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GE1801 Environmental Education State of Local and International Environment  The Philippine forests are amongst t...

GE1801 Environmental Education State of Local and International Environment  The Philippine forests are amongst the most diverse in the world and is also considered as one of the megadiverse countries (refers to any one of a group of nations that harbor the majority of Earth’s species and high numbers of endemic species) as well as global biodiversity hotspot as it has the world’s richest plant and animal species.  In global biodiversity, it ranks 2nd in fish, 5th in plants, trees, and mammals, and 8th in reptiles. While the rest of the whole world discovers one (1) species per taxa (family) per year, the Philippines discover five (5) to six (6) specie per taxa per year (Morales, 2014).  Philippines is richest in marine biodiversity and has the longest discontinuous coastline and one of the richest coral reefs in the world (Morales, 2014). It is also regarded as “Center of Marine Biodiversity” in the world, surpassing the Great Barrier Reef of Australia (Morales, 2014).  Rich in coral reefs with 488 out of 800 known species in the world are found in the Philippines (Morales, 2014).  Philippines has rich waters due to its geographic location. It has 421 rivers, 69+ natural lakes, 100+ hectares of freshwater swamps and four major groundwater reservoirs (Morales, 2014).  When it comes to agriculture, the country has vast land resources. The country has 14.2 million hectares of alienable and disposable land – 47% of the country’s total land area and 13 million hectares or 43% of the country’s total land area are classified as agricultural lands (Morales, 2014).  Philippines has rich mineral resources for national industrialization and is 5th mineralized country worldwide (Morales, 2014). Environmental Crisis in the Philippines  The Philippines forests are amongst the most diverse but is also amongst the most endangered. Forest cover was reduced from 70% in 1909 to only 18.3% in 1999. Ideal is 54%. Due to deforestation, more than 93% of original forests lost in past 500 years and is still shrinking at an average rate of 2% per year (Morales, 2014). And according to CIA World Factbook (2018), the forest cover in the Philippines is at 25.9%.  The Philippines is richest in marine biodiversity in the world but fish production is in crisis and fishing and breeding grounds are diminishing. There is a decline in fish caught and maximum sustainable yields, degraded coral reefs, decreasing mangrove areas and pollution. Also, 90% of fish stocks depleted in fifty (50) years and only four (4) percent of coral reefs are in good condition. There is also an open access policy, privatization of municipal fisheries and monopoly control of fishery resources (Morales, 2014).  The Philippines has rich water resources due to its geographic location, but is currently in the middle of a water crisis. Two out of five Filipinos (34%) do not get water from formal sources for domestic consumption. There is a low annual per capita availability of freshwater. Only 65% of households have portable water (Morales, 2014). The demand for surface water is higher than supply and drinking water is expensive and privatized. Widespread pollution is also a factor. Out of 421 rivers, 158 are unsafe for drinking. Fifty of those are biologically dead (Morales, 2014). This is mainly caused by waste dumping into the water.  When it comes to agriculture, the country has vast land resources but as years passed by, there is a shrinking in agricultural lands. In 1990, there are 8 million hectares. In the late 90s it was reduced by 5 million hectares. In this land conversion, 1 million farmers were displaced (Morales, 2014). Land degradation, soil erosion, crop conversion, recurrent droughts, pollution, landlessness, and backward agriculture contributed to destruction of the agricultural lands.  Philippines has rich mineral resources for national industrialization but policies are geared towards large- scale mining for export. The state of mining in the country is mainly extractive, export-oriented, dominated by local mining elite and dependent on foreign capital technologies.  The country also suffers from air pollution. In Manila alone, 98% of the population is affected by the pollution. Annually, the air pollution causes more than 4,000 deaths. (Morales, 2014)  Overpopulation also plays a significant role in environmental issues. It seeds into a lot of problems. With the need for new homes, development of new buildings, houses, and establishments are in order. After which, the demand for electricity, food, and other greenhouse gases also increases. Scarcity of food can be experienced due to the limited ability of animals to populate fast. Thus, dishonest people nowadays 02 Handout 3 *Property of STI  [email protected] Page 1 of 4  GE1801 resort to using chemicals and medications to boost and fake the growth of these animals. Overpopulation also means having more garbage to dispose.  The Philippines has long been particularly vulnerable to extreme weather. But in recent years, the nation has suffered from even more violent storms like Typhoon Haiyan. On average, about 20 tropical cyclones enter the Philippine waters each year, with eight (8) to nine (9) making landfall. And over the past decade, these tropical storms have struck the nation more often and more severely, scientists believe, because of climate change. State of International Environment Global warming is “global” for a reason. While there is sometimes a tendency to focus on the bigger issues, or the effects that hit close to home, this is multinational. Every sea is heating up and rising. Every region is struggling with sustainability and urbanization. 