THE islands of Maldives and the Philippines are both threatened by rising waters due to global warming, specifically caused by heavy and excessive carbon emission from rich and industrialized countries, Sen. Loren Legarda said.
The Republic of Maldives is an island country in the Indian Ocean formed by a double chain of 26 atolls spreading over roughly 90,000 square kilometers, making it one of the most disparate countries in the world.
With features similar to our archipelago, it has 1,192 islets, of which 200 are inhabited. It is the smallest Asian country in both population and area and is described as “the lowest country on the planet” with an average ground level of 1.5 meters.
Constantly threatened by rising sea level, our country stands on the possibility of getting obliterated from the world map too; if for example, a one-meter rise in sea level will happen.
The 1,192 islands in Madives would be almost gone at this deep while in our country; the same rise in sea level can affect 28 coastal settlements around the archipelago, Legarda said.
And while the senator laments that both Maldives and the Philippines may have contributed less to the problem of climate change, people living in the scattered islands of the two countries are on the brink of getting exterminated as the threats of climate change become more and more visible in its borders.
Meteorologists and weather experts have said that the current sea level rise is due partly to human-induced global warming, to mention also the glacial flows from North America.
Global warming is the result of the buildup of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, like carbon dioxide, methane, chlorofluorocarbons and nitrous oxide.
Carbon dioxide, a by-product of the burning of fossil fuels, such as gasoline in an automobile or coal in power plants that generate electricity is slowly enveloping our skies. So too with atmospheric methane, a powerful greenhouse gas derived from sources such as rice paddies, bovine flatulence, bacteria in bogs and fossil fuel production.
Remember that a carbon dioxide’s lifetime in the atmosphere can range from 50-200 years. This kind of gas prevent the reflection of solar radiation back out into space. Once it is there in the atmosphere, there is very little we can do to reduce it.
Experts have claimed that temperature increase of several degrees wouldn't be experienced consistently but there’s evidence that this is felt by particular regions more profoundly than others. Some might suffer changes in the amount of rainfall received. Again, this rise in temperatures could cause sea level increase of 20 or more inches, which in effect will destroy coastal wetlands and flood coastal areas.
It’s not difficult to sense the effects of global warming. It is still July here yet unabated rainfall has started to flood our agricultural lands, damage homes and infrastructures. The abnormal weather is new to a tropical country like ours because we should be expecting downpours by August but the current situation shows otherwise.
In the universal scale, we have the Kyoto Protocol, an international treaty which agreement requires the United States, the European Union and Japan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by the year 2010. We don’t know if this agreement has been complied with by the concerned countries.
A study made by the World Health Organization (WHO) determined that 154,000 people die every year from the effects of global warming, from malaria to malnutrition, with children in developing nations seemingly the most vulnerable.
WHO estimates the said numbers could almost double by 2020, further suggesting that even a small shift in temperature, for instance, could extend the range of mosquitoes that spread malaria.
Dr. Thomas Karl, director of the National Climatic Data Center, says that global warming has produced an increase in precipitation during the 20th century, mostly in the form of heavy rainstorms and little in moderate, beneficial rainstorms.
Meanwhile, Britain's Meteorological Office has warned in its report issued in November, 1999 that flooding in Asia and Southeast Asia would increase more than nine-fold over the coming decades.
An October 2007 report by the Philippine Daily Inquirer stated that the country’s corals are under threat from bleaching and illegal fishing and ocean “acidification,” which is caused by excessive carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, is slowly dissolving in the oceans, reducing the ability of the coral reefs to deposit calcium carbonate or calcify.
With the ocean becoming more acidic, corals would stop growing and eventually disintegrate and this would affect other sea shells and mollusks.
Another PDI report dated June 25, 2009 notes the briskly changing weather pattern all over the countryside, which is hurting the fishing industry. The fishing season has become shorter as heavy rains and strong waves now begin as early as late March or early April.
Global warming is a global concern. Calamities of sort occur frequently in our archipelago due to climate change that was also rooted from the people's lack of concern to the environment and even by abuses.
So what can developing countries do? How can we Filipinos take part in reducing the effects of global warming? With the 2010 election a few months from now, we should know how prepared the government is in responding to the effects of global warming as well as to its impact on the population.
We should demand from our candidates their convincing action in fighting climate change since it is their responsibility as our representatives in public office to protect our children and future generations from damage to the environment they will inherit. In short, let us vote only for those who care about our planet.
Even in the local scene, we can step up efforts to lessen the impact of climate change by tackling on issues about environmental management such as solid waste management, forest management, pollution and coastal management, among others.
With all these information identifying the problems, let us address the global warming problem and anticipate its effects on our lives. There are solutions, if people will only care to take action.
So then, let us help rid the atmosphere of poisonous gases. Let’s suggest the use of clean and renewable energy. Let’s advance organic farming and protect our remaining forests.
