Climate Disinformation in the Philippines: Legitimising Attacks on Indigenous Peoples
This report examines how climate disinformation legitimises deadly attacks on Indigenous Peoples, subordinating their land rights to state-driven land control and industrial expansion, and what must change.
The Philippines is one of the world’s most climate-vulnerable nations, ranking first in natural hazard risk on the World Risk Index, yet its land use policies continue to prioritise extractive industries over ecological sustainability. Indigenous Peoples (IPs), who make up approximately 15 percent of the country’s population, bear the heaviest burden of this contradiction as they reside in natural environments that are both vital to climate resilience and under constant pressure from state-backed development.
The intersection of state militarisation and climate change creates a compounding threat for IPs. These dynamics are further obscured by the proliferation of climate disinformation, which falsely frames state-driven land acquisition as environmentally progressive while baselessly labelling Indigenous land defenders as “communists” or “terrorists”. Such narratives justify land grabbing and recast legitimate rights-based advocacy as a national security threat, effectively providing ideological cover for systemic violence under the country’s “Whole-of-Nation” counter-insurgency framework.
Despite growing international attention to the Philippines’ environmental and human rights record, the specific ways in which climate disinformation shapes violence against IPs remain insufficiently understood.
This report seeks to fill that gap. It examines how climate disinformation legitimises deadly attacks on Indigenous Peoples, subordinating their land rights to state-driven land control and industrial expansion, and what must change.
The report is a collaborative effort between IMS and Asia Centre.
