"We must kick the Carbon habit"

by Mr. Ban Ki-Moon
Asean Biodiversity
news Magazine

Addiction is a terrible thing. It consumes and controls us, make us deny important thruts and blinds us to the consequences of our actions.

Our dependence on carbon-based energy has caused a significant build-up of green house gases in the atmosphere. climate change is happening, and we know that carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases is the cause.

The cost will be borne by all. the poor will be hardest -hit by weather-related disasters.

We are all part of the solution.....

We must kick the carbon habit.....

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Climate change and agriculture

by Sen. Edgardo J. Angara

Agriculture is intricately intertwined with climate change. Depending on how it is managed, agriculture can either aggravate or mitigate the climate-change problem.

According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, 70 percent of freshwater use in the world goes to agriculture, compared with industry use (20 percent), and municipal and domestic use (10 percent). In Asia, agriculture accounts for 80 percent of freshwater withdrawals.

An International Food Policy Research Institute (Ifpri) recent study estimates that agriculture contributes about 15 percent of the annual greenhouse-gas (GHG) emissions warming up the globe. The World Trade Organization projects an even larger contribution—it estimates that all agriculture—related sectors combined is possibly emitting up to 25 percent to 30 percent of the annual GHG emissions to the atmosphere.

At the same time, agriculture, through biodiesels, increases the options for renewable energy.

Practices such as increasing crop production, introducing carbon sequestration and providing for effective land-use management can mitigate agriculture’s impact on climate change.

On the other hand, climate change has been affecting harvests because the frequent and extreme changes in the weather have ravaged farms and crops.

Thus, our country, which is still largely agricultural (over a third of our work force is engaged in agriculture and agriculture-related activities), is particularly vulnerable to the dynamics between agriculture and climate change.

Such huge decline in harvest will ultimately lead to food-price increases like what we experienced last year.

"Filipino farmers will definitely the ones will be hit by these changes, hence the government must empower our farmers."

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Philippines loses billions to climate change

 

 

            Climate change impacts have been manifested in the Philippines by extreme weather occurrence such as floods, droughts, forest fires, and an increase in tropical cyclones. These extreme weather events associated with climate change, and the disasters these have wrought, have caused losses amounting to billions of pesos. From 1975 to 2002, tropical cyclones have resulted to losses of 4.578 billion pesos due to damage to property, including damage to agriculture worth 3.047 billion pesos. Drought in Southern Mindanao in 1998, the 2nd hottest year on record, incurred crop losses amounting to 828 million pesos. And damages due to four successive tropical cyclones towards the end of 2004 cost the nation an estimated 7,615.98 million pesos.

        ”The impacts of climate change will be most catastrophic to countries who are the least able to cope,” said Greenpeace Southeast Asia Climate and Energy campaigner Abigail Jabines. “The Philippines will lose billions of pesos to climate change. As it is, this is money that we can ill afford to spare.”

       "There are already a lot of losses, lets not wait for another day to do our small contribution to mitigate the effects of climate change here in the Philippines'

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Climate change impacts and the Philippines

The earth is definitely warming. Signals of a changing climate, including increasing trends in temperature, sea level rise and extreme climate events, are already evident in the Philippines. And as the warming continues, the effects will become more catastrophic.

With climate change will come water shortages and decreases in agricultural productivity and food security. Our health will be threatened by heat stress and increased chances of exposure to infectious diseases. Those living in low-lying coastal areas may become climate refugees as their homes are destroyed. And tourism, an important source of income for many, will decline.

"Every Filipino must be prepared for the on-going changes of our climate"

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