ThS: The Philippine government could address climate change by imposing carbon taxes,

changing energy systems, and adopting constructed–microbial communities.

Adopting constructed-microbial communities could be the government’s solution to the

substantial usage of greenhouse gases in the agricultural sector, as an attempt to address climate

change in the Philippines. In the past, Larsson (2016) explained that the country has made

amendments to adapt in the Green Revolution where genetically modified organisms (GMOs)

were first authorized for commercial use in 2002 (p. 1069). However, research says that genetic

engineering may do more harm than good to the climate. Although it alleges the reduction of

chemical use in plant production, genetic engineering could pose several potential threats to the

environment of developing countries such as the Philippines (Olusegun & Olubiyi, 2017). In

relation to this, chemical use refers to the emission of greenhouse gases in the production of

pesticides such as herbicides among others, which are used in many agricultural practices today.

Even so, the claim that genetic engineering could alleviate greenhouse emissions is also refuted

by Bonny (2016), who suggests that herbicide tolerance is normally observed in genetically

modified crops (p. 34). This means that unwanted weeds in GMOs have the ability to survive even

after treatments, which furthers the use of herbicides. In fact, Almeida et al. (2017) proved that

genetic engineering in crops led to a 120% rise in pesticide use per hectare (p. 3334). This further

implies that the increased usage of pesticides could result in the increase of greenhouse gas

emissions as well. The findings above insinuate that modern agricultural practices such as genetic

engineering may be no different from conventional practices when it comes to harming the

environment, leading to climate change. With the current agricultural situation in the Philippines,

the government should call for an immediate review of the long term implications of

biotechnological solutions and a keen recognition of a more sustainable approach to address

climate change. Thus, the adoption of constructed-microbial communities, which is a sustainable

climate change.

For better evaluation, researchers confirmed that constructed-microbial communities

employ microbial inoculants which reduce greenhouse gas emissions attributed to synthetic

fertilizers and pesticides (Kavadia et al., 2020). According to Cocetta et al. (2021), the application

of microbial inoculants is integral to plant productivity and health, where it promotes reduced

environmental hazards as opposed to the use of synthetic fertilizers (p. 2). This is associated with

the fact that the use and production of synthetic fertilizers contribute significantly to nitrous oxide

emissions, a potent greenhouse gas. Relatively, since inoculants fulfill the role of fertilizers, it is

safe to say that constructed-microbial communities diminish the need for fertilizers. This is proven

by Calvo et al. (2016), who compared nitrogen-based fertilizers and microbial-based treatments in

an experiment (p. 1043). According to the researchers, the experiment resulted in an estimated

30% reduction of nitrous oxide emissions due to the use of microbial inoculants (p. 1047).

Likewise, the positive impact of microbial communities in the environment is not only limited to

the aforementioned benefit. For instance, Abatenh et al. (2018) argued that microorganisms in

constructed-microbial communities respond to carbon by transforming carbon dioxide into organic

compounds or carbohydrates, which reduces concentration of carbon in the atmosphere (p. 3). In

this way, climate change brought by the greenhouse effect shall be lessened. To confirm this,

Gougoulias et al. (2014) showed that there is a 25% annual removal of global fossil emissions in

the atmosphere from microbial communities (p. 2364). This could be deemed as a necessary

intervention in the Philippines, especially as they are more susceptible to extreme weather

conditions, a known effect of climate change. Conversely, as stipulated in the Organic Agriculture

Act of 2010, the Philippine government welcomes the advancement of sustainable agriculture such
as the proposed solution in the country (United Nations Environment Programme, n.d.). Therefore,

the presence of constructed-microbial communities in the Philippines may reap sustainable

environmental benefits, which in turn could help the government create a feasible climate change

policy.

References

Abatenh, E., Gizaw, B., Tsegaye, Z., & Tefera, G. (2018). Microbial function on climate change
– A review. Open J Environ Biol, 3(1), 001-007. http://dx.doi.org/10.17352/ojeb.000008

Almeida, V. E., Friedrich, K., Tygel, A. F., Melgarejo, L., & Carneiro, F. F. (2017). Use of
genetically modified crops and pesticides in Brazil: growing hazards. Ciência & Saude
Coletiva, 22(10), 3333–3339. https://doi.org/10.1590/1413-812320172210.17112017

Bonny, S. (2016). Genetically Modified Herbicide-tolerant crops, weeds, and herbicides:

Calvo, P., Watts, D. B., Kloepper, J. W., & Torbert, H. A. (2016). The influence of microbial-
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Gougoulias, C., Clark, J. M., & Shaw, L. J. (2014). The role of soil microbes in the global carbon
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Kavadia, A., Omirou, M., Fasoula, D., & Ioannides, I. M. (2020). The importance of microbial
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Larsson, K.. (2016). Who catches the biotech train? Understanding diverging political responses
to GMOs in Southeast Asia. The Journal of Peasant Studies, 43(5), 1068–1094.
https://doi.org/10.1080/03066150.2016.1176561
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United Nations Environment Programme. (n.d.). Organic Agriculture Act of 2010 (Republic Act
No. 10068). UN environment programme. https://leap.unep.org/countries/ph/national-
legislation/organic-agriculture-act-2010-repub lic-act-no-10068