Environment of The Philippines - Asian Development Bank Climate Change Project

Asian Development Bank Climate Change Project

One of the entities that came in aid was ADB (Asian Development Bank) in 1991. Working in line with Philippine Agenda 21 (PA 21) to ensure sustainable development, the Asian Development Bank conducted several vulnerability studies on the country before generating a series of assessment on the country's vulnerable sectors and areas to climate change. The specific sectors and areas include the country's agricultural activities, water resources as well as activities going on in the coastal areas.

With the ADB Climate Change Project in 1991, transition towards a low-carbon growth path the markets for low-carbon, high-efficiency goods and services started to expand, increasing the investing opportunities for farsighted policy makers as well as businesses to reap the benefits. These benefits will come about through innovation and investments. The project itself generated even higher understanding of climate change in the region and generally helped Philippines strengthen its case for strong action globally in light of having sustainable development.

2011

Even now in 2011, climate changes still threatens the Pacific greatly. In the recent ADB report on Solomon Times Online dated 15 September 2011 released from Manila, Philippines, climate change was reported to threaten to increase hunger in the pacific.

In the report, it stated that the Pacific region is either vulnerable or already experiencing the harsh effects of climate change, including worsening coastal erosion, floods, drough, and the storm surges. Economically, these conditions are affecting many of the commercial and subsistence farmers with their crop production according to Food Security and Climate Change in the Pacific: Rethinking the Options.

Development challenge

Agricultural productivity has stagnated in the last 45 years despite the region's growing population. Agglomentation also contributed to that, seeing people from the countryside seeking better work in the cities. Thus, with the aid of forecasts and climate change reports, many different efforts and initiatives can be adopted to work towards sustaining the country's development. One such effort may be to increase investment in agricultural research and development to raise productivity and resource management. Communities then has to cooperate and find the optimal way to adapt to changing agricultural needs and countries can work with each other and with regional agencies to tackle the development challenge brought forth by climate change.

The report says all national planning and policies should take climate change into consideration and infrastructure such as ports, roads, water pipes and coastal development needs to be climate proofed. Not only will all these increase regional production, connectivity and ultimately, food security. Thus, the awareness and specific data The Climate Change Project carried out by Asian Development Bank will help the respective institutions to understand the extent of the damages that can be dealt by the climate changes in the region.