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New Research: Global Flood Hotspots, and Climate Resilience
Photo by Challiyan
The CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) and International Water Management Institute (IWMI) have launched a project “focused on identifying the global flood hotspots for climate mitigation studies and mapping flood risks areas using satellite remote-sensing datasets.” An interesting, though not necessarily surprising, set of findings from the research: (more…)
Philippines: “Congress Creates Climate Change Adaptation Fund”
Complementing its “Climate Change Law” of 2009, and in the wake of “intensifying typhoons and storms” in the country (according to Business World Online, the Philippines experiences “at least 20 typhoons and tropical storms annually”) the Congress of the Philippines has passed a landmark bill to create a climate change adaptation fund called the “People’s Survival Fund.” According to the bill, the money from the fund (1 billion pesos annually) would cover costs for local governments to implement climate-proofed “land and water resources management, agriculture and fisheries, and health and natural ecosystems development…” As the 2009 Climate Change Law suffered from a lack of effective implementation, the creation of this fund is a welcome development. However, regional climate change projections suggest that resources needed for effective climate change adaptation in the Philippines my well exceed the amounts allotted.
Building U.S. Alliances in the Asia-Pacific: Trade, Disaster Relief and Climate Change Adaptation
For the past few years, the United States had made an unmistakeable shift in foreign policy attention to the Asia-Pacific region (President Obama has described this change as a “pivot,” though the U.S. government is not necessarily comfortable with that term of art). There are both military and civilian dimensions to this shift, and the U.S. will need to deftly combine development, diplomacy and defense in order to maintain a sustainable and beneficent influence in the region. (more…)
Climate Change and the Philippines: A Key U.S. Ally Under Threat?
The Philippines has long been a self-described staunch ally of the United States. This alliance is critical for the U.S., particularly as the Philippines straddles the South China Sea, a place of huge strategic significance for global security (see the recent CNAS report, Cooperation from Strength: The United States, China and the South China Sea). Essentially, the Sea presents a test of U.S. power and influence. The degree to which the U.S. and its allies in the area, including Japan, South Korea, India, Indonesia and the Philippines, control the trading routes that pass through the Sea and the resources that lie under it, is a measure of how strong the U.S. is in the Asia-Pacific, and vis-a-vis a rising China. In this context, the security of the Philippines, from a conflict and humanitarian perspective, is very important to the United States. (more…)