Climate change as manifested in the Philippines come in many forms, from the increasing occurrences of extreme weather disturbances, changes in the characters of these events such as the recent phenomenon of rapidly intensifying typhoons, and other such non-analog incidents. The physical uniqueness of the Philippine archipelago makes mainstream global approaches to climate change adaptation inadequate, at the very least. Small island ecosystems, such as what typifies the country, have many challenges that are not encapsulated in frameworks that are popularly used in climate change adaptation discussions and planning. Climate change impacts on food production, availability, and ironically, in the bigger picture: food and nutrition insecurity for the greater part of this agricultural nation’s population. Unfortunately, people living in poverty who are also the most vulnerable are hit the hardest. This further exacerbates pre-existing inequalities and injustices.
Through all of these, the government relies heavily on the notion that Filipinos by nature are resilient and ignores its accountability to human-made disasters. As much as the word resilience exudes a sense of positivity and has been a source of Filipino pride, the word also means that there are persistent problems that the nation fails to address. Given the limited financial resources of the government, prioritizing food and nutrition sufficiency, access to consistent power supply, and good governance focused on clear and actionable plans must be at the top of the list. Only when every Filipino’s resilience is equally supported by sustainable development will the country’s vulnerabilities to shocks lessen.
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