Daily Times

The United Nation’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (UNIPCC) report on climate impacts has jointly been prepared by 300 world scientists and 66 expert authors taking onboard 271 officials from 115 countries and 57 observers. It is the first comprehensive UN report on climate impacts, which has taken around seven years to come into definitive form and become public. The report consists of 2,600 pages of densely written briefings and dozens of complicated graphics that are supposed to provide governments with all the information they need to make the right decisions on how to deal with climate change.

The IPCC chairman, Dr Rajendra K Pachauri, made the report public in a press conference on March 31, 2014. He made alarming revelations after first posing the question, “Why should the world pay attention to this report?” Then he answered his own query by saying, “Nobody on this planet is going to be untouched by the impacts of climate change…the serious implications on food security and livelihoods will be a ‘severe challenge’ for the poorest of the world.” The report further said that South Asian and African countries would suffer severe impacts of climate change The IPCC revealed that the Himalayan glaciers will melt very fast. Mici el Jarraud of the World Meteorological Organisation said, “We can no longer plead ignorance…and here may still be a few question marks but this is not an excuse to not act.” The summary of the IPCC report mentioned the word “risk” more than 230 times, compared to just over 40 mentions seven years ago, according to a count by the Red Cross. At the forefront of those risks was the potential for humanitarian crisis. The report invoked some of the disasters that have occurred around the planet since 2000: killer heat-waves in Europe, wildfires in Australia and deadly floods in Pakistan. Dr Bruce A McCarl, Regents Professor, Department of Agricultural Economics, Texas A&M University, while delivering his presentation, ‘Climate change and decision making: an economic and agricultural perspective’, said as a result of climate change, there had been increases in rainfall intensity and dry periods between events and Pakistan suffered more than any place in the world. “Due to the impacts of climate change, crop yield will reduce drastically by 2030 in many regions of the world.”

It is not shrouded in mystery that Pakistan is on the hit-list of climate changes. Sadly, there is no strategy and preparation to mitigate the effects of climatic change. The effects of climate change are manifest in Pakistan in the form of droughts, floods, water and food insecurity, and diseases. In November last year, a National Nutrition Survey revealed that around 60 percent of Pakistan’s total population was facing food insecurity and that in these households, almost 50 percent of women and children were malnourished. The survey showed that stunting (unnaturally short height for age), wasting (low weight for height) and micronutrient deficiencies were widespread in Pakistan. It also compared the statistics of 2001 and 2011. According to the survey, 43.7 percent of children under age five had stunted growth in 2011 compared to 41.6 percent in 2001. Similarly, 15.1 percent children were in the wasting category in 2011 compared to 14.3 percent in 2001. Furthermore, an estimated 35 percent of child deaths (under age five) in the country were linked to malnutrition, while the World Health Organisation labelled a national average of 15 percent or above as an “emergency”. The floods of 2010 hit Pakistan badly, economically and socially, and were a warning for further worse effects of climate change ahead. No heed was paid. There were lessons to be learnt but, as usual, it did not happen. The widespread deaths of peacocks went on for three years in Thar, since 2010, but the government paid no attention. Finally, the birds’ deaths switched over to the loss of precious human lives from disease and malnutrition. The media hyped up the deaths and held the Sindh government responsible for the tragedy. The real cause of the deaths was neglected by the media — the worst effects of climate change finally coming to light.

Climate change effects do not stop in Thar. Now the Cholistan desert is facing severe drought and a famine-like situation. A great number of people have started migrating to safer places. The chief minister Punjab has announced a relief package of more than Rs two billion for Cholistan before the situation takes a Thar-like turn. Pakistan will face further severe droughts, famine, floods and water and food scarcities in the coming years. Ad hoc measures like those used right now in Cholistan will not work because the effects of climate change cannot be curbed in this manner. There is a dire need for permanent measures to plan for the effects of climate change in the country. The government needs to allocate funds in the coming budget to start relief and climate mitigating measures in the areas that are believed to be worst hit by climate change.

The writer is a blogger and freelance columnist