Dawn 16 jan,2020

The Global Climate Risk Index has placed Pakistan on the fifth spot on the list of countries most
vulnerable to climate change in its annual report for 2020, which was released by the think-tank
Germanwatch.
According to the report, Pakistan lost 9,989 lives, suffered economic losses worth $3.8 billion and
witnessed 152 extreme weather events from 1999 to 2018 and based on this data, the think-tank has
concluded that Pakistan's vulnerability to climate change is increasing.

according to the report, Pakistan is among the countries that are "recurrently affected by catastrophes
[and] continuously rank among the most affected countries both in the long-term index and in the
index for the respective year"

Geographical location and lack of action

According to David Eckstein, one of the co-authors of this report, "the entire region where Pakistan is
located is prone to extreme weather events, in particular, heavy rainfalls e.g. during monsoon season, and
floodings as a result." to its geographical location.
"In terms of economic costs at $3.8 million, we are number three over a 20-year period. What this means
is that our economy is constantly at risk from climate catastrophes and this is not just an environmental
challenge but an issue impacting our economy, human health, agriculture and ecosystem,"

Assistance required
Pakistan’s NDC revealed that the country needs US$ 40 billion to reduce 20 per cent of its emissions
for 2030 and US$ 7-14 billion annually for adaptation.

Dirty fuel
The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf government's efforts does not change the fact that Pakistan has heavily
invested into the dirtiest fossil fuel on earth — coal and that can further exacerbate its vulnerability to
climate change. "I want to see the energy productivity of Pakistan increased but the energy itself
doesn’t have to be polluting. Coal is a dying technology. Why are we going after outdated
technology which is more expensive than solar and wind?. It just like someone insisting on buying a
cassette player in the age of digital and iPhones. Coal’s time is up."

Dawn 26 nov,2020
What the government should do

1. Undertake urgent reforestation and afforestation programmes on mountain slopes.

2. Build dams in Thar to store rainwater.
3. Devise and implement a waste management strategy for mountainous areas
4. Ban diesel vehicles in the mountains.
5. Switch to renewable energy sources.
6. Deploy a proactive approach rather than a reactionary one. We usually react to a disaster once it
has happened, instead of preparing ourselves beforehand. The proactive approach of preparedness
and foresightedness will save much time, money and lives.
 7. Make climate change a priority in the development and political agenda.
Planting trees and banning plastics alone won’t lessen our vulnerability to the changing climate.

One of the drastic effects of the changing climate is that it ultimately affects our GDP. What about
health? Poor people in Sindh die not only due to malnutrition, but also because of the unbearable heat.
Several have died in the recent heavy rains because the appropriate infrastructure is not in place. The
smog that hits Lahore each year affects the health of so many. Yet we fail to understand the
dangers of the changing climate.

What have we done so far?

1. We have planted a billion trees in KP, and we are planting more under the 10 Billion Tree
Tsunami project.
2. 2ndly trees will take time to grow and show their positive effect on the environment.
3. Thirdly, there is speculation that not all the trees being planted are fast growers and helpful for
the underground water table.
4. recently the authorities announced the Plastic Bag Se Azadi campaign.
5. The government’s next step should be to ban one-time-use plastics, which include disposable
cups, straws and food boxes.

Our energy systems

1. Pakistan is heavily reliant on energy generation via fossil fuels for its power needs. Our total
energy mix largely includes oil, gas and coal, while a small amount constitutes renewable
resources of energy.

The climate beast is hitting Pakistan far more often and at far too many places than we know:
extreme climate events have become a regular phenomenon. The heatwave that took more than
1,200 lives in Karachi only two years ago has since been visiting us with greater frequency and
intensity. At 50.4oC, Nawabshah in Sindh recorded in April 2018 the highest temperature ever
recorded globally. Floods and hydro-disasters since 2010 — when 20 million Pakistanis were
directly affected — have become an annual feature. Riverine communities routinely get wiped
away without even a mention by media. And if it is not the floods, the calamity of drought is
afflicting misery in Tharpakar and several other regions particularly in Balochistan.(dawn 01 april
2019)

UN
The UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)

a. From 1880 to 2012, the average global temperature increased by 0.85°C.

b. Oceans have warmed, the amounts of snow and ice have diminished and the sea level has risen.

c. 106 km² of ice loss per decade.

d. Given current concentrations and ongoing emissions of greenhouse gases, it is likely that by the
end of this century global mean temperature will continue to rise above the pre-industrial level.
 The world’s oceans will warm and ice melt will continue. Average sea level rise is predicted to be
24–30 cm by 2065 and 40–63 cm by 2100 relative to the reference period of 1986–2005.

