AUGUST 20, 2021
Filipino climate scientists warn: weather extremes in the Philippines to worsen with further warming
A higher global temperature will bring about more frequent and more intense weather extremes in many regions of the world, including the Philippines.
This is the warning of Manila Observatory (MO) scientists Dr. Faye Cruz and Dr. Laurice Jamero, who, together with the late Dr. Gemma Narisma, are Filipino co-authors of the latest climate report released by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
According to the report, global temperature rise will cross 1.5℃ within the next 20 years and that human activity is the main cause of climate change, making extreme climate events, including heat waves, heavy rainfall and droughts, more frequent and severe.
The increase in global temperature will badly hit the Philippines, which is the fourth most at-risk country based on the Global Climate Risk Index 2000-2019.
In the Philippines and the rest of Southeast Asia, mean air temperatures, extreme heat, heavy precipitation, floods and sea levels are projected to increase with further global warming. In particular, most of the Philippines is projected to experience a drier climate but in some areas more extreme rainfall events are expected to occur.
“The report emphasizes that limiting warming requires reductions in greenhouse gas emissions as early as now, but these efforts need to be sustained over decades,” said Dr. Cruz.
The 195-member IPCC is a United Nations body that provides governments with scientific information to help them formulate climate policies.
Also present in the media briefing are MO Executive Director and climate scientist Fr. Jose Ramon Villarin SJ, MO Senior Research Fellow and Member of the National Panel of Technical Experts of the Climate Change Commission Dr. Rosa Perez, and Dean Antonio La Viña, Director of MO’s Energy Collaboratory and former lead negotiator for the Philippines in climate change negotiations. END