Connecting the Dots in the Philippines: Disasters, Climate Change and Development Panel Discussion

Connecting the Dots in the Philippines: Disasters, Climate Change and Development - Panel Discussion

Monday November 25th, 2013
11:00am - 1:00pm, Landscape Architecture Pit

The Philippines is no stranger to natural disasters. As much as 10 percent of its GDP is lost to typhoons, earth-quakes and other 'natural' disasters each year. This panel will draw on lessons from disaster, climate change and development research to explore the immediate and long-term issues behind the images that we are seeing on our television screens. Our point of departure is that however susceptible the Philippines is, there is much that it can do to build community resilience in the face of natural hazards. Disasters are primarily the result of human actions… the manifestation of vulnerabilities of a social system… (Quarantelli 1986). “What are called 'earthquakes' and 'hurricanes' are the natural forces…the degree of susceptibility to damage, destruction and death…is conditioned by the decisions and actions of society over time…”(Lewis 1999).

Dr. Nonita Yap is a full Professor at the School of Environmental Design and Rural Development at the University of Guelph, She teaches Environmental Impact Assessment, Industrial Ecology and Disaster Planning and Management. Nonita was born and grew up in Bato, a small coastal town in Leyte in the Philippines.

Kenneth Cardenas is presently a PhD student in Geography at York University. He completed his MA in Sociology with Distinction at the University of Manchester. Kenneth works on examining how the definition and management of risks from disasters and cli-mate change are being used to justify an exclusionary reconfiguration of Manila.

Dr. Tom Lusis received his PhD from the Department of Geography at the University of Guelph. He completed his MA in Geogra-phy at York University. His graduate research has focused on the transnational activities of Filipino-Canadian immigrants in Toronto and Guelph, and their social and economic linkages with the Island of Bohol in the Central Visayas region of the Philippines. Tom's mother is from Tagbilaran City in Bohol in the Philippines.

Craig Johnson (Moderator) received his PhD from the London School of Economics in 2000. His research and professional interests centre upon the governance of social policies aimed at reducing risk and vulnerability to chronic poverty, forced displacement and long-term environmental change.