‘We have to do something’: Philippine schools, students grapple with floods as climate change forces them to adapt

PAMPANGA AND TARLAC, the Philippines: A loss and damage fund that attracted millions of dollars in pledges as the world came together for the COP28 summit in Dubai may benefit communities on the brink of being wiped out as sea levels rise.

The fund aims to provide financial assistance to nations most vulnerable and impacted by the effects of climate change.

But as advocates push to make polluters pay and phase out fossil fuel, climate change-induced woes are already lived realities in many Philippine communities, including children there.

In Macabebe town in Pampanga province, a riverside island community northwest of the capital Manila, for instance, families prepare their children for floods during high tide, and classrooms are visibly damaged by recurring floods.

The Philippines tops the 2023 World Risk Index, which ranks 193 countries in terms of their vulnerability to extreme natural events.

The country is also Southeast Asia’s most typhoon-prone country, hit by a yearly average of 20 typhoons.

To have a direct hand in bringing about change for its people, the Philippines wants to host the fund, hoping to have a seat on the Loss and Damage Fund Board and calling for its immediate operationalisation.