Climate Variability and Extremes in the Pantabangan-Carranglan Watershed, Philippines: Assessment of Impacts and Adaptation Practices

This paper provides a qualitative assessment of the impacts of climate variability and extremes to local communities in the Pantabangan-Carranglan Watershed loc ated in Northern Philippines. It also analyzes the local adaptation practices and their effectiveness in mitigating adverse impacts based on the experiences and perceptions of the local c ommunity themselves. The study revealed that strong typhoons, droughts (associat ed with El Niño) and delay onset of rainy season tend to have more harmful impacts to a greater number of f armers compared to other climate-related stressors. Impacts vary among different soc io-economic groups with the poor farmers being the most adversely affected, and hence, more vulnerable. Similarly, adaptation practices and their effectiveness vary across socio-economic gr oups and geographic location. In general, while various local adaptation practices exist, these ar e either limited or ineffective to minimize adverse impacts especially among the poorer sec tor of the community. The paper concludes by discussing the implications of the study to dev elopment planning and future research on adaptation.

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