Ondoy and Climate Change

According to the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa), Ondoy brought Metro Manila its highest amount of rainfall in the last 42 years.
“In 1967, a typhoon brought Metro Manila 334 mm of rain in 24 hours,” said Pagasa spokesman Nathaniel Cruz in an interview. “Last Saturday’s storm brought us the 334 mm of rain in just six hours. ‘Ondoy’ brought us a total of 453 mm of rain in 24 hours.”
Cruz said it may have been “a manifestation of climate change.”
Climate change, however, is not the root: it is itself merely a manifestation of much worse things.
The Fourth Assessment Report of the Nobel Prize-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), released in 2007, states that human activities have contributed to climate change through increases in the emissions of four principal greenhouse gases: carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and halocarbons (a group of gases containing bromine, chlorine, and fluorine).
Carbon dioxide emissions increased from the use of fossil fuels (e.g. petroleum, coal, and natural gas) in the manufacture of cement and other goods, transportation, and building heating and cooling. Decaying plant matter also emits carbon dioxide.
Methane is emitted from landfills, as well as from natural gas distribution and a few activities related to agriculture.
Fossil fuel burning and fertilizer use cause the emission of nitrous oxide. But natural processes in soil and the oceans can contribute to nitrous oxide emission.
Among the principal halocarbons are the chlorofluorocarbons, which have historically been used as refrigeration agents and for other industrial purposes.
Based on the IPCC’s research, the emission of these gases have increased since 1750, or the start of the industrial age, and particularly in the previous century.
Changes in the emission of these principal greenhouse gases affect the presence and amounts of ozone, water vapor, and aerosols in the air.
The increased emissions of carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons, and nitrogen oxide have increased ozone in the troposphere, the atmosphere’s first layer, leading to increase in temperatures in a number of areas. On the other hand, high halocarbon emissions have depleted ozone in the stratosphere (the second atmospheric level), leading to cooling in some areas.
The amount of water vapor in the air is a significant determinant of the general warmth or coolness of an area; more water vapor means a warmer atmosphere. Methane undergoes chemical destruction when it reaches the stratosphere, thus producing water vapor.
Aerosols are small particles present in the atmosphere that vary in chemical composition, concentration, and size.
The burning of fossil fuels and biomass has increased the amount of aerosols with sulfur and organic compounds, as well as black carbon (or soot). Surface mining and some other industrial activities have increased dust in the atmosphere.
The IPCC further stated that carbon dioxide accounts for 80 percent of greenhouse gas emissions, mainly resulting from the burning of coal and crude oil.
Ninety percent of carbon dioxide emission is from countries within the Northern Hemisphere. The Group of Eight (G8) countries – Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the UK, and the US – and several other European Union member-countries are historically responsible for 65 percent of carbon dioxide emissions, with the US accounting for 20 percent of emissions in 2003.

Ondoy (Ketsana) - Climate change impact in the Philippines 2

Ondoy Pushes Tens of Thousands of Families Into Severe Difficulty, Long-Term Poverty. The depletion of the world’s forests has also significantly affected climate change. The growth of forests causes the removal of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and its absorption into leaves, soil, and wood. Based on data from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), deforestation worldwide took place at the rate of 13 million hectares a year for the period 1990-2005 – with little signs of decrease over the years. As of 2005, 3.95 million hectares or only 30 percent of the planet’s total land area was covered with forests.
Based on the IPCC’s research, the increased carbon dioxide emissions have been the biggest contributor to what is now known as global warming. The increase in the emissions of other principal greenhouse gases have contributed to warming trends experienced in many parts of the world.
Global warming is a significant factor in the increasing frequency and intensity of typhoons.
Typhoons develop from the heat that dissipates when water vapor from warm sea surfaces condenses and forms cloud drops. The strength of typhoons increases when sea-surface temperatures are higher than 26°C, and goes down at sea-surface temperatures below 26°C.
Based on data from the socio-economic think-tank Ibon Foundation, the Asia-Pacific region has experienced in recent decades a general trend toward warming, which is consistent with global temperature patterns. Southeast Asia has warmed by 0.32°C over the past three decades.
“It is unfair that people in the Philippines should be the ones paying a greater price for the damage that developed countries have wrought on the environment,” said Amalie Obusan, Greenpeace climate and energy campaigner, in a statement.
“The plight of vulnerable developing countries such as ours should put forward a strong moral imperative for early and decisive action” Obusan also said. “The threat to our people’s survival is a harsh reality that should inform the actions of the industrialized world’s leaders.”
At the ongoing intercessional meeting of the United Nations Framework on Climate Change Convention (UNFCCC) in Bangkok, UN climate chief Yvo de Boer said the floods wrought by Ondoy in the Philippines highlight the need for an international agreement on climate change. “One of the reasons why countries have gathered here is to ensure the frequency and severity of those kinds of extreme weather events decreases as a result of ambitious climate change policy,”

