Republic of the Philippines

Sorsogon State University

SCHOOL OF GRADUATES STUDIES
Sorsogon City

Topics : THE MARGINALIZED SECTOR

Discussant : Jhona Nañoz
Subject: : Environmental Management
Professor : Emma Perena Ph.D

Marginalized Sector
Are groups and communities that experience discrimination and
exclusion (social, political and economic) because of unequal power
relationships across economic, political, social and cultural dimensions.

Most common marginalized groups:

 Senior citizens.
 Racial/Cultural minorities.
 Military Combat Veterans.
 Persons of below average intelligence.
 Hearing, visually, and Physically Challenged Persons.
 Persons with a serious and Persistent Mental Illness (SPMI)
 Persons with Cognitive Impairments.

RA 8425 divides the basic sectors into 14 main groupings:

 Farmers and landless rural workers

 Artisanal fisher folk
 Urban poor
 Indigenous people and cultural communities
 Workers in formal labor and migrant workers
 Workers in the informal sector
 Women
 Children
 Youth and students
 Senior citizens
 Persons with disabilities
 Victims of disasters and calamities
 Non-governmental organizations
 Cooperatives

Marginalized Sector (Effects of Climate Change on Marginalized

Communities)

“Climate Change could result in more than 100 million additional people
living in poverty by 2030”.
"As delegates converge on Paris in November for the UN Climate Change
Conference, the urgency of the need to address the human rights impacts
of climate change is clear: the world’s marginalized communities—
populations that are already vulnerable to human rights abuses—face the
biggest challenges in adapting to climate change. The consequences of
climate change for health, housing, livelihood and security will
disproportionately impact individuals and communities living in already-
fragile ecosystems or with tenuous land title, and especially indigenous
communities, women, elderly individuals, those with disabilities, and the
poor." - United Nations report on climate change, multiple contributors.

Four main reasons climate change disproportionately effects poor

and vulnerable individuals.

1. Inequality creates a larger likely hood of exposure for disadvantaged

groups to climate disasters and climate hazards. Lower income
individuals normally live in the most vulnerable locations in a nation,
and have less developed infrastructure. As the majority of low-income
individuals are reliant on agriculture, it is highly likely they may live in
more isolated and remote locations, that are heavily surrounded by
nature.

2. Given the level of exposure, disadvantaged groups there is an

increased level of susceptibility to damages caused by climate
hazards. It's simple, the more vulnerable you are to experiencing a
climate disaster, the more vulnerable you are of being negatively
affected by that climate disaster.

3. Inequality decreases individuals and groups ability to cope and

recover from the aforementioned damages. This is largely because
they have less resources to begin with. Depending on the nation
access to medical care, shelter, food and water may be limited and
not accessible without a disposable income or other luxuries (ie.
modes of transportation, citizenship.) Without a disposable income
their ability to cope with the physical impacts to infrastructure, and to
individuals bodies as well as the phycological trauma may not be
properly healed. The loss of income coming from lost work, inability to
access work, or other circumstances can also put an intense burden
on a individual who experienced a climate disaster.

4. Many, living in poverty have greater reliance on natural resources and

agriculture, so when disaster ensues they lose their livelihood/sense
of safety and are put further in risk of causes 1-3.
Some of the areas expected to be worse affected by climate change in
the upcoming years, and what this means for poor individuals.

1. Lagos, Nigeria has one of the fastest expanding populations currently

in the world. The population is expected to double in the next 15
years, which will put huge effects on the infrastructure and
agriculture. Currently, millions of people living in the northern region
are on the brink of famine, struggling to have one meal a day. The
drought in addition to the ongoing conflict has devastated their living
conditions. In this case, climate change causes droughts to be more
frequent and severe which has negatively impacted the lives of the
Nigerian people.

2. Yemen is also experiencing a different kind of climate change effect:

destruction of their fragile economy due to less outside exports. Oil is
Yemen's greatest export, and as other countries try to limit their oil
consumption, the economy is declining. This is a bittersweet situation,
cause although climate change is a major issue for those living in
Yemen- poverty is also extremely prevalent and needs to be
addressed.

3. Manila is incredibly vulnerable to flooding. In 2009 a flood submerged

80% of the entire city. This is in large part due to poor infrastructure
that did not create proper drainage or take adequate sanitary
measures. Manila is located along the coast and is heavily populated,
this makes it hard to evacuate and therefore hard to repair after a
climate disaster. The question for Manila is not if there will be another
catastrophic flood but when, and with a population that is still
struggling to recover from 2009 (and other smaller floods) the results
could be devastating.

Luckily in 2012 the Manila government created a Flood Management

Masterplan for Metro Manila, that focuses on modernizing
infrastructure to manage future floods. The Philippines have created
a Climate Change Action Plan that hopes to focus on “food security,
water sufficiency, ecosystem and environmental stability, human
security, climate smart industries and services, sustainable energy,
knowledge and capacity development.” This program looks
promising, but it is no surprise that the richest of the nations
highlighted is the only nation with a true climate action plan in place,
and will have the lowest long-term impacts.

