In terms of climate change and its effects South Asian and African regions are the most affected regions of the world. According to international and national scientists and engineers, Pakistan and its neighboring countries are considered among the most affected by climate change. Pakistan is among those top 20 countries which will be hit hard by climate change in the near future. This just does not only mean that the temperature will raise and our glaciers will melt, this also means that there will be an increase in migrations. There will be security issue, water security is already a problem. So, this will have a cascading effect that will eventually have an impact on our regional security. So this will not only environment issue, instead this will become a security issue and a national political issue as well.
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN GLOBAL WARMING AND CLIMATE CHANGE:
Global warming is a scientific phenomenon in which the earth warms up due to carbon dioxide, which means that climate change is in fact a cause of Global Warming. Unfortunately, people cannot differentiate between climate and environment.
Environmental pollution is water pollution, air pollution, land pollution and plastic pollution, these four types of pollution are different from climate change.
New research published by the Frontiers inventories show that just 25 mega cities produce 52% of the greenhouse gas emissions from the studied cities.
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF CARBON LEVEL
The carbon level from the past eight hundred thousand years were the same, the carbon levels right now 415 parts per million in the atmosphere. We can say that 0.04% of the atmosphere is carbon dioxide whereas before it was 0.03%. It might look like it’s not a big difference but it does make a big difference.
Human came into existence around 2 to 4 million ago since then the carbon levels did not get as high as they are now and if we go back 400 million years ago, even back then the carbon level did not get so high as to how much, the carbon level will be increasing in the upcoming 100 years. This is problematic because in history, we did not observe that the carbon levels are so high and what will be its consequences on planet earth. But we know for sure that human will be severely affected by this. And as for how it will affect Pakistan.
CLIMATE CHANGE AND ITS EFFECTS ON PAKISTAN
Pakistan is an agricultural country. Pakistan is overpopulated and a middle to lower income countries. Therefore, people don’t have the resources to protect themselves from climate change and its effects in Pakistan.
Although, the Government claims that we are not producing so much carbon dioxide and we are producing less than 1% globally. But the statistics indicate that by the year 2030, Pakistan carbon emissions would increase by 300 percent, and this is something that the government itself calculated and submitted in the Paris Agreement.
The government is working a lot on this and has shut down the coal power plants but we need more sustainability which would not only benefit us in terms of carbon dioxide emissions but it will also benefit our economy. It will create jobs and the well-being of the people will improve.
After Antarctica and the Arctic Circle, the third most snow covered area is the Himalayas, which are located in the North of Pakistan and India. These GLOF (Glacial Lake Outburst Floods) are very intense floods which can destroy entire villages but unfortunately there is no solution to this. They are melting due to rise in the global temperatures which would be the great effect of climate change in Pakistan.
We cannot stop the global temperature rise alone, it requires a global effort. The most we can do is to increase our response rate. We can warn people before hand via warning system, so that they evacuate. Those people who are displaced as a result, should be assisted to migrate.
CLIMATE RISKS AND THREATS TO PAKISTAN
The German watch report has been warning Pakistan since 1999 that Pakistan is one of the most affected countries. The low income countries are the most affected by climate change. One of the reasons is that these countries are mainly agricultural countries which mean that most of the GDP is dependent upon crops and crops depend on three things sunlight, water and nutrient soil. Climate changes affect all three of them. When the rainfall is late and the availability of water is different then obviously, the crops production will also become different and the yield vary as well. This might be beneficial to some and disastrous to others.
Contrary to popular belief, the transportation sector emits less than 20 percent of carbon dioxide. There is a research on a website called https://drawdown.org/, it has published a comprehensive list of top 100 solution to climate change. The top three solution in that list are
- Plant rich diets
- Health and Education
- Reduced food waste
SOLUTIONS TO REDUCE THE DRIVERS OF CLIMATE CHANGE:
Majority of the waste in Pakistan consist of food waste (organic waste). There’s too much food waste in Pakistan and I don’t know whether the footprint of this calculated or not because we don’t have enough research and resources. Hence the most effective step that we can take individually is to reduce our food or organic waste which can be done via composting. The Government can construct bio-reactors which are not difficult to make and can convert it into gas.
If we talk about the health and education sector, as per research, the more educated women are, the more the economy will improve. Similarly agricultural production and food security will improve whereas the population will decrease. That’s because the educated women choose to have less children. Since we are an overpopulated country, there is a huge burden on our resources. The best strategy is to raise our educational standards. Until our people are not educated and they don’t have the resources to understand what climate change is and how it is affecting us.
Overall, climate change is having significant effects on Pakistan, and urgent action is needed to mitigate its effects and adapt to the changes already occurring.
To study the Global Warming click on the link https://writersclubpk.com/global-warming/