There are many problems in our country. Some problems belong to a given group of people, a certain community or might beconcerned with only a specific geographical location. Today I am not going to talk about them but I would like to highlight an important problem that covers the whole country and the world at large. Yes I am referring to “climate change”. Most of us live are not bothered if our country or the world is slowly dying due to climate change. How does climate change? How does it effect humans? And what steps we should take to secure the country and the world? Paris Climate Conference (COP21) which was held on 2015 December, where 195 countries agreed on the first legal global climate deal, was an attempt to answer the questions mentioned above.
For the last 50 years, global warming has broken recorded history. The earth’s temperature is increasing by burning fossil fuels and cutting down rain forests. This adds an excessive amount of greenhouse gases like methane, carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide naturally occur in the atmosphere are increasing temperatures. CO2 is the greenhouse gas most commonly produced by human activities and it is responsible of global warming. Scientists had predicted in the past about loss of glaciers, accelerated sea level rise and longer, more intense heat waves which are all happening now. Scientists said that global temperatures will continue to rise largely due to greenhouse gases produced by human activities. 1,300 scientists from the United States and other countries which includes in IPCC (The Governmental Panel on Climate Change), forecasted that over the next century, temperature will rise from 2.5 to 10 degrees Fahrenheit.
Pakistan is facing the aftermath of climate change in the form of heat waves, fog, continental air, dust storms, Southwest Monsoon, thunderstorms, and tropical storms
Glaciers have shrunk, ice on rivers and lakes are breaking up, plant and animal ranges are shifting and trees are dying. According to a CNN report on July 12, 2017 A UK-based research team, retold about a massive iceberg weighing more than one trillion tonnes that broke away from Western Antarctica. Experts said the separation of a 5,800 square kilometers (2,239 square miles) section of Larsen C was confirmed to have broken away between Monday and Wednesday by NASA’s Aqua MODIS satellite, which is capable of producing images in the thermal infrared at a resolution of 1 km.
Pakistan is facing the aftermath of climate change in the form of heat waves, fog, continental air, dust storms, South West monsoons, thunderstorms, and tropical storms. “The rising temperature and climate change that occurs since the 1970s claimed over 140,000 deaths and 60,000 deaths every year due to natural disasters in developed countries” (The Health Organization Report). Allergies, asthma, infections, heat stroke, lungs and skin diseases and smog are common due to heat waves and global warming. The extreme weather patterns in Pakistan include high and low temperatures, heavy rainfall and flooding. In Mohenjo-Daro, Sindh on 26 May 2010, the highest temperature ever recorded in Pakistan is 53.5 oC (128.3 oF). It rated as the hottest temperature ever recorded in Pakistan but also the fourth highest temperature ever recorded on earth. During 24 hours on 24 July 2001, the highest rainfall of 621 millimeters was recorded in Islamabad. This is all due to climate change that little or excessive rains are damaging the crops, increasing floods and effecting daily life. Lack of dams is also contributing to damage in the system of irrigation.
Pakistan is an agricultural country. 47 percent of population is earning their livelihood through agriculture. This sector contributes 24 percent to GDP. The Indus Valley is the cradle of Pakistan’s agriculture. Agriculture and livestock are the back bone of our country. Climate change directly effects agriculture and the price of crops; rice, wheat, maize, and soybeans are rising every day. This, in turn, leads to higher feed and a rise in meat prices. The growth in meat consumption will reduce slightly and cause significant falls in cereal consumption, leading to greater food insecurity. Drought, pests, salinity intrusion on coasts, and deterioration of soil is due to climate change.In Islamabad, thousand’s of fish have died in Rawal dam due to high chemical properties. Every person and organization even small factories should play their role for controlling global warming.
The media should play a vital role in creating awareness regarding the climate and talk about how climate changes and what we can do to control the temperature. It is our unfriendly and rash behavior that causes temperature rises, we should realize this rather than try to negate the idea. The government of Pakistan is working with United Nations Development Program (UNDP) to increase the capabilities of the Ministry of Finance to monitor climate-change related expenditure, setting budgets and making plans. The UNDP also seeks to upgrade Pakistan’s ability to effectively organize and target finances to respond to climate change, and improve the resilience of the poorest and most vulnerable. This alarming situation is a call for action to all of us for playing a positive role in our own limited capacities, as this is our planet and we must take its good care for ourselves and the generations to come. Remember: no one can do this alone, but together, we have a chance to save our only planet Earth.
The author is a writer, educationist and political worker. She writes about stories from real life which are usually unheard and unwelcome in society. She tweets @FahminaAbuzar
Published in Daily Times, September 16th 2017.