Philippines Environment - 2024

GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES 

Environment - current issues

uncontrolled deforestation especially in watershed areas; illegal mining and logging; soil erosion; air and water pollution in major urban centers; coral reef degradation; increasing pollution of coastal mangrove swamps that are important fish breeding grounds; coastal erosion; dynamite fishing; wildlife extinction

Environment - international agreements

party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Climate Change-Paris Agreement, Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping-London Convention, Marine Dumping-London Protocol, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 2006, Wetlands

signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements

Climate

tropical marine; northeast monsoon (November to April); southwest monsoon (May to October)

Land use

agricultural land: 41% (2018 est.)

arable land: 18.2% (2018 est.)

permanent crops: 17.8% (2018 est.)

permanent pasture: 5% (2018 est.)

forest: 25.9% (2018 est.)

other: 33.1% (2018 est.)

Urbanization

urban population: 48.3% of total population (2023)

rate of urbanization: 2.04% annual rate of change (2020-25 est.)

Revenue from forest resources

0.18% of GDP (2018 est.)

Revenue from coal

0.07% of GDP (2018 est.)

Air pollutants

particulate matter emissions: 22.45 micrograms per cubic meter (2019 est.)

carbon dioxide emissions: 122.29 megatons (2016 est.)

methane emissions: 51.32 megatons (2020 est.)

Waste and recycling

municipal solid waste generated annually: 14,631,923 tons (2016 est.)

municipal solid waste recycled annually: 4,096,938 tons (2014 est.)

percent of municipal solid waste recycled: 28% (2014 est.)

Major lakes (area sq km)

salt water lake(s): Laguna de Bay - 890 sq km

Total water withdrawal

municipal: 8.16 billion cubic meters (2020 est.)

industrial: 9.88 billion cubic meters (2020 est.)

agricultural: 67.83 billion cubic meters (2020 est.)

Total renewable water resources

479 billion cubic meters (2020 est.)

Geoparks

total global geoparks and regional networks: 1

global geoparks and regional networks: Bohol Island (2023)

NOTE: The information regarding Philippines on this page is re-published from the 2024 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency and other sources. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Philippines 2024 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Philippines 2024 should be addressed to the CIA or the source cited on each page.