CLIMATE ACTION IS A COLLECTIVE ACTION

By Shanin Kyle C. Manuel

As one of the world’s most disaster prone countries, it is reasonable that the Philippines take
climate action into serious consideration. One thing is a coordinated effort from the government
and civil society in the country’s recovery phase, wherein we strive to build resilient
communities. Preparation is another thing, which may entail prioritizing disaster risk reduction
and management in drafting education curriculum.

Even a child should familiarize themselves with the possible risks and consequences they may
be facing before, during, and after disasters and other natural calamities. From the webinar
“Green-Gray Engineering,” Dr. Primavera, a country’s chief mangrove advisor, emphasized the
importance of a child’s having adequate knowledge on storm surges. Every year, approximately
20 typhoons enter the Philippine Area of Responsibility (PAR). If children make it to 75 years of
age, they will possibly encounter 1500 typhoons in their lifetime.

The likelihood of earthquakes occurring is higher—we expect to experience 900 of them

annually. On the other hand, there are around 220 volcanoes recorded in the country, wherein at
least 22 of them are marked active. Both cases are foreseeable as the Philippines is situated at
the center of a typhoon belt and along the boundary of major tectonic plates. To put it another
way, we are highly susceptible to typhoons, flooding, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions,
landslides, and droughts. Nevertheless, this vulnerability does not necessarily warrant
defenselessness—insofar as there is proper climate action taken, we can avoid and mitigate the
hazards of climate change and natural disasters.

To supply more facts, a report from Harvard Humanitarian Initiative (2018) indicates that around
9.29 million Filipinos suffered the brunt of a disaster in the last five years. An overwhelming
majority (80%) of those surveyed reported not having an emergency kit or go bag. Moreover,
80% of them disclosed that TV is their main source of information. Taking the latter case, we are
witnessing the implications of having scarce regional televisions and radio stations to victims of
Typhoon Odette, particularly amid the shutdown of ABS-CBN Network. This problem may
explain the reasons behind delayed rescue operations and miscommunication between the
government, local and international organizations, and the victims of the typhoon.

Only a couple of years ago, roughly 11 million Filipino people were beset with the onslaught of
Typhoon Yolanda. Altogether hampered with uncoordinated efforts, government corruption, and
mass hysteria, many Filipinos from the Visayan region endured loss of lives and devastation of
properties. Because of that, the country ranked first in 2013 among those with the highest
mortality rate due to disasters worldwide. Worse, it uncovered how skewed vulnerability is
among the population, wherein those in the poorest areas whose livelihood depends on
small-scale farming and fishing are the most affected. The United Nations Office for Disaster
Risk Reduction (UNISDR) categorized the high vulnerable population in the following: Filipinos
living below the poverty line, those living in informal settlements particularly in coastal and flood

1
prone areas of Metro Manila, and those living in coastal and poor urban communities. However,
contrasting it with the data provided by Harvard Humanitarian Initiative (2018), the disaster
management capacities of other regions in the country are significantly lower than the rest,
while little data are available in determining local level capacities. More importantly, they also
tackle that:

Disaster risk is a product of a population’s vulnerability and exposure to a hazard. While

disasters are clearly triggered by a natural hazard, social factors have a significant role
in people’s exposure to risk. Climate trend data indicate that the Philippines is likely to
continue to experience adverse effects to “lives, health and well-being, the environment,
and economy.”

Now, the question stands: what is the role of SDG 13: Climate Action in addressing these
national concerns? Although it mainly focuses on climate change, I reckon that our climate
commitments also entail protecting our environment so as to mitigate the hazardous–often
overlapping–effects of related calamities. Specifically, SDG 13 explains that:

Climate change is a real and undeniable threat to our entire civilization. The effects are
already visible and will be catastrophic unless we act now. Through education,
innovation and adherence to our climate commitments, we can make the necessary
changes to protect the planet. These changes also provide huge opportunities to
modernize our infrastructure which will create new jobs and promote greater prosperity
across the globe.

