Global Warming

What is Global Warming?

Global Warming is a gradual increase in the overall temperature of the

earth's atmosphere generally attributed to the greenhouse effect.
Global Warming: Fact or Fiction?
• Global Warming is real and it is actually happening.
• According to IPCC, associated rise in sea level over the course of 21st
century is 0.6 meters (two feet).
• Average air temperatures in the region have increased by about 5°C
over the last 100 years.
• According to the NASA, there is approximate 400 billion tons total
glacier lost per year since 1994.
• According to the Provincial Disaster Management Authority for the
Karachi region, the 2015 heat wave in Karachi led to the death of
more than 1200 people and 65,000 were treated for heat illness.
• According to ADB report, Pakistan suffered from 141 extreme
weather events and lost an average of 523.1 lives per year due to
climate change effects.
• In 2017, more than 40 million people affected by massive floods
across India, Bangladesh and Nepal with 1300 killed and at least 1.5
million homes destroyed or damaged.
What is Greenhouse effect?
Is Greenhouse effect Good or Bad?

Without naturally occurring greenhouse gases, Earth's average

temperature would be near 0°F (or -18°C) instead of the much warmer
59°F (15°C).
What is Greenhouse effect?
• Step 1: Solar radiation reaches the Earth's atmosphere - some of this is
reflected back into space.
• Step 2: The rest of the sun's energy is absorbed by the land and the oceans,
heating the Earth.
• Step 3: Heat radiates from Earth towards space.
• Step 4: Some of this heat is trapped by greenhouse gases in the atmosphere,
keeping the Earth warm enough to sustain life.
• Step 5: Human activities such as burning fossil fuels, agriculture and land
clearing are increasing the amount of greenhouse gases released into the
atmosphere.
• Step 6: This is trapping extra heat, and causing the Earth's temperature to
rise.
Causes of Global Warming
• Deforestation
• Desertification
• Volcanic Eruption
• Decomposition of Wastes
• Agriculture activities
• Biomass Burning
• Fossil Fuel Combustion
• Industrialization
Deforestation
Deforestation
• Sunlight is essential for photosynthesis, a process where plants absorb
sunlight to synthesize food from carbon dioxide and water. Forests help
regulate the natural greenhouse effect because trees absorb carbon
dioxide from the atmosphere for photosynthesis.
• Deforestation will increase the risk of desertification in the cleared areas
because trees cover the moist forest soils which prevent it from quickly
drying out.
• Trees are also responsible for continuing the water cycle by returning
water vapor back into the atmosphere.
• According to the World Carfree Network (WCN), cars and trucks account
for about 14 percent of global carbon emissions, while most analysts
attribute upwards of 15 percent to deforestation.
Desertification
 Desertification
• It generally refers to “the process of fertile land transforming into desert typically as
a result of deforestation, drought, or improper/inappropriate agriculture”
• This process usually results in the desertified land losing its vegetation, water bodies
(lakes, streams), and wildlife.
• The lack of plants can cause changes to the land.
• Plants help shade the soil, so when plants are removed, the soil will be exposed to the
sun and will dry out more quickly.
• The roots of plants often help hold soil in place. If plants are removed, the soil will
have nothing protecting it, and it will be more susceptible to erosion by wind.
• This will reduce fertility of the land because the top layer of soil that will be blown
away by wind is often the richest in nutrients.
• Once this top layer of soil is removed, the land will no longer be fertile and will be
unable to support the growth of vegetation.
• Hotter soil leaks carbon into the atmosphere faster than non-
overheated soil, thereby contributing to the world's CO2 count.
• According to the UN's Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD),
around 12 million hectares of productive land become barren every
year due to desertification and drought alone.
Volcanic Eruption
Volcanic Eruption
• Volcanic eruptions are responsible for releasing molten rock, or lava, from deep within the
Earth, forming new rock on the Earth’s surface. But eruptions also impact the atmosphere.
• The gases and dust particles thrown into the atmosphere during volcanic eruptions have
influences on climate.
• Most of the particles spewed from volcanoes cool the planet by shading incoming solar
radiation. The cooling effect can last for months to years depending on the characteristics
of the eruption.
• But it also released greenhouse gases into the atmosphere when extreme amount of
volcanism occurred.
• Below is an overview of materials that make their way from volcanic eruptions into the
atmosphere: particles of dust and ash, sulfur dioxide, and greenhouse gases like water
vapor and carbon dioxide.
• According to the Center for Science Education, volcanoes have also caused global
warming over millions of years when extreme amounts of eruptions occurred, releasing
greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.
Decomposition of Wastes
• Landfills produce large amounts of methane, a powerful greenhouse
gas created by decomposing organic materials.
