Philippines among ‘most vulnerable’ to climate change
Wed, September 17 2008
The continued melting of Arctic ice caps, brought on by climate change, could cause sea levels to rise by seven metres, said US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) physicist Josefino Comiso.
He said the country’s fish stocks would be depleted and many species of plant and animal life would die because of the change in ocean temperatures caused by climate change.
Comiso said the slow melting of the ice caps should be more than “just an item of curiosity” for Filipinos.
“The Philippines is a country that is among the most vulnerable to the effects of climate change,” Comiso said. “Slight changes in ocean temperature will lead to coral bleaching which will impact on the coral reefs on which the country’s fishes feed.”
Fish species are already starting to disappear from Philippine waters as delicate coral reefs are destroyed in the archipelago.