1. Southeast Asia – Species are disappearing on every continent. The region of Southeast Asia is no different. This biologically diverse, beautiful area is now struggling with issues of increased pollution, poor resource management, and species and habitat loss. Like many regions, Southeast Asia is currently experiencing increased urbanization. It is a natural response to a growing population in need of urban housing and a desire for modernized living. Areas with increased populations and urbanization run the risk of overcrowding, unsustainable living practices, and pollution. Increased emissions from transportation, congested infrastructure, energy consumption and light pollution are all concerns. At the same time, residents are consuming more food and goods, depleting resources. Then solution here relies on the attitudes of both local authorities and the individual citizens. The issue of increase air pollution is particularly troubling in Southeast Asia. As things stand, the region currently has some the worse cases of air pollution. The situation is not as bad as that in East Asia, where smog and traffic emissions plague major cities like Beijing. There is still a risk from increased traffic on these new road networks and increased burning of fuel. With increased deforestation comes concerns over the conservation of endangered species. There are animals and plants in the region threatened with extinction due to loss of habitat. Destruction of these areas can displace species and leave them with nowhere to go and nothing to eat. Replacing native tree with palms doesn’t help. Damage and coral loss has a devastating effect on the life that relies upon it. Rises in water temperature and acidity kill coral and other species. In addition to this, the areas are over-fished, further weakening the delicate ecosystem. Finally, there is the issue of water security. The world has now come to the point where we consume fresh water almost as fast as we replenish it. Many poorer regions have inadequate access to clean water at all. It is a problem that is apparent in Southeast Asia, where water sources are in serious trouble. Much of the fresh water that remains is heavily polluted. Water pollution ‘s hard to overcome, but small-scale local initiatives can help. As for the problem of the melting glaciers, it is hard to understand a solution if the rate of global warming doesn’t decrease. 2. Africa - Africa is expected to be one of the continents hardest hit by climate change, with an increase in severe droughts, floods, and storms expected to threaten the health of populations and economies alike. Part of that vulnerability is simply down to geography - already the hottest continent, Africa is expected to warm up to 1.5 times faster than the global average, according to the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) - the recognized global authority on climate science. The IPCC says it has "high confidence" that rising temperatures and unpredictable rains will make it harder for farmers to grow certain key crops like wheat, rice, and maize (corn). For example, it predicts that by 2050, yields for maize in Zimbabwe and South Africa could decrease by more than 30%. Also, one of the biggest threats facing the continent is also one of the hardest for scientists to definitively pin on climate change. Water scarcity is driven by so many other factors, such as population growth, rapid urbanization, and changes to the way land is being used, that it has not yet been possible to figure out exactly how climate change will add to the mix. 3. Europe - Europe’s Atlantic-facing countries will suffer heavier rainfalls, greater flood risk, more severe storm damage, and an increase in “multiple climatic hazards”, according to the most comprehensive study of Europe’s vulnerability to climate change yet. Temperatures in mountain ranges such as the Alps and the Pyrenees are predicted to soar to glacier-melting levels, while the Mediterranean faces a “drastic” increase in heat extremes, droughts, crop failure, and forest fires. Europe and the entire northern hemisphere are warming at a quicker pace than elsewhere, to the extent that tropical diseases such as West Nile fever are expected to spread across northern France by mid-century. Hans-Martin Füssel, one of the lead authors of the European Environment Agency report, said that scientific evidence was pointing increasingly to a speeding up in the pace of climate change. “We have more data confirming that sea-level rise is 02 Handout 3 *Property of STI  [email protected] Page 2 of 4  GE1801 accelerating,” he said. “It is not a linear trend, largely due to increased disintegration of ice sheets. There is also new evidence that heavy precipitation has increased in Europe. That is what is causing the floods. The [climate] projections are coming true.” 4. Antarctica - Marine life on the Antarctic seabed is likely to be far more affected by global warming than previously thought, say scientists who have conducted the most sophisticated study to date of heating impacts in the species-rich environment. Growth rates of some fauna doubled – including colonizing moss animals and undersea worms – following a 1C increase in temperature, making them more dominant, pushing out other species and reducing overall levels of biodiversity, according to the study published on Thursday in Current Biology. The researchers who conducted the nine-month experiment in the Bellingshuan Sea say this could have alarming implications for marine life across the