ANNEX F: Past Research on Vulnerabilities and an Overview of Existing Literature on
Climate Change Impacts in the Philippines
Our country is a leader in combating climate change. At the same time, our nation is
one of those that has so far felt the harms of climate change most acutely and is at most risk.
Despite increasing government investment in reducing climate change risks and managing
disasters, the disastrous impacts of climate change are clearly beyond the capacity and
resources of the people and our government to adapt to and address. The effects of climate
change on workers, the poor, and other vulnerable people are exacerbating societal
inequalities and threatening the full enjoyment of both human rights and the constitutional
guarantees of health and a balanced and healthful ecology.
Situated in the so called “typhoon belt”, the Philippines is exposed to multiple hydrometeorological hazards, e.g. tropical cyclones, flooding, and even droughts. On average, the
country is hit by 20 typhoons every year, just under half of which make landfall. 1 In
particular, the eastern coast of the country is highly exposed to typhoons with wind speeds of
200 kilometers per hour. In many risk and vulnerability assessments the Philippines ranks
among the most affected countries in terms of climate change impacts and extreme weather
events.2 Other studies further argue that the Philippines is one of the most disaster-prone
countries in the world.3 Researchers conducted a vulnerability mapping of 530 subnational
areas in Southeast Asia. By overlaying maps for exposure to hazards, sensitivity, and adaptive
capacity, they created a map of the vulnerability of Southeast Asia, with the Philippines
exhibiting the highest levels of vulnerability (Figure 1).
1
Asian Development Bank, The Economics of Climate Change in Southeast Asia: A Regional Review (2009) at
28.
2
N. Brooks & W.N. Adger, Country Level Risk Measures of Climate-Related Natural Disasters and
Implications for Adaptation to Climate Change, 2003 TYNDALL CENTRE WORKING PAPERS. Available at
http://www.tyndall.ac.uk/sites/default/files/wp26.pdf (last accessed June 17, 2015); J. Birkmann & D. Krause &
N.J. Setiadi & W.T. Dora-Catalina & J. Wolfertz & R. Dickerhof & P. Mucke & K. Radtke, World Risk Report
2011, 2011 UNU-EHS REPORTS; S. Kreft & D. Eckstein & L. Junghans & C. Kerestan & U. Hagen, Global
Climate Risk Index 2015: Who Suffers Most fom Extreme Weather Events? Weather-related Loss Events in 2013
and 1994 to 2013, 2014 GERMANWATCH.
3
E. Porio, Vulnerability, Adaptation, and Resilience to Floods and Climate Change-Related Risks among
Marginal, Riverine Communities in Metro Manila, 39(4) ASIAN JOURNAL OF SOCIAL SCIENCE 425 (2011);
Y. GP Jr. & N.A. Cruz & N.t. Servando & C.B. Dimalanta, Extreme Weather Events and Related Disasters in
the Philippines, 2004-08: A Sign of What climate Change Will Mean?, 35(2) DISASTERS 362 (2011).