Worsening typhoons in the Philippines emphasize the increasingly exacerbated damage of global warming

Human Rights Research Center
Nov 18, 2025
4 min read

November 18, 2025

HRRC appeals to the international community to give urgent and appropriate weight to worsening climate-induced weather events and their severe humanitarian consequences. Priority should be given to preparedness, prevention, and targeted aid for the most affected and vulnerable countries including the Philippines.

Residents on a wooden boat evacuate from their flooded home at a village in Tuguegarao City, Cagayan province, north of Manila on Nov 11, 2025, as flood waters continue to inundate homes due to heavy rains brought about by Super Typhoon Fung-wong. [Image credit: AFP/John Dimain]

On Sunday, November 9, the Philippines was hit by the second devastating typhoon in the same month: Typhoon Fung-Wong, a super typhoon that killed 27 people and destroyed vast amounts of infrastructure, including hundreds of thousands of homes. The typhoon follows on the heels of a separate deadly storm, Typhoon Kalmaegi, which left 232 dead after it hit the Philippines on November 4th.

The Philippines is among those nations most vulnerable to the uptick of deadly weather events, and climate scientists have observed an increasing trend in super-typhoons in the Philippines. The year-on-year increase in super typhoons from the last two decades is an almost 104% increase prior to the year 2000, according to Dr. Joseph Basconcillo, a climate scientist from the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA.) Meanwhile, the rise in sea surface temperatures, influenced by global warming, have also been linked to increased severity in typhoons and hurricanes, for example by causing stronger winds and heavier precipitation.

The catastrophic impact of this sequence of storms cannot be overstated, and yet the Philippines has also enhanced their mitigation efforts and preparedness. For example, prior to Typhoon Fun-Wong reaching the Philippines, authorities evacuated over 1.4 million people and had over 6.000 evacuation centers to house displaced people operating by the following day.

While the Phillipines’ resilience and preparedness ahead of the typhoons saved many lives, the increase in climate-induced weather events relies on the collective efforts of the international community. In the same week as the Philippines was hit with consecutive destructive storms, COP30 – the 30th annual United Nations Climate Change Conference – took place in Brazil. The conference, which represents a crucial moment to drive international action against climate change, aims to ensure a more appropriate and equal distribution of assets and resources to support vulnerable countries most affected by climate change disasters.

In the face of such destruction as Typhoons Fun-Wong and Kalmaegi, COP30 represents an opportunity for the international community to agree on means to increase preparedness and preemptive measures for the most vulnerable nations, improve and expand on these same nations’ disaster resilience, and raise the funds and means available for these countries’ to help recover from these disasters. These objectives were included in the founding goals of the Paris Climate Agreement, and that have still not been properly addressed internationally, even as they remain vital to address the human toll of global warming that continues to rise.

This latest deadly typhoons to affect the Philippines gives strength to the requests of those nations most vulnerable to the worsening effects of climate change — which are also the least contributing to the human made rising global temperatures — to have countries that contribute most greenhouse gas emissions to help pay for the reconstruction and disaster recovery that follows climate disasters. This is especially true as climate disasters are expected to continue to increase in frequency and destructive force as greenhouse gas emissions from the world’s highest-emitting countries drive global warming and the resulting natural disasters.

Glossary

Atmospheric instability - the atmosphere's tendency to amplify vertical air motion, leading to dynamic weather.
Central pressure - the air pressure at the center of a typhoon
Climate-induced weather events - extreme or unusually intense weather occurrences that are influenced by human-caused climate change
COP30 - United Nations Climate Change Conference taking place in Belém, Brazil from 10 to 21 November 2025
Disaster resilience - the ability of individuals, communities, organisations and states to adapt to and recover from hazards, shocks or stresses without compromising long-term prospects for development
Evacuation centers - a pre-designated, temporary safe location that provides basic shelter, food, water, and other essential services for people displaced by a disaster
Greenhouse gas emissions - the release of gases like carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4) into the atmosphere, where they trap heat and warm the planet
Humanitarian - pertaining to the lives, rights, and health of humankind.
International community - the community of nations that makes collective decisions in international forums such as the United Nations.
Mitigation efforts - actions taken to reduce the severity or impact of a potential risk, threat, or hazard
Precipitation - any form of water that falls from the atmosphere to the Earth's surface
Sea surface temperature - he temperature of the water at or near the ocean's surface, typically the top few millimeters to a few meters
Super-typhoons - A super typhoon is a tropical cyclone with sustained winds of at least 150 mph or 240 km/h in the western Pacific Ocean

Sources

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Worsening typhoons in the Philippines emphasize the increasingly exacerbated damage of global warming

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