harbingers of far more dangerous, irreversible, and uncontrollable changes to come, as climate and biological systems pass critical tipping points.151 As just one example, both the paleoclimate record, and observed nonlinear ice mass losses from Greenland, West Antarctica, and parts of East Antarctica indicates that current levels of warming are sufficient to produce nonlinear major ice sheet disintegration and sea level rise.152 Consequently, “if GHG emissions continue to grow… [a] multi-meter sea level rise would become practically unavoidable, probably within 50-150 years.” 153 II. Climate Change Impacts Specific to the Philippines (Sabin Center, Plan B) A number of reputable studies have also assessed the projected impact of climate change on the Philippines specifically. The findings of these studies are as follows: Temperature Increase: The Philippines Atmospheric, Geophysical, and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) found that, between 1951 and 2010, the Philippines experienced a 0.65°C increase in average temperature and a 1.0°C increase in maximum temperature.154 The Philippines also saw a significant increase in the number of hot days and a decrease in the number of cool nights from 1951 through 2010. 155 PAGASA predicts that annual mean temperatures in the Philippines are expected to rise by 0.9–1.1°C by 2020 and by 1.8– 2.2°C by 2050, relative to a 1971-2000 baseline. 156 In 2016, the Philippines experienced a heat wave during which the heat index reached a dangerous 51°C (surpassing the previous record of 49.4°C, also set in 2016).157 Precipitation and Water Resources: In the Philippines, there has been an observed increase in the number of heavy rainfall days as well as in the number of “no rain” days, which has likely contributed to severe floods and landslides as well as droughts. 158 In the future, most areas in the Philippines will likely experience a reduction in rainfall during the summer season, GLOBAL CLIMATE 2015] ; see also Our Children’s Trust brief, Exhibit A (Hansen Declaration); Our Children’s Trust brief, Exhibit B; Anthony J. McMichael, Globalization, Climate Change, and Human Health. 368 N. ENGL. J. MED. 1335, 1340 (2013) [hereinafter Climate Change and Human Health]; see also Mark C. Urban, Accelerating Extinction Risk from Climate Change, 348 SCI. 571, 572 (2015) [hereinafter Accelerating Extinction]. 151 Our Children’s Trust brief, Exhibit A (Hansen Declaration), at ¶¶ 17, 69; see also Assessing “Dangerous Climate Change,” supra note 149, at 15. 152 Our Children’s Trust brief, Exhibit A (Hansen Declaration), at ¶¶ 35-38. 153 James Hansen et al., Ice Melt, Sea Level Rise and Superstorms; Evidence from Paleoclimate Data, Climate Modelling, and Modern Observations that 2ºC Global Warming Could be Dangerous. 16 ATMOS. CHEM. PHYS., 3761, 3799 (2015); Our Children’s Trust brief, Exhibit A (Hansen Declaration), at ¶ 42. 154 PAGASA, supra note 78, at 16. 155 Id. at 20. 156 Id. at 25. 157 Dona Z. Passbugan, Heat Index Soars to Record 51°C, Philippines Daily Inquirer (Apr. 13, 2016), http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/779281/heat-index-soars-to-record-51c. 158 F.T. Cruz et al., A Climatological Analysis of the Southwest Monsoon Rainfall in the Philippines, 122 ATMOSPHERIC RES. 609 (2013); Warren, supra note 79; Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Climate Change 2007: Observed Changes in Extreme Climatic Events, https://www.ipcc.ch/publications_and_data/ar4/wg2/en/ch10s10-2-3.html (noting that increased occurrence of extreme rains likely caused landslides and floods in 1990 and 2004 in the Philippines, as well as droughts in 199798 which caused massive crop failures and water shortages and forest fires in various parts of the Philippines). 35