NEDA, IFPRI LAUNCH BOOK ON PH AGRICULTURE, CLIMATE CHANGE
MANILA— The National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) in partnership with International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) on Friday launched a book tackling the future of Philippine agriculture with climate change as a threat to growth.
The book titled, “The Future of the Philippine Agriculture Under a Changing Climate: Policies, Investments and Scenarios” was edited by Mark W. Rosegrant, a research fellow emeritus of IFPRI, a global agricultural think tank, and NEDA Assistant Secretary Mercedita A. Sombilla.
The book was designed to provide a base of knowledge and policy options to support decision- and policy-making on agriculture, climate change, and food security. It used newly generated data, modeling outputs and innovative analyses to provide a scientific basis for a variety of adaptation measures under different sets of climate change scenarios.
“The policy recommendations in this book are timely. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Special Report on Global Warming warns that a host of climate-related risks—from sea level rise to food and water supplies, security, and health issues—will be worse if global temperatures rise to 2 degrees Celsius,” Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto M. Pernia said in his opening remarks.
He said environmental hazards aggravated by climate change continue to pose significant risks to agricultural output and growth.
As cited in the book, yearly losses between 2000 and 2016 averaged PhP17.37 billion from production losses and damages to farm equipment, and irrigation and road facilities. This is equivalent to about 1.8 percent of the sector’s yearly average Gross Value-Added.
“Climate change is only about to get worse with recent rapid increases in temperature. If we do nothing, this will impede our target of increasing agricultural productivity and ensuring food security,” Pernia said.
