Environment
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
Air pollutants
particulate matter emissions: 18.38 micrograms per cubic meter (2016 est.)
carbon dioxide emissions: 122.29 megatons (2016 est.)
methane emissions: 51.32 megatons (2020 est.)
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: 47.7% of total population (2021)
rate of urbanization: 2.04% annual rate of change (2020-25 est.)
Revenue from forest resources
forest revenues: 0.18% of GDP (2018 est.)
Major infectious diseases
degree of risk: high (2020)
food or waterborne diseases: bacterial diarrhea, hepatitis A, and typhoid fever
vectorborne diseases: dengue fever and malaria
water contact diseases: leptospirosis
note: on 8 October 2019, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a Travel Health Notice regarding a polio outbreak in the Philippines; CDC recommends that all travelers to the Philippines be vaccinated fully against polio; before traveling to the Philippines, adults who completed their routine polio vaccine series as children should receive a single, lifetime adult booster dose of polio vaccine
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: 8.929 billion cubic meters (2017 est.)
industrial: 15.85 billion cubic meters (2017 est.)
agricultural: 67.97 billion cubic meters (2017 est.)
Total renewable water resources
479 billion cubic meters (2017 est.)