Vulnerability and Sustainable Development: Issues and Challenges from the Philippines’ Agricultural and Water Sectors

Abstract

The threats of climate change on agriculture and water sectors in the Philippines have added a new dimension and challenge in pursuing sustainable development. Agricultural losses to extreme weather events have seen record-high damages in the recent past amounting to hundreds of thousand of dollars. Impacts on the water sector, on the other hand, have led to water scarcity, agricultural production losses, and decrease in energy supply during El Niño and damage to infrastructure and properties due to flooding brought by intense rainfall. While these adverse effects are more localized and have minimal implications on the national economy and overall economic growth, they present major environmental and social repercussions that thwart the achievement of sustainability goals and inclusive growth. The bundle of adaptation responses to address these impacts should employ integrated approaches to capture the synergies of agriculture and water sectors, and consider social, economic and environment aspects to effectively maximize the desired outcomes. Adaptation should also be scaled up at higher level to create an enabling environment to build the resilience for these sectors to climate change.