Impact of Climate change on Pakistan.
By: Ashfaq Chandio
Tags: Climate Action, Environmental Issues, Pakistan, Environment, Climate Change

The term “climate” can be expressed as a global environmental situation which can be observed through variations in temperature, precipitation, pressure, and humidity in the atmosphere. Therefore, the term “climate change” refers to an alteration in this environmental situation through natural phenomenon or human interventions. Global warming, irregular weather patterns, melting of ice glaciers, elevating sea levels, and various other atmospheric events are caused by climate change across the globe. Due to the extreme impacts of climate change, Pakistan is facing potential endangerment to the economy and social and environmental development. The impacts of environmental change in Pakistan are extreme with high rate and power of events, for example, softening of Himalayan reach ice sheets at a rate quicker than any time in recent memory recorded ever, sudden rainfalls, erratic flooding, dry spells, differing temperature, absence of water sources, extraordinary warmth waves, immersion of lakes, storms, typhoons, avalanches, quakes, human medical services issues, bug infections, occasional changes, and adjustments in way of life.

Climate change- Current scenario in Pakistan

Where whole world is effected by Climate Change, Pakistan is also one of the countries effected by climate change. Pakistan is also going to face the brunt of climate change due to its hydrological reserves shrinkage, rapid glacier melting floods, and droughts. Pakistan’s temperature is going to rise from 0.9 to 1.5 °C by 2020 until 2050. Pakistan has faced the worst droughts ever in 1998 and 2004, and its largest province Baluchistan was badly affected, 84% of its population was directly affected, killing 76% of livestock; similar to provincial effects, the whole country suffered greatly by massive floods displacing a large number of people in its northern as well as central parts. Sizzling temperature, severe droughts, pest diseases, health-related problems, and lifestyles are likely to remain in the coming years as well. Pakistan is on the verge of becoming a victim of climate change effects due to geographic location, more reliance on agriculture, highest dependence on water resources, and low capacity to face the climatic emergencies. Baloch and Saud in 2018 reported that Pakistan is ranked in the top list of countries expected to be affected by climatic challenges despite its negligible and insignificant contributions to global GHG emissions.

List of climate change vulnerabilities faced by Pakistan



1. Continuous flooding (post-2010)



2. Severe droughts across country (1999–2003), temperature rise, lack of water resources, and pest-diseases.



3. Recent drought in Tharparker and Cholistan (2016).



4. Intense temperature rise (heat wave) in Karachi (July 2015).



5. In 2015, nearly all main types of natural disasters, earthquake, drought, flood, heat wave, and cyclone, were faced by Pakistan.



6. Substantial rainfalls with hail storm on March 4, 2016.



7. Snowmelt flooding (2005, 2007)



8. Waterborne diseases (cholera), vector borne diseases (malaria), and dengue fever are presently prevailing with the changing, temperature, humidity, rainfall pattern, etc.

Socio-economic impacts of climate change.



Water scarcity and endangered food security are the backlashes of climate change causing social, political chaos as well as the migration of the masses. Thousands of millions have been affected by uneasy access to drinkable water and severe heat strokes. Continental interior regions are likely to be affected by soaring temperature. Shortage of water resources, increase in glacier melting, and changing weather patterns due to rising mercury is likely to cause extinction to many planted species. On the other hand, the coastal ecosystem is on the verge of devastation due to rise in sea level. Rise in temperature, pest-disease, health-related issues, and seasonal and lifestyle changes are obstinately occurring with a strong likelihood of persistence in these trends in the future. Shortage of good infrastructure and lack of sufficient adaptive capacity are hammering Pakistan the most. In addition to the aforementioned issues, lack of environmental education and awareness, conventional consumer behaviour, shortage of incentives, scarcity of regulations, and lack of government’s attention towards climate change are rapidly adding to the worries of the general population. An increase of 2 to 3 % in mercury and a significant variation in the patterns of rainfall might have severe effects by 2050. Environmental and natural calamities have caused huge economic losses to Pakistan such as decreased agricultural outputs, rehabilitation of the system, and rebuilding necessary infrastructure. Moreover, in the past 3 to 4 years, Punjab is facing the wrath of smog-related eye and skin infections as well as an increase in road accidents due to low visibility.



