Changing Philippine Climate Impacts on Agriculture and Natural Resources

he climate of our planet, including that of the Philippines, has been changing significantly during the last century primarily driven by anthropogenic activities. This book contains comprehensive information about the changes in climate and their impacts on the country’s environment, natural resources, agriculture, ecosystem, biodiversity, weather, and the quality of life of its inhabitants. Risk management and resilience are discussed along with selected strategies for mitigation and effective adaptation especially in agriculture, forestry, grassland, livestock, fisheries, and health.

About the Coordinating Lead Authors and Lead Authors

Nestor T. Baguinon, BS, MS, PhD (Forest Ecology) is a professor of the Department of Forest Biological Sciences, College of Forestry and Natural Resources, University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB). He teaches Forest Ecology and Plant Taxonomy. He is also an affiliate faculty of the School of Environmental Science and Management, UPLB, and a faculty of Management and Development Studies, UP Open University. As an adjunct research scientist of the Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory, Earth Institute, Columbia University, he conducts research with scientists from Vietnam, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, India, Thailand, and the United States on dendrochronology (paleoclimatology), forest ecology, biodiversity (including bioinvasion), and restoration ecology. As a member of the USA-based International Research Experiences (IRES) project, he mentors international high school students and their teachers on climatology, biodiversity, and ecology in Vietnam’s Bidoup Nui Ba National Park where vast virgin forests still exist.
Roger C. Birosel is a senior science-tech consultant to Philippine Climate Change Commissioner Heherson T. Alvarez since his two-term Senate Environment Committee chairmanship to the 1995 Asia-Pacific Ministerial Conference on Climate Change in Manila Hotel as well as to corporations and official agencies. A graduate of Chemistry, Biology, and Genetics, he is a regular member of the Philippine delegation to the Rio Summit, UNFCCC, Convention on Biodiversity, and Ramsar (named after the founding city of Iran where the first convention took place) Wetlands Convention Conferences of Parties. He is a trustee founder of the Philippine Council for Sustainable Development, Non-Government Organizations for Integrated Protected Areas Inc., Filipino Initiatives in Science and Technology, Filipino Inventors Society, Philippine Council for Management, and no2 Genetically Modified Organisms Coalition. He has taught at Ateneo de Manila University, University of the Philippines Diliman, University of Santo Tomas, and Philippine Women’s University.
Catalino A. Blanche, PhD, is a national program leader of the Institute of Bioenergy, Climate, and Environment of the United States Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture in Washington, DC, and the current (2013) president of the Philippine-American Academy of Science and Engineering. He is an affiliate professor of Mariano Marcos State University. He was the associate director of the Urban Forestry Program of Southern University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana; a research scientist (agroforestry program leader) of the USDA Agricultural Research Service; and a research scientist of Mississippi State University. He served as a member of the National Urban and Community Forestry Advisory Council of the Secretary of Agriculture (USDA). He holds a BS degree in Forest Utilization Engineering and a Master of Science in Agriculture (both from UPLB), a Master of Science in Forest Resources (from the University of Georgia), and a PhD in Forestry (from Mississippi State University). His research interests include southern pine-bark beetle interactions, accelerated aging of tree seeds, primary productivity, bioenergy, urban forestry, and agroforestry.
Jesusita O. Coladilla, PhD (Environmental Science), is an assistant professor at the School of Environmental Science and Management (SESAM) of the University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB) teaching systems analysis and other environmental science courses. Her research and extension interests include systems analysis tools applied to land use planning, disaster risk reduction, and climate change adaptation. She was involved in two national vulnerability, impact, and adaptation assessment programs, and currently leads the project mainstreaming DRRM-CCA in local planning for climate change-vulnerable LGUs in Laguna Province.
Josefino C. Comiso, PhD (Physics, UCLA), is a senior scientist at the Earth Sciences Division of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. His research interests are climate change, polar oceanography, and satellite remote sensing. He was the chief scientist of many NASA aircraft missions, including one over a nuclear submarine in the Arctic, and has been principal investigator and team member of many satellite projects. He has authored/coauthored five books and more than 150 refereed journal articles and book chapters. He received the NASA Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medal in 2013 and the Pan Oceanic Remote Sensing Conference Outstanding Achievement in Science Award in 2008. He is currently a coordinating lead author of the IPCC Working Group 1 (AR5) Report on Climate Change 2013: The Physical Science Basis.
Rex Victor O. Cruz, PhD, is a full-time professor and chancellor of the University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB). He obtained his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Forestry from UPLB and his doctoral degree from the University of Arizona. His major fields of interests and expertise are forestry, watershed management, upland development, land use planning, and climate change. He teaches at the College of Forestry and Natural Resources in UPLB, where he is the former dean. Currently he leads two national research and development programs in watershed management and upland development, and continues to serve as the director of the Environmental Forestry Programme of UPLB.
Victoria O. Espaldon, PhD, is a full professor and vice chancellor of the University of the Philippines Los Baños. Previously, she was the dean of the School of Environmental Science and Management (SESAM). Her expertise include sustainable agriculture and natural resources, environmental security and health, and climate change adaptation of agricultural systems and communities. Her many awards include the Zayed International Award for Environment in 2007 and the 2008 Gawad Lagablab in 2008. She held the UPLB Centennial Professorial Chair in 2010 and the SEARCA Professorial Chair for Geography in 2003.
