Filipino scientists urged to help tackle climate change

Manila: The government will tap the expertise of Filipino scientists based abroad to help the country take on the challenges of global climate change, an official said on Sunday.

Secretary Lito Atienza of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources said the country needs expertise to confront the effects of climate change and other potentially catastrophic events, and one of the ways it could get this is to tap Filipino scientists who distinguished themselves abroad in their field of expertise.

"Climate change is a problem requiring urgent attention and action since it has an immediate impact on food production and the stability of our ecosystems, among other things," Atienza said.

Atienza spoke during a courtesy call by a group of "balik-scientists" (returning scientists) led by Josefino "Joey" Comiso, a physicist working for the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa) programme.

According to Atienza, Comiso has agreed to spearhead a project that will monitor the effects of global warming.

Apart from Comiso, other balik-scientists who visited Atienza were Dr Catalino Blanche, national programme leader of the US Department of Agriculture, and Dr Terry Sarigumba of the Georgia Pacific Company.

Alternative energy

Atienza said apart from global warming, which is attributable to climate change, the Philippines also badly need help in reforestation and in the field of research for alternative sources of energy.

Comiso's facility to monitor global warming is being funded by the Philippine Atmospherics and Geophysical Administration and will be based at the University of the Philippines in Los Banos, Laguna province.

Earlier, Comiso warned that the Philippines is vulnerable to the accelerated melting of the polar ice caps brought about by global warming.

"I think that the Philippines, although it does not emit a lot of carbon dioxide by itself, will be one of the biggest victims of the effects of climate change," he said.

He said that the melting of the Arctic ice caps due to global warming will cause sea levels to rise and may flood cities and towns near the coast - including Metro Manila. It threatens the country's diverse animal populations from land-based species to the marine population.

Comiso and the other Filipino scientists had returned to the country under the government's Balik-Scientists programme.