Climate Change posts great threat to agricultural production as well as the food security in the Philippines as well as in other countries in Southeast Asia and unless adaptation and mitigation measures are implemented in the region.
Philippine Climate Change Commissioner Naderev Saño said the Philippines and the rest of Southeast Asia will see a cut in agricultural production and food security if these countries were not able to address climate change properly.
“Inaction to adapt to and mitigate the impacts of climate change will threaten agricultural production in the ASEAN region, with most of Southeast Asia risking to lose up to 7 percent of its total gross domestic product [GDP] by the next century, which is more than twice the global average,” Saño said during the workshop organized by the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA).
The workshop was organized to build capacities toward inclusive and sustainable agricultural and rural development (ISARD) in Southeast Asia, which is the overriding theme of SEARCA’s tenth five-year plan from 2014 to 2019.
Saño warned that changes in local climate patterns, temperature, rainfall intensity, and daylight will shift production cycles and ultimately, modify food prices and source of livelihood for most in the region.
But he also pointed out that agriculture can also be a fundamental part of the solution to climate change.
In his speech, Saño said global estimates showed that for every 1 percent of GDP invested in climate change adaptation, 10 percent of the GDP will not incur losses due to climate change impacts.