From the class presentation of Cuenco et al. (2021), they discussed a few indicators of climate
action, consisting of strengthening resilience and the adaptive capacities of countries to natural
disasters and climate-related hazards, integrating those measures into policies, improving our
education infrastructure and institutional capacity, and promoting mechanisms as we raise our
capacity for an effective disaster risk reduction and management, especially in low-resource
countries.

Furthermore, they made an important point that all those strategies will be futile unless we also
address the system that allows environmental destruction to flourish. Undeniably, one thing is
the capitalist structure that licenses multinational companies to exploit nature—such as its
unregulated use of fossil fuel, excessive mining operation, and deforestation. All of which
augments the wanton destruction of our environment, while at the same time enabling big
companies to profit from this exploit. Eventually, these perils take a huge toll on our most
vulnerable population, as they are left with inadequate safeguards. The Center for Disaster
Preparedness (CDP) has long been warning us about this implication, stating that:

Illegal logging and illegal modes of fishing threaten the ecosystem. Armed conflict,
demolitions, and so-called development projects displace families and communities,
adding to the already dire poverty situation. The poverty situation also inhibits the

2
 people’s ability to cope and recover from these hazards unless we develop their
capacities and to create disaster resilient communities.

Overall, this goes to show that while most disasters are caused by the Philippines’ geographic
location, human exploitation and capitalism catalyze the process and exacerbate the effects of
destruction. It is clear then that mitigating the brunt of calamities comes with regulating a system
that may counter the efforts we have built for years. If left unchecked, however, we will be
caught in a cycle. Moreover, as we mentioned varying vulnerability across the population, it is
imperative that we demand the government to improve the conditions of our sectors who are
most susceptible to disasters. I believe that is when we talk about community to national
development, wherein we undertake an intersectoral approach in improving every aspect of our
lives. After all, Harvard Humanitarian Initiative (2018) is right when it says that “Preparedness is
the combination of knowledge and capacities of governments, organizations, communities, and
individuals.”

Ultimately, I agree with the recommendations of the reporters. First, we must prioritize national
industrialization above MNCs and TNCs. These companies have been enjoying lots of
unnecessary fiscal incentives. In exchange for short-term income from FDIs, the government
tends to suspend efforts in incentivizing our local industries. It is also noteworthy that a larger
portion of profits from these foreign firms only goes back to their mother company than in the
Philippines as an investing country. So in the end, it is not our country who largely benefits from
foreign investments. The big winner remains to be these large and foreign firms. So, we must be
finally given our dues.

Second, the government should focus on developing our own, by implementing genuine
agrarian reform and giving fair incentives to our MSMEs. As the reporters stressed, “different
industries in the Philippines have presented real production strategies that are already being
applied by their organization during people economics roundtable discussions.” Among these
strategies are rural development, agroecology practices, and incentivizing people’s scientists,
agriculturists, farmers and workers, and other sectors who are lobbying for genuine sustainable
development.

Lastly, we must resolve income inequality. Compensating people justly for their labor does a lot
in increasing their capacities to prepare for and recover from disasters and natural capacities.
To a certain extent, this may also address their seemingly unfair vulnerabilities–due to poverty
and the environment they are exposed to–amid the onslaught of typhoons, flooding, and other
environmental destruction. Yet again, it must be a coordinated effort not only from the
government but also from concerned organizations and other stakeholders. As long as the
solution is made collectively and is centered around people, then we can do better in mitigating
the risks of disasters in the future.

3
References:

Bollentino, V., et al. (2018). Perceptions of Disaster Resilience and Preparedness in the
Philippines. Harvard Humanitarian Initiative.

Center for Disaster Preparedness (CDP). (2018). The Philippine Disaster Situation.
Retrieved from https://www.cdp.org.ph/.

Cuenco, Z., et al. (2021). SDG 13: Climate Action (Green New Deal’s Effect in the
Philippines). Retrieved from
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ycPIko49p1uNyxaOZkENu_IOuGcTK7C2/view?usp=driv
e_web&authuser=1.

The Global Goals for Sustainable Development. (2021). SDG 13: Take Urgent Action to
Combat Climate Change and its Impacts. Retrieved from
https://sdg.neda.gov.ph/goal-13/.