Memorandum for the Petitioners |101
8.85. In the Philippines, as shown, the agricultural
affected by climate change.
The increasing frequency
extreme weather events, such as tropical cyclones, are
detrimental effect on food security, with these impacts
worsen over time— some models predict that there will
sector is strongly
and intensity of
already having a
only expected to
be a 4% (or an
estimated 70,000 additional children) increase in malnourished children
in the Philippines by 2050 due to climate change.*
8.86. Crop yields in the Philippines have declined whenever
temperatures have exceeded certain threshold values, which have been and
will be increasingly exceeded because of climate change.*** The effect of
rising temperatures and decreased rainfall on crop production could be
devastating.
Rice yield could
be reduced
by 22%
in a 2°C scenario
according to one study,*>> while another study concludes that climate
change may reduce rice yield in the Philippines by up to 75% in 2100 as
compared with 1990 levels.® Undersecretary Serrano quantified the losses
in this way —
Your
. Just to provide you also information on losses,
Honors,
when
I
started
at
the
Department
of
Agriculture way back in the 1990s, which was the last decade
of the last century, if we... if we lost thirty thousand (30,000)
metric tons of palay [rice grains] to an extreme event like a
typhoon, it's already big news and it's a big deal and triggers
speculation “Siguro kailangan mag-import na tayo.” [There
is a need to import rice.]. Do you know how much we're
losing recently, Your Honors?
We’re losing anywhere
from three hundred (300) to six hundred thousand
(600,000) metric tons of palay (rice grains). If at just fifty
percent (50%) milling rate, which is very low, just to
simplify the calculation, we’re losing anywhere from one
hundred fifty (150) to three hundred thousand (300,000)
metric tons of milled rice due to extreme events. That is
about how much we import on a regular basis, Your Honors.
XXX
... On corn or maize, that’s a one point seven
percent (1.7%) percent reduction in yield for each day
above
thirty
degrees
Centigrade
under
drought
conditions. That is pretty much substantial. . . .
For livestock, although livestock production in this
country is a little bit more controlled because nakakulong
iyan at saka ano [they were caged and...], but the feed
“® Lofts, K., supra note 375, p. 6, citing Ortega, J. and Klauth, C. (2017), Climate Landscape Analysis for
Children in the Philippines (Makati City: UNICEF Philippines).
454 Joint Summary of the Amicus Curiae, supra note 50, p. 25.
“5 Joint Summary of the Amicus Curiae, supra note 50, p. 25, citing Escafio, C.R. and Buendia, L.V.
(1994), Climate Impact Assessment for Agriculture in the Philippines: Simulation of Rice Yield Under
Climate Change Scenarios.
“SJoint Summary of the Amicus Curiae, supra note 50, p. 25, citing Asian Development Bank (2009), The
Economics of Climate Change in Southeast Asia: A Regional Review.
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