• According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
assessment report, methane is a potent greenhouse gas 28 to 36
times more effective than CO2 at trapping heat in the atmosphere
over a 100 year period.
• According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), in US
landfills produce 23 percent of all methane generated by human-
related sources.
Agriculture Activities
• Owing to the increasing world population, existing agricultural lands
and marine fisheries have been exploited more intensely, with heavy
dependence on fossil fuel, commercial fertilizers and pesticides, and
water.
• This results in increased atmospheric emissions of greenhouse gases
such as methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O).
• Three agricultural activities contribute directly to greenhouse gas
emissions:
1. Cultivation of flooded rice fields
2. Enteric fermentation in livestock (cow farting)
3. Use of nitrogenous fertilizers.
• According to the FAO report, rice production contributes 7 MMT CO2e
because rice is grown on flooded fields where microbes under
anaerobic soil conditions produce methane. This methane escapes to
the atmosphere where it captures heat 21 times more effectively than
CO2.
• The decomposition of fertilizers and crop residues results in 
Methane Emissions from Flooded Rice Cultivation.
• Nitrogenous fertilizers have played an important role in increasing
yields. But as a result of microbial action in the soil, these chemicals
release nitrous oxide.
• The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said emissions
associated with livestock added up to 7.1 gigatonnes (GT) of carbon
dioxide equivalent (CO2-eq) per year – or 14.5% of all human-caused
greenhouse releases.
Biomass Burning
Biomass Burning
• Biomass burning is the burning of living and dead vegetation. It includes the
human-initiated burning of vegetation for land clearing and land-use
change as well as natural, lightning-induced fires.
• Biomass burning emissions include those from large-scale wildfires,
prescribed fires, agricultural fires and burning of biofuel for domestic
heating and cooking purposes.
• Aerosol emitted by fires can alter the radiative balance of the atmosphere
through scattering and absorption of light.
• Biomass burning is one of the major emitter of methane (CH4).
• According to the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment and the
Precourt Institute for Energy, almost 8.5 billion tons of atmospheric carbon
dioxide come from biomass burning.
• According to the Stanford Civil and Environmental Engineering Professor Mark Z.
Jacobson research demonstrates that it isn't just the CO2 from biomass burning that's a
problem. Black carbon and brown carbon maximize the thermal impacts of such fires.
• They essentially allow biomass burning to cause much more global warming per unit
weight than other human-associated carbon sources. 
• Black and brown carbon particles increase atmospheric warming in three ways.
First, they enter the minuscule water droplets that form clouds. During the day,
sunlight scatters around within clouds.
When sunlight penetrates a water droplet containing black or brown carbon
particles, Jacobson said, the carbon absorbs the light energy, creating heat and
accelerating evaporation of the droplet. Carbon particles floating around in the spaces
between the droplets also absorb scattered sunlight, converting it to heat. "Heating the
cloud reduces the relative humidity in the cloud," Jacobson said.
This causes the cloud to dissipate. And because clouds reflect sunlight, cloud
dissipation causes more sunlight to transfer to the ground and seas, ultimately resulting in
warmer ground and air temperatures.
• Carbon particles released from burning biomass settle on snow and ice, contributing to
further warming.
Fossil Fuel Combustion
• Fossil fuels are rock-like, gas, or liquid resources that are burned to
generate power.
• They include coal, natural gas, and oil, and are used as an energy
source in the electricity and transportation sectors.
• According to the US Energy Information Administration, in 2014,
approximately 78 percent of US global warming emissions were
energy-related emissions of carbon dioxide.
Industrialization
Industrialization
• Since the Industrial Revolution began in the late 1700s, the world's
climate has been changing in a rapid and unprecedented way.
• Industrial activities emit Nitrous Oxide.
• Halocarbons (HFCs and PFCs) and (SF6) are also very powerful
greenhouse gases and are not naturally occurring.
• Certain industrial processes such as cement production, waste
management systems and refrigeration cause the release of the other
greenhouse gases.
• The average global temperature has risen 1.4 degrees Fahrenheit (0.8
degrees Celsius) since 1880, according to NASA.
• According to the US EPA, industry emit 21pc of greenhouse gases.
Gases that contribute to the Greenhouse effect
• Carbon dioxide
• Methane
• Nitrous Oxide
• Fluorinated Gases
 Carbon dioxide
• Carbon dioxide is the primary greenhouse gas that is contributing to
recent climate change.
• Most abundant greenhouse gas
• According to the US Geological Survey (USGS) report, human activities
release over 300 billion tons of CO2 into the atmosphere every year.
• Natural Emitter of CO2
human and animal respiration
Volcanic eruptions
 