"We must therefore prepare for the next typhoon coz it might be as strong or even stronger than Ondoy"

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Ondoy and Climate Change

According to the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa), Ondoy brought Metro Manila its highest amount of rainfall in the last 42 years.
“In 1967, a typhoon brought Metro Manila 334 mm of rain in 24 hours,” said Pagasa spokesman Nathaniel Cruz in an interview. “Last Saturday’s storm brought us the 334 mm of rain in just six hours. ‘Ondoy’ brought us a total of 453 mm of rain in 24 hours.”
Cruz said it may have been “a manifestation of climate change.”
Climate change, however, is not the root: it is itself merely a manifestation of much worse things.
The Fourth Assessment Report of the Nobel Prize-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), released in 2007, states that human activities have contributed to climate change through increases in the emissions of four principal greenhouse gases: carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and halocarbons (a group of gases containing bromine, chlorine, and fluorine).
Carbon dioxide emissions increased from the use of fossil fuels (e.g. petroleum, coal, and natural gas) in the manufacture of cement and other goods, transportation, and building heating and cooling. Decaying plant matter also emits carbon dioxide.
Methane is emitted from landfills, as well as from natural gas distribution and a few activities related to agriculture.
Fossil fuel burning and fertilizer use cause the emission of nitrous oxide. But natural processes in soil and the oceans can contribute to nitrous oxide emission.
Among the principal halocarbons are the chlorofluorocarbons, which have historically been used as refrigeration agents and for other industrial purposes.
Based on the IPCC’s research, the emission of these gases have increased since 1750, or the start of the industrial age, and particularly in the previous century.
Changes in the emission of these principal greenhouse gases affect the presence and amounts of ozone, water vapor, and aerosols in the air.
The increased emissions of carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons, and nitrogen oxide have increased ozone in the troposphere, the atmosphere’s first layer, leading to increase in temperatures in a number of areas. On the other hand, high halocarbon emissions have depleted ozone in the stratosphere (the second atmospheric level), leading to cooling in some areas.
The amount of water vapor in the air is a significant determinant of the general warmth or coolness of an area; more water vapor means a warmer atmosphere. Methane undergoes chemical destruction when it reaches the stratosphere, thus producing water vapor.
Aerosols are small particles present in the atmosphere that vary in chemical composition, concentration, and size.
The burning of fossil fuels and biomass has increased the amount of aerosols with sulfur and organic compounds, as well as black carbon (or soot). Surface mining and some other industrial activities have increased dust in the atmosphere.
The IPCC further stated that carbon dioxide accounts for 80 percent of greenhouse gas emissions, mainly resulting from the burning of coal and crude oil.
Ninety percent of carbon dioxide emission is from countries within the Northern Hemisphere. The Group of Eight (G8) countries – Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the UK, and the US – and several other European Union member-countries are historically responsible for 65 percent of carbon dioxide emissions, with the US accounting for 20 percent of emissions in 2003.

"It is therefore the fault of man why the effects of continued rain has been so devastating"

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Ondoy (Ketsana) - Climate change impact in the Philippines

The Philippines strongly urged developed countries to cut greenhouse gas emissions to stem the impact of climate change in the wake of its worst flooding in decades.
Tropical storm Ketsana dumped the heaviest rain in more than 40 years on Manila and its neighbouring areas over the weekend, killing 246 people and affecting more than two million.
"Tropical storm Ketsana is clearly a manifestation of the consequences of global inaction in addressing the immediate impacts of creeping climate change,"
Rich countries must act "to moderate these storms and spare the whole world from the impoverishing and devastating impacts of climate change, especially to low-lying archipelagic island-nations like the Philippines,"
The Philippines is calling for developed countries to make "deep and early cuts of emissions" of more than 30 percent from 2013 to 2017 and more than 50 percent from 2018 to 2022, pegged to 1990 levels.

"The wrath brought by typhoon Ondoy to the Philippines is a very good waking up call not only to the Filipinos but most especially to its leaders, to act immediately to mitigate climate change"

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