Climate change, described by climatologists and weather experts as today’s defining crisis, appears on a rampage worldwide and happening at breakneck speed.
The Philippines itself, which dangerously lies on the path of cyclones from the vast Pacific, has had 16 typhoons this year, with the back-to-back weather disturbances lashing the main island of Luzon in just three weeks last month with at least 160 people killed.
This has raised concern, given that no corner of the globe is immune from the devastating results of climate change, which became a major issue in the 1980s.
But we take comfort in the words of UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who underlined in September “the climate emergency is a race we are losing, but it is a race we can win.”
We look at statistics and see that rising temperatures are causing destruction of the environment, natural disasters, weather extremes, food and water insecurity, economic disruption, conflict and terrorism.
Experts have pointed to rising sea levels, melting of the Arctic, death of coral reefs, acidifying of oceans as well as burning of forests.
They have called for bold collective action as they look at the bulletin boards with bold warnings business as usual is not good enough, apart from changing water availability and making it scarcer in more regions.
Rising sea levels, higher temperatures, and increased frequency of typhoons and extreme weather events have caused and can cause floods, landslides, and erosion that pollute water resources, damage infrastructure, destroy crops, and lead to loss of lives and livelihoods.
In the Philippines alone, recent typhoons affected nine million people and caused extensive damage to residential communities, infrastructure and farmlands which opens this country of 117 million people to the possibility of importing more rice, the population’s staple food.
Global warming exacerbates water shortages in already water-stressed regions and is leading to an increased risk of agricultural droughts affecting crops, and ecological droughts increasing the vulnerability of ecosystems.
At the same time, sea levels in the Philippines are rising at about twice the global average.
And when especially strong storms like Typhoon Haiyan make landfall, this higher sea level contributes to storm surge that can rise upwards of 15-20 feet, displacing thousands or even millions of citizens in coastal communities.
Higher temperatures can cause increased mortality, reduced productivity and damage to infrastructure. The most vulnerable members of the population, like the elderly and infants, will be most severely affected.