globe as temperatures rise over the coming decades as a result of manmade greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Gail Ashton of the British Antarctic Survey and Smithsonian Environmental Research Center said she was not expecting such a significant difference. “The loss of biodiversity is very concerning. This is an indication of what may happen elsewhere with greater warning.” Until recently, most of the coverage of temperature rises has focused on the north pole, where the shrinking of arctic ice has been most visibly dramatic. But concerns are growing about the impact of global warming on the far bigger southern ice cap. Earlier this year, the United Nations weather agency announced that temperatures in the Antarctic recently hit a record high. An Argentine research base near the northern tip of the continent recorded a balmy 17.5C in March 2015, the World Meteorological Organization revealed. The vast continent contains 90% of the world’s fresh water, most of it locked in ice that is several kilometers thick. The effects of climate change are not uniform, but concerns grew in July when a trillion-ton block of the Larsen C ice shelf collapsed into the sea. 5. United States of America – Below are some impacts that are currently visible throughout the U.S. and will continue to affect these regions, according to the Third National Climate Assessment Report, released by the U.S Global Change Research Program (2017). Northeast - Heat waves, heavy downpours, and sea level rise pose growing challenges to many aspects of life in the Northeast. Infrastructure, agriculture, fisheries, and ecosystems will be increasingly compromised. Many states and cities are beginning to incorporate climate change into their planning. Northwest - Changes in the timing of streamflow reduce water supplies for competing demands. Sea level rise, erosion, inundation, risks to infrastructure, and increasing ocean acidity pose major threats. Increasing wildfire, insect outbreaks, and tree diseases are causing widespread tree die- off. Southeast - Sea level rise poses widespread and continuing threats to the region’s economy and environment. Extreme heat will affect health, energy, agriculture, and more. Decreased water availability will have economic and environmental impacts. Midwest - Extreme heat, heavy downpours and flooding will affect infrastructure, health, agriculture, forestry, transportation, air and water quality, and more. Climate change will also exacerbate a range of risks to the Great Lakes. Southwest - Increased heat, drought, and insect outbreaks, all linked to climate change, have increased wildfires. Declining water supplies, reduced agricultural yields, health impacts in cities due to heat, and flooding and erosion in coastal areas are additional concerns. 6. Australia - Military and climate experts, including a former chief of the defense force, have warned that Australia faces potential “disastrous consequences” from climate change, including “revolving” natural disasters and the forced migration of tens of millions of people across the region, overwhelming security forces and government. Former defense force chief Adm Chris Barrie, now adjunct professor at the strategic and defense studies center at the Australian National University, said in a submission to a Senate inquiry that Australia’s ability to mitigate and respond to the impacts of climate change had been corrupted by political timidity: “Australia’s climate change credentials have suffered from a serious lack of political leadership”. According to Barrie (n.d), [Australia] “will suffer great effects from these changes, such as new weather patterns; droughts, sea-level rises, and storm surges, because we have substantial urban infrastructure built on the coastal fringe; ravages of more intense and more frequent heatwaves and tropical revolving storms.” 02 Handout 3 *Property of STI  [email protected] Page 3 of 4  GE1801 REFERENCES: Butterworth, S. (2017). Plastic bags ban won’t fix Africa’s serious waste problem. Retrieved from https://www.environment.co.za/africa-sub-saharan-environmental-issues/plastic-bags-ban- wont-fix-waste-problem.html Clark, T. (2017). Some of the biggest environmental challenges faced by Southeast Asia. Retrieved from http://www.apfed.net/biggest-environmental-challenges-faced-southeast-asia/ Doherty, B. & Slezak, M. (2017, August 10). Australia faces potentially disastrous consequences of climate change, inquiry told. The Guardian. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/aug/11/australia-potentially-disastrous- consequences-of-climate-change-inquiry-told Facts. (n.d.). The consequences of climate change. Retrieved from https://climate.nasa.gov/effects/ Morales, F. (2014). Poverty and the Philippine environment. Retrieved from http://www.ceap.org.ph/upload/download/201410/711404634_1.pdf Neslen, A. (2017, January 25). Europe faces droughts, floods, and storms as climate change accelerates. The Guardian. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/jan/25/europe-faces-droughts-floods-storms- climate-change-accelerates The World Factbook. (2018). Philippines. Retrieved from https://www.cia.gov/library/Publications/the- world-factbook/geos/rp.html Watts, J. (2017). Global warming doubles growth rates of Antarctic seabed’s marine fauna – study. The Guardian. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/aug/31/global-warming-doubles-growth- rates-of-antarctic-seabeds-marine-fauna-study Williams, Hugo. (2015). COP 21: Five ways climate change could affect Africa. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-35054300 02 Handout 3 *Property of STI  [email protected] Page 4 of 4