ISLAMABAD: Global warming and subsequent climate change, caused by multiple environmental hazards, has started shrinking cold weather conditions in Pakistan bit-by-bit.
A weather expert Dr Muhammad Hanif made a shocking revelation that the climate change is causing one-day addition in summer season of the country every year.”Around 15 years ago, Pakistan’s summer season was spanning over 145 days (almost five months), but now it is of about 170 days, which means more or less one-day addition per year in hot days,” he said.He also said that environmental degradation because of multiple factors including less greenery, increased industrial and different chemical emissions was prolonging the summer season and shrinking the winter duration.
He said that climate change in the country had badly affected the agricultural sector and advised the growers to follow guidelinesof agri experts before cultivating any crop so they could get better yields. A Ministry of Climate Change spokesman Muhammad Saleemsaid that in the recent years, the impacts of climate change on thecountry’s all realms of socio-economic activity had grown more intense. Already in grip of shifting and unreliable winter and summer rainfall patterns, devastating floods, droughts, landslides, land and river erosions,rapidly melting glaciers, “Pakistan is bound to witness increase in intensity and frequency in these climate change impacts,” he said.
Citing some of the reasons of environmental degradation, he said that surging population growth, unsustainable sprawling growth in urban areas and unchecked deforestation were exacerbating the effects of global warming-induced climate change in the country. “These very issues are making natural disasters hard to manage,” he added. He said that Pakistan’s population was most likely to swell to230 million by 2030 and over 60 percent of it would be living in urban areas. He added, “This would build up more pressure on already ailing publicinfrastructures like water and sanitation, housing, education and health facilities”. The pressure would make it quite hard for municipalities and urbancivic agencies to manage the demand for the public services and manage disasters, particularly urban flooding and heat-waves. Migration from rural to urban centers is being prompted by better living standards, health and education facilities, water and sanitation, as well as by job opportunities in cities.
However, the swelling urban populations and consequent pressure on inadequate resources are causing deepening worry about climate change-related risks faced by cities.To stem the urban expansiveness, efforts need to be taken to provideall basic life amenities, particularly quality health, education, safe drinking water and sanitation facilities as well as better job opportunities for youth in rural areas.In the past, inadequate planning at village, town, district and provincial levels to deal with climate change impacts and avoid loss of the life and the people’s livelihood has exposed the country to water-related risks from climate change and has put the country’s agriculture, industry and hydropower at risk.
He said that in Pakistan the poor would have a higher exposure to flood risks than the average urban population, who would often get displaced and affected in the event of urban flooding or storm rains.”We must understand that densely populated cities would be more exposed to climate risk and impacts. However, increasing renewable energy usage, decreasing promotion of urban forestry, developing green transport systemsand building sustainable, livable cities for growing urban populations makeup forthe workable climate change adaptation solutions and can make the cities climate-resilient,” he said while proposing a possible solution.
Saleem said that over last five years the country had sufferedover 25 billion dollars in economic damages because of climate change-related natural disasters, particularly floods and torrential rains. “Nearly 35 billion dollars are required to recover these damages, mainly in agriculture, water, and public and communication infrastructure.”Quoting United Nations’ Development Programme reports, he said that Pakistan had suffered economic damages to the tune of $80billion over last 20 years, and is still facing nearly $4 billion loss every year due to climate change. He added that adequate budgetary allocations were inevitable formaking the country’s key socio-economic sectors such as mainly agriculture,water, energy, and communication infrastructures climate-resilient.
He said that in a 2015 assessment the US-based WorldResources Institute ranked Pakistan as the fifth most affected country forriver flooding, among 164 countries analysed.The institute estimated that floods affected nearly 715,000 people inthe country each year, causing $1.7 billion in economic losses. The US-basedthink-tank has further warned in its report that by 2030, river floods couldaffect two million more people in Pakistan every year, with climate changedriving 70 percent of that increase. He also said international climate reports warned that Pakistanwas most likely to remain worst victim of climate change, with more severeand frequent extreme weather events such as droughts, floods, heavy rains,cyclones, windstorms, dust-storms, heightened pace in glacial melt because of increase in hot days and decline in cold days.This would require introduction of drought, flood and heat wave-tolerant crop varieties and water-efficient irrigation technologies besidespractices as coping measures to tackle the vagaries of climate change, he added.More importantlyexploring viable ways to cultivate morefood with less water would be indispensable in the country when climatechange alters weather patterns, affects monsoon rainfall and reducesgroundwater and causes frequent droughts, he said.
Given the realization and to mitigate climate risks, the Green Pakistan Programme, envisioned by Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif, has been launched for tackling climate change and seriousness towards re-invigorating ailing forestry sector as a part of boosting country’s climate resilience. Under the Rs10 billion project, a target of planting 100 million treesin next five across the country years has been set.Besides, he said, the Ministry had urged the provincial governmentsto expedite implementation process of the national climate change policy,wherein different climate risks and solutions for them have been identified.
Provincial governments, he said, urgently needed to roll out climate change adaptation plans in agriculture, energy, water, irrigation, health,education and other socio-economic sectors to decrease country’s climatevulnerability, making it climate-safe through climate-smart programmes inthese very socio-economic sectors.
