Most Filipino adults have experienced the impacts of climate change in the past three years.
This was the finding of a survey done by the Social Weather Stations from December 10 to 14 last year.
Survey results showed that 93 percent of adult Filipinos have “personally experienced” the impacts of climate change.
The survey found that 17 percent have experienced “severe impact of climate change” in the past three years, 52 percent said they experienced “moderate impact,” and 24 said “little impact.” Six percent did not experience any impact.
Those personally experiencing the impacts increased by six percentage points from March 2017 and eight points from March 2013. Those who experienced severe impact of climate change decreased by three points but was offset by an increase of 10 points among those who experienced moderate impact.
Up to 88 percent of the respondents agreed that they can do something to reduce climate risk while ten percent undecided, and three percent disagreeing.
The survey also found that four out of five Filipinos previously knew of climate change while 19 percent knew of it only at the time of the interview.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. last week urged Filipinos to be part of the solution to climate change and to join efforts to protect the environment.
In a video message for the annual Earth Hour observance, Marcos said Filipinos should learn more about climate change, which he described as the world’s biggest environmental challenge.
“Let us become part of the solution and embark on advocacies, programs and initiatives that will help us protect and preserve the earth – our only home,” said the president.
In a video posted on Instagram, Marcos noted that the Philippines is hit with an average of 20 typhoons annually, making it one of the most vulnerable countries to climate change.
“As the Earth’s temperature gets warmer, with the world’s carbon footprint reaching a new all-time high of 36.8 gigatons in 2022, the world braces for the irreversible impact of climate change,” said the president.
The Philippines submitted its national determined contribution to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in April 2021, pledging a projected reduction and avoidance of greenhouse gas emissions of 75 percent for the period of 2020 to 2030, of which 2.71 percent is unconditional and 72.29 percent is conditional.
The Cabinet Cluster on Climate Change Adaptation, Mitigation and Disaster Risk Reduction, chaired by the Environment department, also adopted a resolution in January 2021 on the phaseout of single-use plastics.
The World Risk Index 2022, developed by the UN University Institute for Environment and Human Security, ranked the Philippines first among 193 countries in terms of exposure to natural hazards.
