MANILA, Philippines — A number of provinces in the Philippines were among the most vulnerable in the world to the impacts of climate change-fueled weather extremes, according to a report by a climate risk specialist.
Pangasinan, Pampanga, Nueva Ecija, Cagayan, and Tarlac were the country’s most at-risk provinces based on their aggregated damage ratio (ADR), according to an analysis published The Cross Dependency Initiative (XDI).
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ADR looks at the total amount of damage to a province’s built environment from extreme weather events and climate impacts such as flooding, forest fires and sea level rise.
Metro Manila, Bulacan, Isabela, Davao del Sur, and Leyte were also among the most vulnerable provinces to climate change.
Meanwhile, 17 Philippine provinces were included in the list of top 100 most at-risk areas in terms of average damage ratio.
These are Occidental Mindoro, Oriental Mindoro, Pangasinan, Ilocos Sur, Eastern Samar, Zambales, Aurora, Northern Samar, Cagayan, Surigao del Sur, Nueva Ecija, Tarlac, Sulu, Leyte, Pampanga, Samar and Southern Leyte.
According to XDI, average damage ratio provides insight into areas that may have fewer properties but may be subjected to greater or more widespread damage.In 2022, the Philippines was found to have the highest disaster risk among 193 countries.
XDI’s Gross Domestic Climate Risk ranks over 2,600 jurisdictions globally. The report used global climate models, combined with local weather and environmental data and engineering archetypes to calculate damage to the built environment from eight different extreme weather hazards.
Nine of the top 10 most at-risk regions are in China, with Jiangsu and Shandong leading the global ranking.After China, the United States has the most vulnerable regions.
The analysis also found that Southeast Asia experiences the greatest escalation in damage from 1990 to 2050. Sulu, Tawi-Tawi, and Camiguin are among the areas experiencing the highest percentage increases in damage.