Pakistan on its way to combat climate change – by- Naseem Sheikh

Pakistan on its righteous way to combat climate change – by- Naseem Sheikh

This week (19August -20 August) around 100 ministers and more than 600 stake holders from developing countries will gather at the home of Green Climate Fund in Songdo, Republic of Korea, for Global Programming Conference. It's time to realize climate ambitions for a low-emission future. The latest IPCC report highlighted the importance of land use in the fight against Climate Change. Only with proper climate change adaptation planning and budgeting can the most vulnerable sectors - such as agriculture - expect systematic, suitable, and long-term support by both local institutions and donors. On Monday, the Green Climate Fund announced that it had committed $2.2billion in expenditures whereas it has $40bn worth of projects marked for execution.

Countries susceptible to rising sea levels, droughts and flooding are particularly anxious about climate finance drying up as the US withdraws its financial contributions. A lack of funding for the water sector would mean compromising on other development goals (energy, food security, education) for countries such as Pakistan. If the emission gap is not bridged by 2030, it is extremely unlikely that the goal of holding global warming at 2°C will be achieved.

Pakistan being a 7^th most vulnerable country to climate change according to German watch has suffered 141 extreme weather vents from 1997-2016. In last 50 years, the annual temperature has risen by 0.5C. Due to which number of heatwave days, led to the heat wave death of five fold in last 30 years. By 1200, the annual mean temperature in Pakistan is expected to rise 3C to 5C for a central global emission scenario, while higher global emission may yield arise of 4C to 6C. All this rise in temperature cause the desertification. Urbanization, deforestation, lack of water storage reservoirs, and overpopulation become the reason of drastic change in climatic condition.

2010 super flood killed 1600 people, inundated an area of 38600 square kilometers and caused damage worth of $10 billion. During floods in 2010-11, almost 10% of Pakistan’s population was displaced in 2 provinces, one in the North and another in the South.

Air pollution caused 60,000 deaths in 2015 (WHO). Between 1997 - 1216 Pakistan lost an average of 573.1 lives per year due to climatic change effects.

The country’s adaptation, to climate change, requirements have been recognized to range between $7 billion to $14 billion per year. Previous year, the expenditures of extreme weather as a result of climate change, were listed at $ 384 million and in the past 20 years, there has been a cost of almost $ 2 billion to the national economy because of the ravages of climate change.

Pakistan already on right path for climatic saving and pollution reduction, in process of doing so ban on the use of polythene bags is already implemented from 14th August of this year in the federal capital at initial level, and the decision is being appreciated by all segments of the society. Plastic ban will be implemented next in Karachi, the metropolitan city of Pakistan till October, 2019. Traffic pollution is another issue especially in a big and highly populated city like Karachi, Federal government is launching green transportation project in Karachi and Green Carbon Fund has given 50 million US dollar in this regard. It is good hope that the fight to struggle climate change has now been taken up by not just the government but the parliamentarians, media, civil society, and concerned citizens, which gives optimism that this fight can and will be won in a country that is faced with some of the severest challenges to its future due to climate change. The best thing is that all these positive practical steps has been taken by country itself along with its country men.

The Green Climate Fund (GCF) has provided Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) with a grant of nearly $35 million, while the provincial governments of Punjab and Sindh have committed an additional $12.7 million in co-financing for transform the Pakistan’s Indus River Basin by improving agriculture and water management to make this vital food-producing region more resilient to climate change.

In the Indus River Basin, agriculture employs nearly 26 percent of Pakistan’s labour force and produces more than 90 percent of the country’s agriculture outputs. However, extended droughts and floods have affected millions of people in recent years. Mina Dowlatchahi, FAO Representative in Pakistan said “This is a major commitment and we look forward to working with government and other partners for the direct benefit of some 1.3 million rural people and indirectly for millions more”. This will help shift Pakistan and its Indus Basin agriculture from a current situation of high vulnerability toward an alternative paradigm wherein better information, water management and farming practices will significantly increase resilience to climate change.