Wednesday, May 30, 2007 Initiatives on global climate change
THE evidence for human-caused global warming is now "unequivocal."
This statement by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) confirms with "very high" confidence that human activities are causing the world to warm.
There are strong indications that human activities are indeed among the main factors affecting the world's climate. Carbon dioxide (CO2) and other air pollutants from industries, vehicle emissions, and other human activities build up in the atmosphere and trap sunlight causing earth's surface to warm.
Rainfall, temperature, and other climatic conditions are the main factors affecting the variability in agricultural production. Changes in these factors can therefore have extreme impacts on food security.
Hence, mitigating climate change is an important research concern. In the Philippines, efforts to mitigate climate change abound, with the national government taking the lead.
PCARRD-DOST has crafted its "National R&D Program on Biofuel" with two main components: (1) the "Integrated R&D Program on Jatropha curcas for Biodiesel;" and (2) the "Integrated R&D Program on Bio-Ethanol." Both components have been approved by the PCARRD Governing Council for implementation.
PCARRD will also be implementing the "Baseline Information and Development of Database on Swine Waste Management Systems" project, which will look into the quality of methane produced by different designs of biogas systems.
The project is part of the PCARRD "S&T Anchor Program on Farm Managed Clean Production Facility for Small and Medium Scale Swine Industry for Fuel and Fertilizer Production."
Previously, PCARRD released a number of publications intended to disseminate information on climate change. The book "El Niño Southern Oscillation: Mitigating Measures," released in 2001 features technologies for mitigating the effects of climate change.
In 2005, PCARRD published its "R&D Status and Directions on Environmental Management (2000 and Beyond)," which discusses the country's environmental performance from 1990-2000.
Meanwhile, the Ecosystems Research and Development Bureau's "Biomass and Carbon Sequestration of Forest Tree Plantation Species in the Philippines" project investigates on the actual carbon being stored in a tree of a given species.
Earlier, the International Centre for Research in Agroforestry, now the World Agroforestry Centre, has found, in one of its studies, that smallholder trees can sequester carbon dioxide from the soil and from their surroundings.
The DOST, in its Environment Agenda, has pipelined for 2007 several major research undertakings to address climate change:
Climate Change Impacts and Adaptation Strategies on Natural Resources, Agriculture and Rural Communities in the Philippines. This R&D project will contribute to the formulation of strategies and measures to address the impacts of climate change at the community level.
Carbon Sequestration Valuation of Different Vegetation Types (Secondary Growth Forest, Mossy, Mangrove, Plantation Forests) in the Philippines. This project shall investigate the amount of carbon stored and sequestered by different forest types in the country.
Carbon Stocks Trading Localization: Developing models for Community-based carbon sequestration and carbon trading mechanism. This will support the participation of community-based forest management communities in the carbon trading mechanisms under the Clean Development Mechanism of the Kyoto Protocol.
Policy Advocacy Support in Streamlining Climate Change Policy in the Philippines. This initiative will promote awareness on climate change through information, education and communication (IEC) campaign and policy advocacy.
PCARRD is the DOST agency tasked to lead in the Environment R&D as one of the priority sectors of the Department under the Secretary's 8 point agenda. (Don Joseph M. Medrana and Ma. Rowena M. Baltazar, S&T Media Service)