Let us try. We must.
REPORT BY MICHAEL MEDINA
The Republic of Maldives is an island country in the Indian Ocean formed by a double chain of 26 atolls spreading over roughly 90,000 square kilometers, making it one of the most disparate countries in the world.
With features similar to our archipelago, it has 1,192 islets, of which 200 are inhabited. It is the smallest Asian country in both population and area and is described as “the lowest country on the planet” with an average ground level of 1.5 meters.
Constantly threatened by rising sea level, our country stands on the possibility of getting obliterated from the world map too; if for example, a one-meter rise in sea level will happen.
The 1,192 islands in Madives would be almost gone at this deep while in our country; the same rise in sea level can affect 28 coastal settlements around the archipelago, Legarda said.
And while the senator laments that both Maldives and the Philippines may have contributed less to the problem of climate change, people living in the scattered islands of the two countries are on the brink of getting exterminated as the threats of climate change become more and more visible in its borders.
Meteorologists and weather experts have said that the current sea level rise is due partly to human-induced global warming, to mention also the glacial flows from North America.
Global warming is the result of the buildup of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, like carbon dioxide, methane, chlorofluorocarbons and nitrous oxide.
Carbon dioxide, a by-product of the burning of fossil fuels, such as gasoline in an automobile or coal in power plants that generate electricity is slowly enveloping our skies. So too with atmospheric methane, a powerful greenhouse gas derived from sources such as rice paddies, bovine flatulence, bacteria in bogs and fossil fuel production.
Remember that a carbon dioxide’s lifetime in the atmosphere can range from 50-200 years. This kind of gas prevent the reflection of solar radiation back out into space. Once it is there in the atmosphere, there is very little we can do to reduce it.
Experts have claimed that temperature increase of several degrees wouldn't be experienced consistently but there’s evidence that this is felt by particular regions more profoundly than others. Some might suffer changes in the amount of rainfall received. Again, this rise in temperatures could cause sea level increase of 20 or more inches, which in effect will destroy coastal wetlands and flood coastal areas.
It’s not difficult to sense the effects of global warming. It is still July here yet unabated rainfall has started to flood our agricultural lands, damage homes and infrastructures. The abnormal weather is new to a tropical country like ours because we should be expecting downpours by August but the current situation shows otherwise.
In the universal scale, we have the Kyoto Protocol, an international treaty which agreement requires the United States, the European Union and Japan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by the year 2010. We don’t know if this agreement has been complied with by the concerned countries.
A study made by the World Health Organization (WHO) determined that 154,000 people die every year from the effects of global warming, from malaria to malnutrition, with children in developing nations seemingly the most vulnerable.
WHO estimates the said numbers could almost double by 2020, further suggesting that even a small shift in temperature, for instance, could extend the range of mosquitoes that spread malaria.
Dr. Thomas Karl, director of the National Climatic Data Center, says that global warming has produced an increase in precipitation during the 20th century, mostly in the form of heavy rainstorms and little in moderate, beneficial rainstorms.
Meanwhile, Britain's Meteorological Office has warned in its report issued in November, 1999 that flooding in Asia and Southeast Asia would increase more than nine-fold over the coming decades.
An October 2007 report by the Philippine Daily Inquirer stated that the country’s corals are under threat from bleaching and illegal fishing and ocean “acidification,” which is caused by excessive carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, is slowly dissolving in the oceans, reducing the ability of the coral reefs to deposit calcium carbonate or calcify.
With the ocean becoming more acidic, corals would stop growing and eventually disintegrate and this would affect other sea shells and mollusks.
Another PDI report dated June 25, 2009 notes the briskly changing weather pattern all over the countryside, which is hurting the fishing industry. The fishing season has become shorter as heavy rains and strong waves now begin as early as late March or early April.
Global warming is a global concern. Calamities of sort occur frequently in our archipelago due to climate change that was also rooted from the people's lack of concern to the environment and even by abuses.
So what can developing countries do? How can we Filipinos take part in reducing the effects of global warming? With the 2010 election a few months from now, we should know how prepared the government is in responding to the effects of global warming as well as to its impact on the population.
We should demand from our candidates their convincing action in fighting climate change since it is their responsibility as our representatives in public office to protect our children and future generations from damage to the environment they will inherit. In short, let us vote only for those who care about our planet.
Even in the local scene, we can step up efforts to lessen the impact of climate change by tackling on issues about environmental management such as solid waste management, forest management, pollution and coastal management, among others.
With all these information identifying the problems, let us address the global warming problem and anticipate its effects on our lives. There are solutions, if people will only care to take action.
So then, let us help rid the atmosphere of poisonous gases. Let’s suggest the use of clean and renewable energy. Let’s advance organic farming and protect our remaining forests.
Let us try. We must.
REPORT BY MICHAEL MEDINA