Daily Times

Is the climate actually changing? Or is it just a buzzword used by NGO people, media, donor agencies and many other stakeholders that benefit from using it? Some years ago,many people around the world used to believe in the assumption that the term “Climate Change” was only a buzzword and nothing more. However, for the last couple of years, the intensity of weather has forced the ordinary citizens to believe in this phenomenon more than ever. The statistics, available both at the national and the international level also declare Pakistan as one of the most vulnerable countries to climate change. Pakistan has climbed the ladder from 8th to 7th position as the most vulnerable country.

Since climate change is the new buzz word, we see it being mentioned in speeches galore. It is mentioned in policy documents, commitments and even political parties manifestos. I had the opportunity of working on a civic education project with young people recently. When I asked them as to why they chose the topics that they did, one bright fella remarked, “I chose climate change because nowadays there is a lot of funding under way for it.” This sentiment is also resonated, admittedly a little subtly, in the development sector and the power corridors. Where the funding cache leads, you and I are sure to follow.

Speaking of thepower corridors, political parties have also taken to climate change. The governments define our national priorities at the national and provincial levels, which are composed of various political parties on both levels.

Recently, a non-profit organisationreleased an online report based on the analysis of manifestos for 2013 general elections of political parties in the national and provincial governments, keeping in view their understanding of climate change. In order to find out whether climate change is the priority of our governments, it is imperative to find out whether our political parties are cognizant of it as a process at all.

The analysis is donethrough quantitative and qualitative analyses based on the frequency and context of the core, primary, secondary and tertiary words that are directly and indirectly linkedto climate change.

Before going into the details, it is important to point out that there is more or less lip service done to climate change by almost every ruling political party. Let me reiterate that it is lip service since the climate change concept was dealt with abstractly with no linkages to water management policy or urban planning for instance. One political party, in its enthusiasm to appear “with it”, copy-pasted an entire paragraph from one of Lead Pakistan’s papers.

Out of the fifteen ruling political parties at the centre, and the provinces, political manifestos of two i.e. Balochistan National Awami Party (BNAP) and Pakistan Muslim League-Zia (PML-Z) were not available. From rest of the parties, only three i.e. Pakistan Peoples Party Parliamentarians (PPPP), Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PMLN) and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) have demonstrated the ability to understand and tackle Climate Change as a process, which defines them as true national level political parties.

For instance, PPPP describes in its manifesto that climate change as a process threatens Pakistan and recognises it as water stressed country. It further suggests measures cope with this threat i.e. building of dams and water reservoirs. PTI looks at the issue from the point of view of adaptability and focuses on the introduction of measures which will help turn Pakistan from one of the most vulnerable to one of the most adaptive country. Similarly, PMLN looks at climate change from the point of view of business priorities lost or gained as a result of climate change.

The report also takes into account the interviews of representatives of political parties. The interviews also reflect a somewhat similar stance as reflected in the analysis. For instance, the representative of BNAP was not aware of climate change as an important process. However, representatives of other parties displayed a sound understanding of climate change. Mr Mushtaq Ahmed Khan, Ameer-e Jamat-e-Islami, KP, demonstrated a thorough understanding of the issue and also proposed measures to tackle it including planting more trees and growing forests. However, he also touched upon the fact that since Pakistan is faced with many other top priority issues, which is why climate change remains the least priority. Mr Ishtiaq Umar of PTI talked about the Billion Tree Tsunami initiated by the KPK government. He also recognised Pakistan as one of the most vulnerable countries. Senior Vice President of Qaumi Watan Party termed unplanned development as one of the leading reasons for climate change. The representative of PML-Z vowed to focus on climate change as a priority issue in the next General Elections. Mr Qamar Zaman Kaira of PPPP termed climate change as one of the most important contemporary issues. Mr Usman Kakar of Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PKMAP) termed Pakistan as one of the most vulnerable countries but also accepted the fact that tackling Climate Change would be an uphill task since Pakistan doesn’t have a lot of resources to do so. He proposed that Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs) should be necessary before commissioning any project. Mr Vikas Mokal of PML-Q termed climate change as a global issue.

This online report based on the analysis of political manifestos helps in the identification of gaps that exist at the political level to recognise of climate change as an important issue. Climate change is real,and it is already here. We see its effects in our daily life whether it comes to water, energy, flooding or drought. If we can move beyond lip service even an inch, it will be a step worth taking.

The writer is a development consultant. She tweets at @GulminaBilal and can be reachedat coordinator@individualland.com