Climate Change and Food Security in the Philippines: Impacts, Adaptation, and Climate Change Action

The climate emergency poses significant challenges to the agriculture sector which directly affects Philippine food security and economic growth. Climate change disrupts crop productivity, affecting domestic agricultural production and the development of agriculture as an industry. This situation coupled with the COVID-19 pandemic may result in food scarcity, hunger, and intensified poverty in the Philippines. Filipino farmers must rethink their ways of doing and integrate climate change in decision-making because “business as usual” is no longer an option. This chapter presents a brief review of the status of Philippine agriculture and its contribution to the national economy, an analysis of the profile of Filipino farmers relevant to climate and agriculture, and a discussion on how agricultural systems are connected and how they are influenced by the dynamics between the upland ecosystems (forests and watershed) and the downstream ecosystems (coastal and marine). This chapter deals with the multiple knowledge systems as sources of different climate change adaptation approaches and explores a holistic framework for managing climate risks to agricultural systems in the Philippines to ensure the well-being of Filipino farmers and society in general.