Answer:
Environmental Problems
The Philippines are prone to natural disasters, particularly typhoons, floods,
landslides, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, and tsunamis, lying as it does astride the
typhoon belt, in the active volcanic region known as the “Pacific Ring of Fire,” and in the
geologically unstable region between the Pacific and Eurasian tectonic plates. The
Philippines also suffers major human-caused environmental degradation aggravated by
a high annual population growth rate, including loss of agricultural lands, deforestation,
soil erosion, air and water pollution, improper disposal of solid and toxic wastes, loss of
coral reefs, mismanagement and abuse of coastal resources, and overfishing.
Climate Change and the Philippines
Recent scientific studies reveal
that human activities have contributed
significantly to the increase of
greenhouse gases in the atmosphere
that causes climate change.
Decline of Natural Resources and Biodiversity
The Philippines is suffering from
degradation of the natural environment.
It has fifty major rivers now polluted due
to abuse and neglect. Approximately
two-thirds of the country's original
mangroves have been lost. A hundred
years ago, the Philippines had close to
22 million hectares of old growth forest.
At the start of 2000, we had less than
600,000 hectares of old-growth forest
left. In one century, we had cut down
close to 97 percent of our original forest.
A study by the Environmental Scientists
for Social Change (ESSC) reveals that
we have systematically cut this forest down and that we have not stopped its destruction
and that of its core biodiversity.