Population trends of Metro Manila (1970-2020)

Flooding in Metro Manila (2015)

These are only a few of the nations that are expected

to experience climate change disasters in the coming
years. This number will not go down, more nations
will be added to the list- if global action is not
prioritized. However, in this action we think
innovatively about how we aide individuals who have
already been gravely effected by climate disasters
 Climate Change Vulnerability Index Map. Notice most developed nations
are the least vulnerable.

Global Inequality in the responsibilities for climate change.

Climate Change and the Arctic

 The Canadian Arctic is currently experiencing the worst impacts of

climate change in all of Canada. The Nunavut Climate Change
Center has identified that culture, traditional activities, food security,
health and disease, heritage places, infrastructure, transportation,
resource development, tourism, arts, and energy will be impacted in
some way in the coming years.
 Some of the concerns facing indigenous peoples in the region include
the change in species and availability of traditional food sources,
perceived reduction in weather predictions and the safety of traveling
in changing ice and weather conditions, posing serious challenges to
human health and food security.

Importance of Marginalized Voices

  Even though socially and economically marginalized people are the
first to be affected by climate change, their voices are some of the
first to be ignored. As a society we should be centering the voices of
those who are tangibly experiencing the disasters of climate change,
and this should be a call to action to all of us who are not yet affected.
Shelia Watt-Cloutier commanded attention to her voice, which would
generally have been socially marginalized.
 By doing this she put an exceptional amount of humanity into the
climate change discussion. She added a new and important
perspective, as well as offering exceptional guidance for how we can
globally combat climate change. The success of Watt-Cloutier's book
is proof that voices like her must be raised and listened too. Right
now, we must listen to the people who are truly living in the wake of
climate change. Without their knowledge, their experience, and their
guidance we will not be able to beat our world’s greatest challenge.

Inequality in 'Developed' Areas

The common rhetoric surrounding climate change implies that the

effects of climate change exclusively impacts developing nations, when in
reality developed nations are far from exempt. It is often the marginalized
communities in developed nations who also suffer from its uneven impacts.

One of the best examples of this is the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

Katrina had immense effects on infrastructure, employment, livelihood and
revealed the ugly truth of how America treats their lower-income
populations. If we look at the three reasons why climate change
disproportionately effects low-income individuals, we can see how those
come into play with Hurricane Katrina.

1. The first section, higher likelihood for disadvantaged people to be

susceptible to climate disaster. The individuals who took the brunt of
the hurricane were people living on the low-lands which is considered
less-desirable location, largely due to the fact that flooding/hurricanes
affect these areas first.

2. The second section, higher likelihood to experience the effects of a

climate disaster. The individuals who were in the fields impacted by
the hurricane all experienced destruction to some degree. Whether it
was complete loss of belonging/property, loss of livelihood, or in
extreme cases loss of life or serious casualties.

3. The third section, disadvantaged individuals have less ability to cope

with the aftermath of a climate disaster. Without resources such as a
disposable income or insurance many of the individuals were left in
extreme disarray and where not able to properly repair/ return to their
career for an extended period of time.
Conclusion

Climate Change is a universal issue, there is no denying that if

humankind is to overcome it, all individuals must buy in. It is a global issue,
that requires a global solution- but that does not mean that climate change
does not discriminate in its own ways. Let us look beyond what we know
about climate change, to acknowledge that this is not a future problem,
people are already being affected in heartbreaking ways. Inequality is
prevalent in every pore of the damages of climate change, and in global
action we must also work to negate the poverty that has been created and
continued by our changing planet. We are all connected. We will all feel
climate change at some point, if we do not act. Now. Infrastructures are
dying. Livelihoods are dying. Cultures are dying. Humans are dying. People
are dying. The time to wait has long past. We have no time to wait.

REFERENCES

 https://www.google.com/search?
q=map+of+manila&tbm=isch&chips=q:map+of+manila,g_1:metro:FsmKosz-fnA
%3D&rlz=1C1VDKB_enPH930PH930&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiFysmhhLXwAhUQDZQK
Hc12C_QQ4lYoAnoECAEQHQ&biw=1263&bih=690#imgrc=sDe6qryFSmb9fM
 https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/bff12b5b6cb742a3a6dfb454200c3797
 https://www.google.com/search?
q=global+inequality+index+in+climate+change&tbm=isch&ved=2ahUKEwip-
OGcqLXwAhWiwosBHf9wAHAQ2-
cCegQIABAA&oq=global+inequality+index+in+climate+change&gs_lcp=CgNpbWcQAzoEC
AAQHjoECAAQGFDOlwFYnMwBYPfPAWgBcAB4AIABX4gBkQ2SAQIxOZgBAKABAaoBC2
d3cy13aXotaW1nwAEB&sclient=img&ei=kwOUYOniOqKFr7wP_-
GBgAc&bih=690&biw=1280&rlz=1C1VDKB_enPH930PH930#imgrc=9pptY_LhRNEsyM
 https://www.webology.org/2006/v3n1/a24.html
 https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/bff12b5b6cb742a3a6dfb454200c3797
 https://pcw.gov.ph/republic-act-8425-social-reform-and-poverty-alleviation-act/