Philippine Environment and Climate Change: An Assessment of Policies and their Impacts

The Philippines has been considered as highly vulnerable to current, as well as future, risks associated with climate change. Every year, the Philippines experiences eight to nine tropical cyclones making a landfall, mild earthquakes, recurring landslides and flooding. The country is also periodically affected by the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) that induces prolonged wet and dry seasons, adversely affecting the local economy.

Climate change is thus expected to exacerbate existing stresses in the country, particularly the more vulnerable natural ecosystems and local communities. Sad to say however, climate change is yet to be mainstreamed into the Philippine development policy arena having reviewed 195 presidential decrees, republic acts, executive orders, government agency administrative orders and memoranda, LGU ordinances and proclamations. Unfortunately, very few of these laws addresses even in the slightest the growing concersn brought about by the increasing trend of climate change, climate variability and risks.