ONE of Pakistan’s biggest concerns is climate change. Pakistan is extremely susceptible to changes in climate. Pakistan’s climate has altered over the past few decades, having a major impact on both the environment and the populace, much like the rest of South Asia. The melting of the Himalayan glaciers has affected some of Pakistan’s most significant rivers, in addition to causing more heat, drought and extreme weather in some areas of the nation. Pakistan came in fifth place among the nations affected by extreme weather brought on by climate change between 1999 and 2018.
Numerous natural catastrophes, such as cyclones, floods, droughts, heavy rains and earthquakes, can occur in Pakistan. Scientific studies indicate that climate change was a major factor in the catastrophic floods of 2022, which destroyed over 2.2 million homes, 13% of all health facilities, 4.4 million acres of crops, more than 8,000 kilometres of roads and other essential infrastructure, including about 440 bridges. The floods that hit Pakistan in 2022 claimed the lives of over 1,700 people and wounded around 13,000 more. It directly affected nearly a million people in Pakistan, including fatalities, destruction of public infrastructure and home displacement.
Pakistan recorded a very hot spell in May 2022. The temperature rose to 51°C. Such heatwaves are 100 times more likely as a result of climate change. In the absence of climate change, heatwaves that are even more extreme than those that happened in 2010 are predicted to occur once every 312 years. They are now anticipated to happen every three years.2022 saw devastating floods strike the nation. Climate change-related increases in precipitation and glacier melting were the primary contributors. A third of the entire country was submerged in water. “This flood has exceeded every boundary, every norm we’ve seen in the past,” stated Sherry Rahman.
Heatwaves, droughts, river and flash floods, landslides and storms, including cyclones, are common in Pakistan. There is a chance that the effects of climate change will start large-scale, powerful negative feedback loops that undermine public health and livelihoods. As a result, this exacerbates Pakistan’s continuous poverty problem. When combined with the nation’s ongoing political unrest and the country’s skyrocketing inflation rate, this situation has the potential to turn disastrous. These parallel patterns may be contributing factors to the movement of Pakistani citizens seeking work and more stable living circumstances from rural areas to urban centers as a result of climate change.
The majority of Pakistanis, according to the BBC Climate Asia survey, stated that floods and droughts and most significantly, the availability of resources like energy and water, have been severely impacted by climate change. Of Pakistanis, 53% thought that things had gotten worse in the last five years. Humanity faces existential challenges as a result of the changing environment, yet we are capable of making the required changes. We can establish an economy based on renewable resources and immaterialist behavioral patterns that will support humankind without endangering the environment with the help of social and political reform, new technology and management techniques and careful attention.
But in order to create a sustainable society, we must recognize, anticipate and learn how to mitigate our impact on the environment. This calls for the creation of sustainable technology, the advancement of science, structural improvements and people’s desire to alter their conduct. Reducing our dependency on fossil fuels like carbon, oil and natural gas and substituting them with cleaner, renewable energy sources would help address the climate catastrophe. This will also increase both the consumption of natural resources and energy efficiency. However, for reform to be effective, it must start at the top, with governments genuinely committing to upholding international agreements.
—The writer is currently working as a researcher in Mehran UET, Jamshoro.
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views expressed are writer’s own.
