“The Philippines is at the forefront when we talk about biodiversity, as it is one of the Megadiverse Countries; countries that are inhabited by most of the earth’s species. Location, climate and topography are the key factors as to why this country is abundant with life; and we’re not talking about plants and animals alone. Ranked 9th (for countries with population exceeding 10 million) and 38th overall, this Southeast Asian nation is one of the most densely populated areas in the world. With great number of people, comes great responsibility; feeding them.

“Blessed with conditions that are favorable to a wide host of species, this country has failed to take advantage of this fact; lagging behind in food production. Most of our farmers dream of moving closer to the city in order to find better paying jobs. This has resulted to untended lands, that otherwise could have been producing food. Some of these farmers have found success, most of them however fail. I know that this phenomenon is not unique to the Philippines and we need to reverse this trend soon. If we don’t do anything about it, there will be no more farmers left and we will all face a major crisis.”   From: blog.gfar.net

GR:  The lofty goal to produce more food could have short-term benefits for people.  Long term, however, population growth, land degradation, and climate change will destroy any hope for a better life.  What is important now for the Philippines and all other countries is to stop (yes, that’s stop) greenhouse gas emissions, and start reducing the human population and its need for food.