A new report released by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) is very alarming for Davao City and its neighboring areas. It may not happen in our time now but the next generation suffers from its consequences.
According to the WMO, there is a 50:50 chance of average global temperature reaching 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels in the next five years, “and the likelihood is increasing with time.”
The Global Annual to Decadal Climate Update stated that a 93% likelihood of at least one year between 2022 to 2026 becoming the warmest on record, thus knocking 2016 from the top spot. “The chance of the five-year average for this period being higher than the last five years (2017-2021) is also 93%,” the report added.
“The 1.5°C figure is not some random statistic,” said Petteri Taalas, the WMO Secretary-General, but “rather an indicator of the point at which climate impacts will become increasingly harmful for people and indeed the entire planet.”
Taalas warned that “as long as countries continue to emit greenhouse gases, temperatures will continue to rise.”
He added: “And alongside that, our oceans will continue to become warmer and more acidic, sea ice and glaciers will continue to melt, sea level will continue to rise and our weather will become more extreme.”
Sea level rise and typhoons – these are the two consequences that are being felt now in Davao City. These used to be unheard of in Davao region but it could not be denied that both are now being experienced every now and then.
“My calculation is that (the sea level) has risen by one foot over a period of 20 years,” said Atty. Jesus. G. Dureza, former press secretary who owns a beach resort in Punta Dumalag. “Hence, rain waters and floods no longer easily flow or empty out into the sea.”
“On average, sea levels around the world rise 3.1 centimeters every ten years,” the Canada-based International Development Research Center pointed out. In comparison, water levels in the Philippines “are projected to rise between 7.6 and 10.2 centimeters each decade.”
In the near future, about 170,000 hectares of coastlands in 171 municipalities are expected to go underwater, particularly those low-rise island communities facing the Pacific Ocean. The cities of Davao, Mati, Panabo and Tagum and municipalities of Cateel, Malita, Santa Cruz and others are most vulnerable.
Perhaps, one of the super typhoons that hit Davao region in the 1970s was named Titang (international name: Kate). “Just before making landfall roughly 45 kilometers south of Davao City, Kate attained its peak winds of 240 kilometers per hour,” Wikipedia reported.
Then, there was typhoon Pablo (Bopha). “(It) was the strongest tropical cyclone on record to ever affect the southern Philippine island of Mindanao, making landfall as a Category 5 super typhoon with winds of 280 kilometers per hour.”
My question is: is Davao region in general and Davao City in particular ready for the effects of climate change? I know that local government units are doing their best to protect their constituents and their areas but are these enough?
There is no turning back when it comes to climate change. It is for real. During the 11th International Coral Reef Symposium which I attended in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Dr. Simon Donner of the University of British Columbia embarked on a metaphor for climate change.
“The climate is like this big ship,” Dr. Donner told the participants. “We are all on this big ship and the problem is once you hit the brakes it takes a long time for the ship to actually slow down and stop.
“In our case, the ship is the Titanic and we are going to hit the iceberg,” he continued. “It is going to be almost impossible for us not to hit the iceberg at this point. What we need to do is everything we can to put the brakes on, to slow the ship down and move the iceberg a little bit. The time for emission reductions isn’t as much now as it was 20 years ago.”
Our planet has been warming since prehistoric times, but man’s tampering with the environment has made the temperature change faster. “Changes to the earth’s temperature are global and – for all practical purposes – irreversible not only in our lifetime but in our children’s and grandchildren’s as well,” said Dr. Christopher Flavin, author of Slowing Global Warming: A Worldwide Strategy.
It’s not only the Davao region that needs to be prepared but the whole country. “The Philippines is the third most vulnerable country to weather-related extreme events, earthquakes and sea level rise,” said the executive report from the World Bank’s Getting a Grip on Climate Change in the Philippines.
“The country’s exposure to extreme weather conditions adversely affects people’s lives, especially those in high-risk urban and coastal areas,” the bank report stated further.
There’s more: “Food security is threatened as land and nursery areas for plants, trees, and fisheries are affected by climate change,” World Bank said. “The livelihoods of poor communities that rely on natural resources are hampered and their lives and properties are further put at risk.”
With absence of land barriers, the Philippines is exposed directly to multiple climate-related hazards such as typhoons (in the northern and eastern parts), floods (in central Luzon and southern Mindanao), landslides (based in terrain), and droughts, making the Philippines more vulnerable to climate risks than other countries in Southeast Asia.
Here’s a startling fact: “By the end of this century, tropical cyclones are expected to intensify, with a projected increase in average instantaneous maximum wind velocity at the Philippine coast,” the World Bank cautioned.