Leonardo M. Florece, BSF, MF, PhD, is a full-time professor and dean of the School of Environmental Science and Management (SESAM), University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB). He finished his bachelor’s and master’s degrees at UPLB and his PhD in Forestry (Fire Ecology) at the University of New Brunswick, Canada. He teaches environmental science courses, and has been involved in projects dealing with climate change, rapid systems appraisal, community-based natural resource management, and environmental security. His research interests include assisted natural regeneration, marginal land rehabilitation, and biodiversity conservation.
Rafael D. Guerrero III, BS, MS, PhD, is currently a professorial lecturer of the University of the Philippines Los Baños and academician of the National Academy of Science and Technology (Philippines). He graduated from the University of the Philippines Diliman, University of the Phililppines Los Baños, and Auburn University (USA). He was the executive director of the Philippine Council for Aquatic and Marine Research and Development. He has conducted and published researches in aquaculture, fisheries, and water resources management.
Felino P. Lansigan, PhD, is a professor of Statistics at the Institute of Statistics of the University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB), with particular interests in agricultural and environmental statistics as well as in statistical hydrology and water resources. He is also an active affiliate professor of Environmental Science at the UPLB School of Environmental Science and Management teaching graduate courses on quantitative methods. He cochairs the university-wide UPLB Interdisciplinary Program on Climate Change. He is a lead author of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Working Group II Third Assessment Report, and the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report. He also served as team leader of a number of climate change adaptation projects of the Department of Agriculture, and of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources. He is also a member of the technical panel of experts of the Philippine Climate Change Commission.
Rodel D. Lasco, PhD, has over thirty years of experience in natural resources and environmental research, conservation, education, and development at both national and international levels. He is a member of the National Academy of Science and Technology (NAST) in the Philippines, and is an affiliate professor at the University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB). He is the Philippines’s coordinator at the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF), a center devoted to promoting “tree on farms,” since April 2004. Concurrently, he serves as the scientific director of the Manila-based Oscar M. Lopez (OML) Center, a privately-endowed foundation working on climate adaptation and disaster risk reduction research. He has over eighty technical publications in national and international journals dealing with the various aspects of natural resources conservation and environmental management. Since 1999, he has been a lead author of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), and was the 2007 cowinner of the Nobel Peace Prize.
Rosa T. Perez is a senior research fellow of the Manila Observatory. She obtained her MSc and PhD in Meteorology at the University of the Philippines. Her main areas of interest include climate change, climate risk assessment/reduction, and environmental impact assessment. She was the weather services chief of the flood forecasting branch of the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical, and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) when she optionally retired in 2007.  She is one of the review editors of the Asia regional chapter for the IPCC 5th Assessment Report (2011–2014).  As a lead author on an IPCC Special Report on Extreme Events and Climate Change, she worked on “Chapter 2: Determinants of Risks and Vulnerability.” In 2004, she was also a lead author in the Working Group II contribution to the IPCC 4th Assessment Report (chapter 20). Recently, she was accepted as one of the members of the National Technical Panel of Experts of the Philippines’s Climate Change Commission.
Juan M. Pulhin, PhD, is a full-time professor and the current dean of the College of Forestry and Natural Resources, University of the Philippines Los Baños. He also holds the title of Scientist III under the University of the Philippines Scientific Productivity System in recognition of his scholarly outputs and international scientific standing. He has twice been a visiting professor at the University of Tokyo, once in 2007 and again in 2010. He has about thirty years of experience in natural resources education, research, and development at both national and international levels, and has authored/coauthored close to 100 technical publications dealing with various aspects of community-based forest management, forest governance, forest rehabilitation, tenure reform, forestry education, and climate change. He is a recipient/corecipient of numerous national and international awards, foremost of which is the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize Award shared by the members of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) with former US Vice President Al Gore. He is a coordinating lead author of the IPCC Working Group II contribution to the Fifth Assessment Report to be released in 2014. He received his Bachelor of Science and Master of Science in Forestry degrees from the University of the Philippines Los Baños and his PhD degree in Geographical Sciences from the Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies of the Australian National University.
Terry I. Sarigumba, BSF, MF, PhD, retired from the Georgia-Pacific Corporation where he worked as research forester, silviculture operations manager, and technology development leader. He obtained his BSF degree from the UP College of Forestry (cum laude), Master of Forestry (MF) from Yale University, and PhD in Soil Science from the University of Florida. In private industrial forestry, he used research data as a tool in directing site-specific management programs that helped the company achieve its economic goals in an environmentally sustainable manner.
Lourdes V. Tibig was a weather specialist (meteorologist/climatologist) for thirty-two years of the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical, and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA). She has a Certificat en Agrometeorologie from the Fondation Universitaire de Luxembourgeoise (FUL) in Begium and a Diploma in Meteorology from the University of the Philippines. She is currently a member of the National Panel of Technical Experts established by the Climate Change Commission, and a lead author of the Working Group II contribution to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Fifth Assessment Report (IPCC AR5), “Chapter 18: Detection and Attribution of Observed Impacts,” in addition to being a consultant on climate change adaptation for national and local government agencies and some of the country’s leading nongovernment organizations doing climate-related work in local communities.