only if infrastructures and logistics are available. Another interesting argument in the literature is that people have already demonstrated their ability to deal with a certain amount of climate variability, but in combination with more stressors this ability could be overextended.43 Some further argue for using this indigenous knowledge for future adaptation strategies. • The impacts related to the ocean (e.g. sea level rise, typhoons, floods, ocean acidification etc.) are of particular interest to the Philippines, as it is the country with the longest coastline in the world. The past and future developments in these issues have been addressed, but their influence on certain sectors will depend on more than just the pure exposure to the impacts. Most literature is pointing out that the impacts of climate change often are strongly interrelated with human activities and lead to a worsening of the particular problematic (e.g. human induced subsidence by groundwater extraction).44 The example of the coral reefs is illuminating. De’ath et al. (2012) show that the corals are obviously able to cope with certain pressure of climatic changes, but only if additional pressure by human activities is omitted. 45 • Independent of the future changes in cyclone activity, we must assume growth in the amount of damages as more and more people, assets, and economic power are situated in exposed areas. Only adequate infrastructure and adaptation measures can lower their vulnerability.46 In particular, the fast growing urban settlements must tackle these problems. Climate related issues (e.g. UHI, SLR, floods…) can only be solved by meeting the challenges of the non-climatic stressors (e.g. high urbanization rate, migration, informal settlements, lack of important basic living standards…). Nonetheless, adaptation activities in some areas could relieve the burden of climate change. For instance, providing access to clean water and adequate sanitation (both under risk by storm activity and saltwater intrusion) strengthens people’s coping capacity, especially with regard to infectious diseases. The literature has looked into relations between occurrence rate of infectious diseases and climatic conditions. Some                                                                                                                 43 R.U. Fuentes & R. Concepcion, Implementation of Initiatives for Addressing Climate Change and Land Degradation: A Look at the Philippine Context in M.V.K. Sivakumar % N. Ndiang’ui (Eds.), Climate and Land Degradation (2007) at 447; 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. 44 K.S. Rodolfo & F.P. Siringan, Global Sea-Level Rise is Recognised, but Flooding from Anthropogenic Land Subsidence is Ignored around Northern Manila Bay, Philippines, 30(1) DISASTERS 118 (2006). 45 G. De’ath & F.E. Katharina & H. Sweatman & M. Puotinen, The 27-year Decline of Coral Cover on the Greater Barrier Reef and its Causes, 109(4) PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 17995 (2012). 46 D. Dodman, Urban Density and Climate Change, 1 ANALYTICAL REVIEW OF THE INTERACTION BETWEEN URBAN GROWTH TRENDS AND ENVIRONMENT AL CHANGES 1 (2009).