Climate change impacts over livestock, forestry and agriculture.



In Pakistan, livestock has a crucial importance in providing a livelihood to the residents and this sector is also being affected severely by climate change. Climatic upheavals impact the livestock extremely by causing them contiguous and even fatal diseases. Climate change affects the feed, water, fodder, and rangeland for livestock grazing, resulting in a sharp decline in meat and milk production. Livestock is greatly affected by livestock diseases, disease vectors, quality and quantity of feed, and biodiversity. Massive CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere and rising temperature have caused the extinction of numerous animal and plant species. The forests in Pakistan are being affected by numerous anthropogenic factors such as global warming, floods, droughts, and land sliding. It was observed that the dying trees were the victim of insect attacks in the shape of wood debris and mud mixture rubble in stem eaten cavities. Some species of trees such as oak and rosewood have been observed drying up to a level of extinction from 1999 to 2008 in hot humid areas of Punjab province in Pakistan.



Impacts of climate change on food and energy security.



Pakistan is suffering significantly in energy, water, and food securities by climatic factors, similar to the global scenario. Numerous factors are affecting food security and poverty due to impacts of climate change, and these issues are going to become more frequent in coming days. South Asia is the habitat of the most food-insecure residents in the world with over 300 million undernourished persons residing in the region. The higher levels of poverty and lack of food security in Pakistan is a result of climate change and weather alterations, as it impacts the largest sector of the economy in Pakistan. The present impacts of climate change are rising with the potential threat of water scarcity across the globe and thermal changes in the atmosphere. Many regions in the world are facing higher variations of weather and climate with colder winters, hotter summers, drier desserts, and heavier rain and snow falls. Rapid urbanization, rapid industrialization, and economic expansions compelled the government to adopt the



short-term measures to fill up its energy demand through thermal energy. This short-term policy is causing numerous implications towards environmental pollution, energy security, and balance of payments. On the other hand, the government is still struggling to cope with the energy crisis as there is a shortage of 3000 MW of electricity. Loopholes in planning deepened the demand-supply gap. On the other hand, numerous scientists pointed out that demand of energy was multiplied due to rapid urbanization which is producing carbon emissions.



Adaptation and mitigation methodologies in Pakistan



Pakistan has been a victim of climate change over the past several years, and adaptation to these effects is compulsory for economic and social development. The Ministry of Climate Change has taken several steps to harmonize the masses with the national climate policy pertaining to mitigation and adaptation initiatives. To mitigate the climatic impacts, transport, agriculture, livestock, energy, forestry, town planning, and industrial sectors are areas to be worked upon. In order to mitigate the climatic strategies at the national level, environment-friendly, renewable energy, and usage of power-efficient appliances must be ensured. As per the Intended National Determined Contributions (INDC), Pakistan requires roughly 7 to 14 billion US dollars per year to adapt these mitigation measures. About 100 million trees have been planted throughout the country under the Green Pakistan Program to mitigate the climatic effects. In the past two decades, climate change has been a keen area of interest to the researchers since the effects of climate change can be observed through global warming across the world. Due to increased greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, the global temperature is rising and the amount of warm days and nights is elevating, resulting in intense heat waves causing numerous fatalities annually in several countries including Pakistan. The adaptive capacity of Pakistan is perceived to be low due to high poverty, lack of financial and physical resources. The effects of climate change in Pakistan are highly severe with frequent occurrences such as melting of Himalayan range glaciers at a rate faster than ever recorded in history, abrupt rainfalls, unpredictable flooding, droughts, varying temperature, lack of water sources, intense heat waves, saturation of lakes, storms, hurricanes, landslides, earthquakes, human healthcare issues, pest diseases, seasonal changes, and alterations



in lifestyle. The remedial actions against climate change include awareness building from the grassroots level, expanding environmental knowledge, and implementing government policies and regulations. A cooperated and coordinated effort among governmental institutes, policymakers, officials, environmental organizations, and community members should formulate strategies and approaches for climate change mitigation and adaptation.