Global Warming of 1.5°C

In October 2018 the IPCC issued a special report on the impacts of global warming of
1.5°C, finding that limiting global warming to 1.5°C would require rapid, far-reaching and
unprecedented changes in all aspects of society. With clear benefits to people and
natural ecosystems, the report found that limiting global warming to 1.5°C compared to
2°C could go hand in hand with ensuring a more sustainable and equitable society.
While previous estimates focused on estimating the damage if average temperatures
were to rise by 2°C, this report shows.

2019 Climate Action Summit

On 23 September 2019, Secretary-General António Guterres convened a Climate
Summit to bring world leaders of governments, the private sector and civil society
together to support the multilateral process and to increase and accelerate climate
action and ambition. The Summit focused on key sectors where action can make the
most difference—heavy industry, nature-based solutions, cities, energy, resilience, and
climate finance. “We need more concrete plans, more ambition from more
countries and more businesses. We need all financial institutions, public and
private, to choose, once and for all, the green economy.” ( Secretary-General
António Guterres)

UN

Carbon dioxide (CO2) levels and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere rose to

new records in 2019. Climate change is affecting every country on every continent. It is
disrupting national economies and affecting lives. Weather patterns are changing, sea
levels are rising, and weather events are becoming more extreme.

Although greenhouse gas emissions are projected to drop about 6 per cent in 2020 due
to travel bans and economic slowdowns resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, this
improvement is only temporary. Climate change is not on pause. Once the global
economy begins to recover from the pandemic, emissions are expected to return to
higher levels.

The UN Secretary-General has proposed  six climate-positive actions for governments

to take once they go about building back their economies and societies:

1. Green transition: Investments must accelerate the decarbonization of all aspects of our

economy.
2. Green jobs and sustainable and inclusive growth
 3. Green economy: making societies and people more resilient through a transition that is
fair to all and leaves no one behind.
4. Invest in sustainable solutions: fossil fuel subsidies must end and polluters must pay for
their pollution.
5. Confront all climate risks
6. Cooperation – no country can succeed alone.

To address the climate emergency, post-pandemic recovery plans need to trigger long-

term systemic shifts that will change the trajectory of CO2 levels in the atmosphere.

Climate Change JWT

Today’s most daunting challenge
Today, the phenomenon of climate change has become one of the most critical global issues, and is soon
going to be the biggest challenge faced by the humans. Some of the drivers of climate change include
deforestation, infrastructural developments, transmission of increased CO2 emissions, burning of trash,
growing number of vehicles and setting up of automobile workshops and dumping.
Causes and effects of climate change
Human activity from pollution to overpopulation is driving the earth’s temperature up and is fundamentally
changing the world around us. It is basically called the greenhouse effect – warming which results when
solar radiation is trapped by the atmosphere. Gases in the atmosphere such as water vapour, carbon
dioxide, nitrous oxide, methane and chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) are the biggest sources of global
warming. The more greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, the more heat trapped, thus strengthening the
greenhouse effect and increasing the earth’s temperatures. Human activities like the burning of fossil
fuels have increased the CO2 levels, especially since the Industrial Revolution. The rapid increase in the
greenhouse gases in the atmosphere had been warming the planet at an alarming rate. While earth’s
climate has fluctuated in the past, atmospheric carbon dioxide has not reached the levels it is touching
today. Climate change has consequences for our oceans, weather food and health.
Oceans
Ice sheets such as Iceland and Antarctica are melting. The extra water is causing sea levels to rise and
spills out of the oceans, thus causing floods in more regions.
Weather
Warmer temperature also makes strange weather patterns. This means not only more intense major
storms, floods and heavy snowfall but also longer and heavy droughts. These changes in weather are the
real challenges.
Food
Growing crops becomes more difficult; the areas where plants and animals can live, shift. Water supplies
are diminished.
Health
In addition to creating new agricultural challenges, climate change can directly affect people’s physical
health. In urban areas, the warmer climate creates the environment that traps and increases the amount
of smog. This is because smog contains ozone particles which increase rapidly at higher temperatures.
Exposure to the higher level of smog can cause health problems such as asthma, heart disease and lung
cancer.
Conclusion
While the rapid rate of climate change is caused by humans, it is us, the humans, who can combat this
menace. If we work to replace fossil fuels with renewable energy sources, like wind and solar, which don’t
produce greenhouse gas emissions we might be able to prevent some of the worst effects of climate
change.
There is, currently, a sheer lack of awareness regarding real dangers of climate and the ways we should
combat those. The issues should be brought up as a topic in social sciences, mass communication,
environmental and religious lectures or Friday sermons. The Ulema and the social and political leaders
must take the lead in this regard.