• Human activities which emit CO2
Burning of fossil fuels
 Methane
• Methane is produced through both natural and human activities.
• Methane's lifetime in the atmosphere is much shorter than carbon
dioxide (CO2), but CH4 is more efficient at trapping radiation than CO2.
• Animals, particularly livestock like sheep and cattle, produce methane, a
greenhouse gas.
• Emitter of Methane 
Agricultural activities especially rice cultivation
Fossil fuel extraction (Oil drilling)
Raising of livestock
Nitrous Oxide
• Nitrous oxide is produced through natural and human activities but
mostly from anthropogenic activities.
• Fuel burning and some other processes also create N2O.
• The impact of 1 pound of N2O on warming the atmosphere is almost
300 times that of 1 pound of carbon dioxide.
• Human Activities which emit N2O
Soil Cultivation Practices especially the use of commercial and
organic fertilizers
Fossil Fuel Combustion
Biomass Burning
Fluorinated Gases
• Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs),
hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), perfluorocarbons (PFCs), and sulfur
hexafluoride (SF6), together called Fluorinated Gases.
• Most potent greenhouse gas
• These F-Gases are often used in foaming agents, fire extinguishers,
and pesticides.
• Unlike water vapor , these F-gases have a long atmospheric lifetime
Effects of Global Warming
• Melting Glaciers
o According to the NASA, there is approximate 400 billion tons total glacier lost per year since
1994.
• Disrupted Arctic Food Web
o According to Lars Chresten Lund-Hansen, a sea ice ecologist at Denmark's Aarhus
University, Ice algae "are the basis of the food chain. If there are no ice algae, then there
are no zooplankton, no fish, no seals, no polar bears.“
• Sporadic and Severe Weather Patterns
o Flood in 2010 killed 1600 people affecting an area of 38,600 square kilometer and caused a
financial loss of more than $10 billion.
o According to the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions report, global precipitation was
also far above normal, with 2010 as the wettest year since 1900.
• Threat to Coastal Areas
o Increased vulnerability to coastal storm damage and flooding
o Salinization of surface water and groundwater.
o According to ADB report, the sea level is expected to rise by 60 cm by the end of century in
Pakistan and will most likely affect low lying coastal areas.
• Hamper Food Supplies
o Worldwide, farmers are struggling to keep up with shifting weather patterns and
increasingly unpredictable water supplies.
o Research suggests that as plants lose water more slowly, their circulation slows
down, and they draw in less nitrogen and minerals from the soil.
o Vitamin B levels in crops may drop as well because nitrogen in plants is critical for
producing these vitamins.
o According to a 2011 National Academy of Sciences report, for every degree
Celsius that the global thermostat rises, there will be a 5 to 15 percent decrease
in overall crop production.
• Hotter and Acidic Oceans
o When humans burn fossil fuels, the oceans absorb roughly one-third of that
additional carbon dioxide. This process staves off (some) global warming, but it
also makes the seas more acidic, as the carbon dissolves in water to form
carbonic acid. That's ocean acidification.
o According to the IPCC, since the Industrial Revolution, the oceans have become
30 percent more acidic (that is, the pH of ocean surface water has dropped from
roughly 8.18 to 8.07). 
• Extinction of Animals
o As sea ice disappears, ice-dependent mammals such as walruses and polar bears struggle
to survive.
o Other animals who are affected by the global warming: Asian Rhinos, Penguins and African
Elephants.
o The IPCC estimates that 20-30% of the plant and animal species evaluated so far in climate
change studies are at risk of extinction if temperatures reach the levels projected to occur
by the end of this century
• Forests: Prone to deadly infestations
o Milder winters and longer summers allow tree-killing insects to thrive.
o In 2007, pine beetles had damaged more than 650,000 acres of forest in Colorado and
spruce beetles had damaged more than 3.7 million acres in southern Alaska and western
Canada.
• Health
o Smog irritates lungs and triggers asthma attacks. And Warmer freshwater makes it easier
for disease-causing agents (such as bacteria) to grow and contaminate drinking water.
o According to the World Health Organization (WHO), between 2030 and 2050, climate
change is expected to cause approximately 250 000 additional deaths per year, from
malnutrition, malaria, diarrhoea and heat stress.
• Ozone Depletion

