For the past half-century, the Philippines has run an ecological deficit, with its population demanding more renewable resources than the nation’s own ecosystems can provide. Although per capita demand on the country\u2019s productive ecosystems has remained relatively stable, the Philippines\u2019 per capita biocapacity has decreased 44 percent, due to rapid population growth.<\/p>\n
In addition to confronting increasing resource constraints, the Philippines is vulnerable to the compounding effects of climate change\u2014including devastating typhoons\u2014as a result of its location in the South Pacific. In 2011, the Philippine government and Global Footprint Network began a multi-phase initiative to analyze the country\u2019s resource constraints and identify opportunities for Ecological Footprint accounting to help shape policy-making.<\/p>\n
“We refuse, as a nation, to accept a future where super typhoons like Haiyan become a way of life. We refuse to accept that running away from storms, evacuating our families, suffering the devastation and misery of having to count our dead, become a way of life. We simply refuse to.”<\/p>\n