss2008.multiply.com

Community-based approach
of science teaching

Volunteers teach basic science
and provide technical
assistance to basic sectors

Topics often involve
environmental concerns,
energy and water
consumption
MARAMING SALAMAT PO