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Abstract: The Philippines is one of the countries most affected by climate change. As an archipelago country, coastal areas are at high risk of sea level rise due to climate change. This study investigated the vulnerability of coastal areas to sea level rise in selected municipalities in Zambales province, Philippines. The results showed that the coastal barangay of Iba City has a moderate to high level of vulnerability, while Botolan City has a high to very high level of vulnerability. Limited areas of nature reserves, such as mangrove, seagrass, and coral reef ecosystems, are one of the key factors contributing to high vulnerability. Concerted efforts of the local government units and the residents play a vital role to mitigate impacts of climate change including regular mangrove tree planting, coastal clean-up drive, and strict implementation of environmental policies. While there are many tools used in vulnerability assessment, a simpler yet reliable is recommended as an appropriate for barangay levels. With the identified vulnerability of the communities in sea level rise, possible mitigation measures to cope with the fast-changing climate could now be established.
Keywords: climate change vulnerability; adaptive capacity; coastal vulnerability; exposure assessment; sea level rise, vulnerability.
JEL Classification: Q53; Q54; R11.
Introduction
As an archipelago nation, the Philippines has one of the longest coastlines in the world (Capili 2005), with an estimated coastal area of 220 million hectares, or approximately 88% of its territory. The World Bank also ranked the country among the 12 countries most at risk from climate change. Droughts, floods, storms, rising sea levels, and growing agricultural instability are the biggest climate change threats facing this country. The country's limited resources and land area make it one of the countries most affected by climate change (Cruz and Jose 1999). Coastal ecosystems are threatened by the effects of climate change (Perez ef al. 1999). The main causes of sea level rise due to global warming are the melting of ice sheets and glaciers and the expansion of oceans due to global warming (NASA, 2021). Sea level rise caused by climate change has significant impacts on coastal areas (Li et al. 2015). Each year, sea levels are rising at a rate of approximately one-eighth of an inch (Nunez 2019; Lindsey 2021), and this...