Learning about the HUMAN COST of climate change

By Patricia M. Bombard
March 28, 2016

Driving along Roxas Boulevard north along Manila Bay, you get a feel of Chicago’s Lakeshore Drive, skirting the shores of Lake Michigan. This is no coincidence, for the famed American architect, Daniel Burnham, planned both areas. Between inviting vistas of the bay, most spectacular at sunset, Roxas Boulevard passes hotels, restaurants, cultural and government buildings, a yacht club, and the SM Mall of Asia with its 600 shops.

Got the picture?

Now, imagine this same scene under waist-deep water driven ashore by monsoon surges, as it was in August of 2012 during an eight-day period of heavy rains. Some 95 people died in the monsoon, which also destroyed 8,428 homes and damaged 6,706. In U.S. dollars, the damage estimate reportedly reached $9.6 million. A year later, it happened again. Nearly 60 percent of the city was under waist-deep, and in some places neck-deep, water, again from record-breaking rains — more than a month’s worth in one day. Typhoon Haiyan followed in November 2013 and killed more than 6,300 people. It was the strongest typhoon ever to hit the country, and some reports said it was stronger than U.S. hurricanes Katrina and Sandy combined.

This is the human cost of climate change — the topic that seven School of Public Service students, along with their instructors, Dr. Patricia Bombard and Dr. Ron Fernandes, explored during a week-long study abroad trip to the Philippines in December. The Climate Change Vulnerability Index 2013 ranked Manila second among global cities facing “extreme risks” and the highest vulnerability due to climate change. The Manila experience was an extension of two SPS Autumn Quarter courses: MPS 511: Sustainable International Development, and MPS 520: Values-Centered Leadership.

“Visiting Manila, Philippines, was an experience like no other,” said SPS student Akshara Vivekananthan. “Prior to this trip, I had not realized that one of the most important victims of climate change is in fact people.”

She added: “I got to witness two different worlds: one that was comfortable and one that was trying to break free from poverty. The best part? Seeing these two juxtapose side by side, provided a true learning environment where what I learned in class was translated in person through the work of several nonprofits trying to achieve a greater cause.”

Our host was Adamson University, a sister Vincentian university in Manila. Pamela Mantuhac, Director of the Vincentian Center for Asia Pacific and the Office of Vincentian Identity and Mission at Adamson, served as our local coordinator.

The trip came shortly after the release of Pope Francis’ encyclical on the environment, Laudato Si’, and his visit to the U.S. It also coincided with the meeting of national leaders for the U.N. summit on climate change (COP21) in Paris. With these world events as backdrop, we heard from local speakers about the issues facing Manila and the Philippines as a whole. These included Elen Estares, who trained as a climate change facilitator for the Philippines with former U.S. Vice President Al Gore’s Climate Reality Project, and Ruel Cabile, a spokesman for Aksyon Klima, a network of civil society organizations in the Philippines that has banded together to help deal more effectively with the effects of climate change. We also heard more on the Catholic perspective on climate change from Fr. Benny Tuazon, a spokesman for the Archdiocese of Manila on ecological issues.

“They are all dealing with poverty issues being worsened by the climate change issue that the Philippines is facing now,” Mantuhac said. “And all these projects are geared toward sustainable community development spearheaded by values-centered leaders.”

The presenters reported that the Philippines historically gets hit by many severe tropical storms annually but that climate change appears to be affecting the intensity, frequency and location of the storms, all of which is wreaking havoc on the country’s agricultural and economic sectors. In addition, large percentages of the 100 million Filipinos live in poverty and have little or no means to adapt to the severe climate disruptions. Speaking of its natural beauty and resources, one presenter said: “The Philippines is a very rich country with very poor people.”

Field visits put us in direct contact with the human costs of climate change and other environmental issues, and introduced us to project leaders who are making a difference, especially in the lives of the poor. Fr. Atilano  “Nonong” Fajardo, a Vincentian priest, is director of the Integrated Community Extension Services (ICES) and the Vincentian Center for Social Responsibility at Adamson University.

Under his leadership, Adamson administrators, faculty, staff, and students engage in empowerment, poverty reduction, and sustainable development projects at Southville, a relocation site on the outskirts of metro Manila. During a day trip, our group met with Cabuyao Mayor Isidro  L. Hemedes, Jr., who explained the history of Southville, a government-enforced project to relocate informal settlers living along national railway lines passing through Manila.

SPS students visited with residents to learn more about how they have benefited from the Adamson projects.  

“The experience of talking with the community residents at Southville was one of the best examples of values-centered leadership that we witnessed on the trip,” SPS student Anna Mayer said. “Even though these residents don't hold titles or traditional leadership roles, they exemplified many of the values we discussed in class and showed how strong a community can be when power is shared and leadership is a collective endeavor.”

SPS student Julieth Hernandez added about the visit to Southville: “I got to experience what empowerment means. In a period of eight years women who started cooking for the children living in the community later became teachers at the community school, and later owners of their own business. They learned how to speak English, and how to manage their business accountability and how to train other women in their community.”