Climate Change : So where does the Philippines fall in all of this chaos ? part 2 of 2







As it sits now :

According to Philstar, Green Peace and a few other sources the Philippines is at current  the 3rd worst ocean polluter in the world behind Indonesia and China  which are adjacent which is not a good look for the surrounding water eco system.
Air pollution does not seem to see the Philippines fare much better with 4,000 deaths annually  from air quality issues .
Ermita is on par for the worst due to it's open dump sites.

Now given that the Philippines is  considered by many global corporations such as Proctor and Gamble  as a consumer society the wanton usage of disposable plastic with flagrant disregard for the environment coupled with by many a complete lack of discipline for littering or willingness to segregate waste spells disaster .





The Philippines historically throughout climate cataclysms : (Photo is map of pleistocene era Philippines.)

 The Philippines is a country of Southeast Asia, with its 7,107 islands strewn over the Western Pacific Ocean, approximately 13 N of the equator and 122 E of Greenwich. Its collective land area is about 300,000 sq. km, about the size of the state of Arizona. This island archipelago is one of the most megadiverse countries in the world, housing over 5% of the entire world’s flora in an area not even 1% of the world’s total. An estimated 10,000 to 11,000 species of plants are believed to occur in the Philippines and likely many more if the tropical forests were fully explored and documented. Over half of the named plants are endemic. This high level of endemism is also present in the animals. Forty-four percent of its vertebrate species and almost 70% of its insects are also found nowhere else in the world (Catibog-Sinha and Heaney 2006). Among the world’s 25 top biological hotspots the Philippines ranks second in the number of species per square kilometer, thus the endemic species are concentrated in exceptionally small areas (Myers et al. 2000). Only 7% of its old growth closed-canopy forests remain from over 60% in 1945 (Heaney et al. 2004)


 THIS SHOULD SCARE THE SHIT OUT OF YOU ALL  !!!!!!!

With a history of rich natural resources and at one time a dense forest.
Massive logging, Mining, Chemical farming and a general lack of interest in the environment at large have made the Philippines number one in vulnerability.
Coupled with a location that puts her at a strategic disability for extreme weather and disaster this only complicates things.
And the key game changer being sustainable agriculture as it would kill two birds with one stone  that being food security and responsible environmental stewardship.
With that much of our forests in ruins we must ask, Do we really need China's thumb over us to finish this place off ?


 What can be done ? :

 I feel more forced cleanups like Boracay and concentrated efforts on waste segregation and also an outright refusal to do business with humongous plastic dumping corporations is imperative.
But also I feel that people like JUSTIN TRUDEAU AND CANADA need to answer for their garbage dumped here also.
We are a flora and fauna hot spot and we have a lot more to lose in a lot less area than they do.
Littering should result in assignment to clean up duty if not jail time for repeat offenders.
I seriously feel we are on the cusp of a disaster here and that only swift action could  address this.
For the people reading this I would tell you all think global and act local.
Change begins at home, If seeing a foreigner trash your country would piss you off then why is it okay if your own does it and is slowly robbing your future generations of the natural splendor that this country is known for ?


References


Barcelona, J. F., P. B Pelser, D. S. Balete, and L. L. Co. 2009.  Taxonomy, ecology, and conservation status of Philippine Rafflesia (Rafflesiaceae).  Blumea 54: 77-93.

Barcelona, J. F., E. S. Fernando D.  L. Nickrent, D. S. Balete, and P. B. Pelser.  2011. An amended description of Rafflesia leonardi and a revised key to Philippine Rafflesia (Rafflesiaceae). Phytotaxa 24: 11-18.

Carpenter, K.E. and V.G. Springer. 2005. The center of the center of marine shore fish biodiversity: the Philippine Islands. Environmental Biology of Fishes 72: 467–480.

Esselstyn, J.A. and R.M. Brown. 2009. The role of repeated sea-level fluctuations in the generation of shrew (Soricidae: Crocidura) diversity in the Philippine Archipelago. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 53:171–181.






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