Galicia, Angelika Natividad
2019-09711
For past few decades, climate change has become the talk all over the
world and have been a global concern. It is a seasonal change over a long
period with respect to growing accumulation of greenhouse gases in the
atmosphere. Climatic changes are due to some natural reasons including
volcanic eruption, solar radiation, etc. However, these natural reasons become
worst because of different human activities that damage the climate and
ecosystem very badly.
Climate change is a very alarming issue and our country, the Philippines has
not been spared from the weather-related disturbances and disasters. In fact, we
are one of the great contributors of this environmental problem. Climate change
in the country is a big challenge not only for the government but for all Filipinos as
it may led to another serious societal issue that threaten the well-being of the
country’s biodiversity and people. Some visible evidence that we are facing
rampant climatic changes is the rapid increase and sudden decrease in the
temperature and getting the weather more extreme. This imbalance result to the
trends of increasing number of hot days and cold nights. Even the usual ‘Ber-
month’ of the country is hotter than it was expected. In general, the increased in
temperature affects all living things, in land and in water. It push to wildlife species
extinction and cause the coral reef to bleach, which hinder their growth that
directly affect the marine biodiversity. The continues rising of temperature also
spur changes in rainfall pattern, that is why past typhoons that hit our country
have been unusually heavy that have brought devastation compared to other
typhoons before.
Climate change is a global challenge that threatens every nation. This is
the result of our selfish treatment to our environment that plunders our planet. This
environmental concern is affecting not only the Philippines or other developing
countries but also different part of the world and it must be taken seriously by
every one of us because it brought catastrophic consequences that will slowly
destroy the existence of life. Climate change is obviously an austere
environmental concern because it is a result of human activities such as emission
of carbon gases, deforestation, etc. that result to other environmental and
societal concerns. Due to climate change biodiversity and prosperity suffer, it
becomes a threat to the balance ecosystem, agriculture, and health. The natural
habitats becomes hostile because of climate change; the glaciers are melting,
forest are more prone to deadly infestations, and marine biodiversity also suffer.
Galicia, Angelika Natividad
2019-09711
The impact of climate change is irreversible. According to World
Meteorological Organization (WMO) report on global climate in 2015-2019,
climate change causes and impact are increasing rather than slowing down.
Concentration of Greenhouse gasses has also increased and sea level rise has
accelerated. In national setting, Philippines was listed by the Global Climate Risk
Index 2015 as one of the most susceptible country to the hazards brought by
climate change. According to Global Peace Index, 47 percent of the country’s
population is in areas highly exposed to climate hazards such as earthquakes,
tsunami, floods, tropical cyclone and drought. Climate change significantly
affect most of the Filipinos in their daily life, especially in health. It also brings threat
to the agriculture industry of the country and impact the country’s ability to feed
its people. Climate change
Due to the risks that threatened the country’s security, biodiversity, and
economy, the government is now taking urgent actions about it. There are
existing laws that protects the welfare of the environment and advocate in
making a climate action including the Climate Change Act of 2009 or the
Republic Act No. 9729 that result to the creation of Philippine Climate Change
Commission. According to Flores (2019) by The Philippine Star, the Climate
Change Commission recently announced the release of about P200 million in
grants to four local government units in the country to strengthen their resiliency
to negative impact of climate change. The country also committed to cut
greenhouse gas emission by 70 percent by 2030, under the Paris Agreement on
Climate Change. The Philippine LGU’s and different NGO’s are working together
hand-in-hand to address the threat of climate change in the country as answer
to the call on global climate action. The Government also delivered its
commitment in different international organizations to join the global force in
fighting the threats of climatic changes.
The drastic changes in our climate was caused by human activities and
exploitations. The contributions of industrial revolution and emission of greenhouse
gases were labeled as the main factors of the climatic changes. The earth we
abused and living things we killed will, in the end, take their revenge; for exploiting
their presence is destroying our future. Although human’s mistake has caused
great damage to the climate and ecosystem, it is not still late to start again and
try to undo what we have done to the environment. And if every human start
contributing to the environment, then we can be sure of our existence in the
future.
