Environmental issues in the Philippines

Today, environmental problems in the Philippines include pollution, mining and logging, deforestation, threats to environmental activists, dynamite fishing, landslides, coastal erosion, biodiversity loss, extinction, global warming and climate change.[1][2][3] Due to the paucity of extant documents, a complete history of land use in the archipelago remains unwritten. However, relevant data shows destructive land use increased significantly in the eighteenth century when Spanish colonialism enhanced its extraction of the archipelago's resources for the early modern global market.[4] The Philippines is projected to be one of the most vulnerable countries to the impacts of climate change,[5] which would exacerbate weather extremes. As the Philippines lies on the Pacific Ring of Fire, it is prone to natural disasters, like earthquakes, typhoons, and volcanic eruptions.[6][7] In 2021, the Philippines ranked the fourth most affected country from "weather-related loss events", partly due to the close proximity of major infrastructure and residential areas to the coast and unreliable government support.[8][9][10] One of the most devastating typhoons to hit the archipelago was Typhoon Haiyan, known locally as Yolanda, in 2013 that killed 6,300 people and left 28,689 injured.[11] Congress passed the Clean Air Act of 1999, the Philippine Clean Water Act of 2004, the Climate Change Act of 2009 to address environmental issues. The country is also a signatory to the Paris Agreement. However, research has found that outside of cities, the general public doesn't feel equally informed.[12][8] Environmental activists and land defenders, consisting mostly of Indigenous communities who have been attempting to bring attention to the environmental issues in the country have been met with violence or murder. As a result, the Philippines has been ranked one of the most dangerous places in the world for environmental activists. It also has one of the highest percentages of climate change denialists in the world.[13][2]

  1. ^ Boquet, Yves (2017), Boquet, Yves (ed.), "Environmental Challenges in the Philippines", The Philippine Archipelago, Springer Geography, Cham: Springer International Publishing, pp. 779–829, doi:10.1007/978-3-319-51926-5_22, ISBN 978-3-319-51926-5, retrieved March 21, 2022
  2. ^ a b Holden, William N. (January 2, 2019). "Endogenous exacerbation of an exogenous problem: climate change, environmental degradation, and unsustainable development practices in the Philippines". Asian Geographer. 36 (1): 1–27. doi:10.1080/10225706.2018.1483831. ISSN 1022-5706. S2CID 158354398.
  3. ^ Boomgaard, P. (2007). Southeast Asia : an environmental history. Santa Barbara, Calif.: ABC-CLIO. ISBN 978-1-85109-424-0. OCLC 80145978.
  4. ^ Uitamo, Elina (1996), Palo, Matti; Mery, Gerardo (eds.), "Land Use History of the Philippines", Sustainable Forestry Challenges for Developing Countries, Environmental Science and Technology Library, vol. 10, Dordrecht: Springer Netherlands, pp. 141–156, doi:10.1007/978-94-009-1588-6_8, ISBN 978-94-009-1588-6, retrieved March 21, 2022
  5. ^ "Figure 1. The economy has been volatile but also resilient to shocks". doi:10.1787/888933338536. Retrieved March 23, 2022. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  6. ^ Boquet, Yves (2017), "Environmental Challenges in the Philippines", The Philippine Archipelago, Springer Geography, Cham: Springer International Publishing, pp. 779–829, doi:10.1007/978-3-319-51926-5_22, ISBN 978-3-319-51925-8, retrieved March 23, 2022
  7. ^ Bankoff, Greg (2003). Cultures of disaster : society and natural hazards in the Philippines. London: RoutledgeCurzon. ISBN 0-203-22189-3. OCLC 53173775.
  8. ^ a b Bollettino, Vincenzo; Alcayna-Stevens, Tilly; Sharma, Manasi; Dy, Philip; Pham, Phuong; Vinck, Patrick (January 1, 2020). "Public perception of climate change and disaster preparedness: Evidence from the Philippines". Climate Risk Management. 30: 100250. Bibcode:2020CliRM..3000250B. doi:10.1016/j.crm.2020.100250. ISSN 2212-0963. S2CID 226346685.
  9. ^ Eckstein, David (2021). Global Climate Risk Index 2021 Who Suffers Most Extreme Weather Events? Weather-Related Loss Events in 2019 and 2000-2019. Vera Künzel, Laura Schäfer, Germanwatch Körperschaft. Bonn. ISBN 978-3-943704-84-6. OCLC 1237111120.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  10. ^ Holden, William (February 24, 2022). "Climate change, neoauthoritarianism, necropolitics, and state failure: the Duterte regime in the Philippines". Asian Geographer. 40 (2): 145–167. doi:10.1080/10225706.2022.2029506. ISSN 1022-5706. S2CID 247123595.
  11. ^ Lagmay, Alfredo Mahar Francisco; Agaton, Rojelee P.; Bahala, Mark Allen C.; Briones, Jo Brianne Louise T.; Cabacaba, Krichi May C.; Caro, Carl Vincent C.; Dasallas, Lea L.; Gonzalo, Lia Anne L.; Ladiero, Christine N.; Lapidez, John Phillip; Mungcal, Maria Theresa Francia (March 1, 2015). "Devastating storm surges of Typhoon Haiyan". International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction. 11: 1–12. Bibcode:2015IJDRR..11....1L. doi:10.1016/j.ijdrr.2014.10.006. ISSN 2212-4209.
  12. ^ La Viña, Antonio GM; Tan, Joyce Melcar; Guanzon, Teresa Ira Maris; Caleda, Mary Jean; Ang, Lawrence (January 1, 2018). "Navigating a trilemma: Energy security, equity, and sustainability in the Philippines' low-carbon transition". Energy Research & Social Science. Energy and the Future. 35: 37–47. doi:10.1016/j.erss.2017.10.039. ISSN 2214-6296.
  13. ^ Bille Larsen, Peter; Le Billon, Philippe; Menton, Mary; Aylwin, José; Balsiger, Jörg; Boyd, David; Forst, Michel; Lambrick, Fran; Santos, Claudelice; Storey, Hannah; Wilding, Susan (December 1, 2020). "Understanding and responding to the environmental human rights defenders crisis: The case for conservation action". Conservation Letters. 14 (3). doi:10.1111/conl.12777. ISSN 1755-263X. S2CID 229390470.