Report - Social Watch Philippines

elationship between plants and pollinators that may
affect the survival of plant species. Most vulnerable are
those species that have diffi culties in migrating as a form
of survival. Further increase in temperature to 50 o C or
60 o C may cause a number of animals and plant species
to die out and become extinct while critical habitats
may be lost. Many research studies claim that coastal
ecosystems have higher vulnerability to climate change
compared to terrestrial ecosystems.
On the other hand, sea level rise of one meter is
predicted to inundate many coastal towns and cities in
the Philippines while practically submerging many small
islands (defi ned as those with areas of less than 1,000
hectares) especially during high tides. Sea level rise will
also affect sea grass beds and mangroves and cause saline
intrusion into groundwater, lakes and rivers.
Acidifi cation of coastal waters due to increased
carbon dioxide threatens the survival of plankton at
the base of the food chain and then the productivity
of fi sheries.
A baseline for the new millennium 9
1990 is the reference year for the MDGs and other international
agreements like the Agenda 21, the UN Framework
Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the
UN Framework Convention on Biodiversity (UNCBD),
and the UN Convention to Combat Desertifi cation and
Land Degradation (UNCCD). The UNFCCC baseline
covers the greenhouse gas emissions inventory obtained
from national communications (NatComs or NCs) and
assessment of vulnerability and adaptation. The climate
convention’s scientifi c body, the Interagency Panel on
Climate Change (IPCC) makes the regular assessments
reports (ARs). The fourth and last assessment report in
2007, which made headlines and won the IPCC a Nobel
Prize, gave a more defi nitive conclusion about human
responsibility for global warming (GW) and consequent
destabilization of the climate system.
Succeeding reviews and assessments provide updated
baselines.
One of these was the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment
9 (MA), carried out under the auspices of the
UN between 2001 and 2005. The MA aimed to assess
the consequences of ecosystem change for human wellbeing
and set a baseline for needed actions for enhancing
the conservation and sustainable use of ecosystems
and their contribution to human well-being.
12 SOCIAL WATCH PHILIPPINES
The MA, which involved around 1,360 experts
from 95 countries, was a multilateral response to the
request for science-based information by state parties to
the four international conventions—the UNCBD, the
UNCCD, the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands, and
the Convention on Migratory Species. It also responded
to needs expressed by the business community, NGOs,
health sector, and Indigenous Peoples.
The MA focused on ecosystem services, defi ned as
benefi ts people obtain from ecosystems. An ecosystem
is a dynamic complex of plant, animal, and microorganism
communities and the non-living environment
interacting as a functional unit. These include provisioning
services such as food, water, timber, and fi ber;
regulating services that affect climate, fl oods, disease,
wastes, and water quality; cultural services that that
provide recreational, aesthetic, and spiritual benefi ts;
and supporting services such as soil formation, photosynthesis,
and nutrient cycling.
Human well-being includes security, basic material
for a good life, health, good social relations, and
freedom of choice and action.
The MA has come up with four main fi ndings.
One, over the past 50 years humans have changed
ecosystems more rapidly and extensively than in any
comparable period of time in human history, largely
to meet rapidly growing demands for food, fresh
water, timber, fi ber, and fuel. This has resulted in a
substantial and largely irreversible loss in biodiversity
of life on Earth.
Two, the changes have contributed to human
well-being for the present generation. But the growing
costs in terms of the degradation of many ecosystem
services, increased risks, and worsening of poverty for
some groups of people will put at risk the well-being
of future generations.
Three, the degradation of ecosystem services could
grow signifi cantly worse during the fi rst half of this
century and is a barrier to achieving the Millennium
Development Goals.
Four, the challenge of reversing the degradation of
ecosystems, while meeting increasing demands for their
services, can be partially met under some scenarios that
the MA has considered. But this assumes signifi cant
changes in governance.
These fi ndings confi rm what many believed was
already happening. Together, the MA and the IPCC
9 Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, 2005. Ecosystems and Human Wellbeing Synthesis. Island Press 2005 World Resources Institute.