o Ozone depletion, gradual thinning of Earth’s ozone layer in the upper 

atmosphere caused by the release of chemical compounds containing
gaseous chlorine or bromine from industry and other human activities.
o The thinning is most pronounced in the polar regions, especially over 
Antarctica.
o The Montreal Protocol, ratified in 1987, was the first of several 
comprehensive international agreements enacted to halt the production and
use of ozone-depleting chemicals.
o As a result of continued international cooperation on this issue, the ozone
layer is expected to recover over time.
Remedial Measures
• Reforestation
o World Wide Fund for Nature-Pakistan (WWF-Pakistan) through its Indus for All
Programme, in order to make coastal areas of Pakistan resilient to climate change ,
planted 7,500 ha of mangroves in coastal areas of Sindh and an additional 550 ha as part
of its project Bulding Capacity on Climate Change in Coastal Areas of Pakistan (CCAP).
• Emphasis on Organic Farming
o Crop rotation, diversifying crops, absolute prohibition of the use of genetically modified
organisms, etc.
o The Rodale Institute, claims that we could sequester more than 100% of current annual
CO2 emissions with a switch to widely available and inexpensive organic management
practices, which we term ‘regenerative organic agriculture’.
• Individual efforts to reduce Carbon Footprint
o Recycle  as much as possible, reduce energy use, etc.
• Shifting to Renewable Energy
o Pakistan has huge potential for alternative energy generation, an estimated 2.9 million
megawatt (MW) of solar energy and 340,000 MW of wind, according to 
Pakistan Alternative Energy Board as well as some 100,000 MW of hydropower.
• Waste Management
o Composting: Composting is the natural biological breakdown of organic material
by microorganisms.
o Combustion and Landfilling
• Scientific Research and Advancement
o Sodium based batteries will be four times more efficient than solar panels it will
generate power at unprecedented level with zero CO2 emissions.
o CO2NCRETE, a project will that will capture CO2 and turn it into concrete that will
also be used in construction.
o Hydrogen fuel cell technology is being used by companies like Toyota to achieve
zero-emission.
• Reduce emission from livestock
o According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), greenhouse gas
emissions from livestock could be cut by up to 30% if farmers adopt better
techniques.
o Chopping, and alkali and urea treatment of low digestible straws, improve
digestibility. When fed to ruminants, these options may decrease methane
emissions in the order of 10 to 25 percent in normally poorly fed animals.
Pakistan’s Plan for action after the 2015
Paris Agreement
• The country will reduce up to 20 pc of its 2030 projected greenhouse
emissions subject to the availability of international grants to meet
the cumulative abatement cost amounting to approximately $40 bn.
• Annual adaptation needs have been identified as between $7bn and
$14 bn.
• The recently operational Green Climate Fund has given Pakistan $37
m for a project to scale up Glacial Lake Outburst Flood risk reduction
in northern Pakistan.
• The GCF was supposed to receive $100 bn annually 2020 from
developed countries but it has only raised $10.3 bn so far.
IPCC dramatic report on keeping that rise
under 1.5 degrees C
stipulate Five steps to 1.5
1. Global emissions of CO2 need to decline by 45% from 2010 levels by
2030.
2. Renewables are estimated to provide up to 85% of global electricity
by 2050.
3. Coal is expected to reduce to close to zero.
4. Up to 7 million sq km of land will be needed for energy crops (a bit
less than the size of Australia).
5. Global net zero emissions by 2050.
How much will all this cost?
• It won't come cheap. The report says that to limit warming to 1.5C, it
will involve "annual average investment needs in the energy system of
around $2.4 trillion" between 2016 and 2035.
National Climate Change Policy 2012
• Objectives
o Sustained Economic growth by addressing challenges of climate change
o Ensure water security, food security and energy security of the country in the
face of challenges posed by the climate change
o Promote conservation of natural resources and long term sustainability
• Adaptation Measures
o Water Resources (new dams, upgrading existing one, water conservation)
o Agriculture and Livestock (assessment of climate change impacts, new
varieties of crops, improved breeds)
o Protect biodiversity (Research on flora and fauna, conserve biodiversity,
encourage participation of local communities in conserving of biodiversity)
• Mitigation Measures
o Energy Sector (promotion of renewable energy, expansion of nuclear power
generation capacity, import of natural gas)
o Agriculture and Livestock (reduce in use of chemicals and conservation of
water)
o Forestry Sector (expansion of forest, stop illegal cutting)