The day after the climate negotiations ended in Katowice, Poland, news stories abounded with plaudits headlining the successful adoption of the so called rule book which would operationalize the 2015 Paris agreement on climate change. But looks can be deceiving. Climate Change negotiations are like a desi wedding. Everyone and their uncles are invited. Gate-crashers […]
The Dam Rhetoric
I am not sure when it started, but the trend to willy nilly label people who question the feasibility of dams in Pakistan, as traitors is very much in vogue in the Islamic Republic. This is not just limited to the confines of drawing rooms in Islamabad and Lahore, as may have been the case […]
Pakistan’s deceptive National Water Policy
Pakistan’s first ever National Water Policy was approved by the Council of Common Interest last week. Very few issues in the country are as important or as contentious as water scarcity and that was witnessed in the lead up to the approval of the policy as officials in Islamabad and in provincial capitals clamored to […]
Our common future: dealing with climate change
The global community is meeting in Bonn, Germany, this month as part of the annual climate talks, the Conference of Parties (COP) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). This is the 23rd edition of these talks, which have been held annually since 1995. Two years back the talks were held in […]
Environmental woes
Sunny, warm skies have given way to a grey pall from Islamabad to Lahore, and beyond, over the past couple of weeks. People can taste the acrid air during their morning commutes. Those amongst us with asthma or other illnesses can sense their situation worsening. This is life with smog. This is life with pollution. […]