be the strongest cyclone that made landfall in the Philippines, including the storm surge it induced.8 According to the World Bank,9 the EMDAT disaster database10 shows that in the years 2000 to 2008 weather-related disasters accounted for 98% of all people affected and 78% of all people killed due to disasters in the Philippines. This is substantiated by the IPCC 4th assessment report, which states, with very high confidence that climate change currently contributes to the global burden of diseases and premature deaths. Further, the report determines with high confidence that an increased number of people are suffering from death, disease, and injury due to heat waves, floods, storms, and droughts.11 In 2005, the researchers from the klima Climate Change Center of the Manila Observatory, Ateneo de Manila University and Xavier University looked specifically at the climate change impacts on Philippine coastal communities.12 Their findings are consistent with the observations of Petitioners from Alabat, Quezon, Verde Island Passage, and Batangas and include the following: • Climate change-induced sea-level rise leads to tidal variation, increasted water depths, water movement alterations, and increased seawater intrusion into estuaries and rivers, which in turn affect the balance and harmony of the ecosystem.13 • Some low lying small islands of the Philippines will suffer from erosion and salt water intrusion, with a rise of 1.0m expected to inundate more than 5000 ha of land in 19 municipalities of Manila, Bulacan, and Cavite, and a 2.0m rise aggravating riverine flooding in the densely populated tributaries of Manila Bay (particularly the Pampanga and Pasig rivers).14                                                                                                                 8 World Meteorlogical Organization, Press Release No. 981: Provisional Statement on Status of Climate in 2013: Continuing High Temperatures Globally and Many Climate Extremes Worldwide (November 13, 2013), http://www.wmo.int/pages/mediacentre/press_releases/pr_981_EN.html (last accessed June 18, 2015). 9 World Bank, supra note 5, at 5. 10 D. Guha-Sapir, R. Below, Ph. Hoyois - EM-DAT: International Disaster Database – www.emdat.be – Université Catholique de Louvain – Brussels – Belgium. 11 Confalonieri, U., B., Menne, R., Akhtar, K. L., Ebi, M., Hauengue, Kovats, R. S., … A.Woodward. (2007). Human Health. In Climate Change 2007: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability (pp. 391–431); IPCC. (2014a). Climate Change 2014: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability. Part A: Global and Sectoral Aspects. Contribution of Working Group II to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. (C. B. Field, V. R. Barros, D. J. Dokken, K. J. Mach, M. D. Mastrandrea, T. E. Bilir, … L. L. White, Eds.) (p. 1132). Cambridge, United Kingdom and New York, NY, USA: Cambridge University Press; IPCC. (2014b). Climate Change 2014: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability. Part B: Regional Aspects. Contribution of Working Group II to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. (V. R. Barros, C. B. Field, D. J. Dokken, M. D. Mastrandrea, K. J. Mach, T. E. Bilir, … L. L. White, Eds.) (p. 696). Cambridge, United Kingdom and New York, NY, USA: Cambridge University Press. 12 E. B. Capili, A. C. S. Ibay, & J.R.T Villarin, 2005. Climate Change Impacts and Adaptation on Philippine Coasts. Proceedings of the International Oceans 2005 Conference. 19-23 September 2005, Washington D.C., USA. Pp. 1-8. Available at http://info.worldbank.org/etools/docs/library/230308/Session%202/Session%202%20Reading%201.pdf 13 Id. at 3. 14 Id. at 2-5.