Gov’t not surprised with Philippines’ high ranking in climate risk index

January 28 ------ Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque on Wednesday said Malacañang was not surprised that the Philippines was ranked fourth in the list of countries most affected by extreme weather across the globe. “The Philippines has long been identified as one of the countries most vulnerable to climate hazards, such as typhoons, floodings, landslides, and droughts,” Roque said in a statement.

“We are therefore not surprised that we are number 4 in terms of long-term climate risk index from a study done from 1999 to 2018,” he added. Research Group Germanwatch's Global Climate Risk Index Report for 2021 showed that the Philippines ranked fourth in the list of countries most affected by extreme weather from 1999 to 2018. The report said that the worst-hit countries can be classified into two groups: those that were most affected due to "exceptional catastrophes" and those that are affected by extreme events "on an ongoing basis."

The Philippines falls in the latter category, "continuously rank[ing] among the most affected countries both in the long-term index and in the index for each respective year." Furthermore, the Philippines is also among the countries "still in the process of recovering from the previous year's impacts." Roque said this was the reason why President Rodrigo Duterte signed the Paris Agreement on Climate Change in March 2017.

“As the Chief Executive underscored, climate change is 'a global challenge that has worsened existing inequalities and vulnerabilities from within and between nations’,” Roque said. Roque said the government has formulated a Cabinet Cluster on Climate Change Adaptation, Mitigation and Disaster Risk Reduction (CCAM-DRR) Roadmap for 2018 to 2022 for areas such as Metro Manila, Cebu, Iloilo, and Davao.

“The government is taking all necessary steps to strengthen our capacities to mitigate and address the effects of climate change. For us to accomplish this task, we need the cooperation of all citizens,” he said. "Through our collective action, we can build adaptive and resilient communities across the archipelago. This would be our gift to the future generations of Filipinos," he added.

Source: gmanetwork.com