ESTIMATING THE HEALTH AND ECONOMIC VULNERABILITIES OF THE INDIGENOUS PEOPLE (IP) IN ZAMBOANGA DEL NORTE TO THE EFFECTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE

Abstract

An analytical framework for estimating the health and economic vulnerabilities of the indigenous people of Zamboanga del Norte to the effects of climate change is proposed and validated in this paper. Vulnerability, as used in this research, refers to the
extent of risk and exposure of the IPs to the physical manifestations of climate change considering their coping mechanisms. Applying such a framework to the Subanen and Kalibogan tribes in Zamboanga del Norte, results show that : (a.) the indigenous people of Zamboanga del Norte were very vulnerable in terms of their economic and livelihood sources consisting mainly of traditional farming and fishing, and (b.) the indigenous people were likewise found to be highly vulnerable in terms of their health in the event of aberrant weather conditions. The IP’s low educational attainment coupled with unstable, albeit, subsistence level income make their ability to cope with the effects of climate change minimal and insufficient to surmount the adverse effects of extreme weather conditions. Results further show that the analytical framework for estimating vulnerabilities tend to underestimate the true vulnerability values because of the absence of more information that can be used to enhance these estimates.