Climate change is giving rise to major problems and challenges all over the world, including Pakistan, in which, apart from droughts and floods, extreme cold, heat waves, forest fires and global warming are on the top list.
Other challenges created by climate change include the conversion of green plains to deserts, scarcity of food, uneven distribution of food, ozone-related problems, and air and water pollution.
Yesterday, Prime Minister of Pakistan Shehbaz Sharif directed to make a national plan to deal with the damages of climate change and to take measures to deal with environmental problems. The National Plan includes the construction of houses and other infrastructure capable of coping with climate change.
The Prime Minister directed to make the Climate Change Council a fully functioning body and said that future climate risks should be identified and a comprehensive plan should be prepared to deal with the situation.
Regarding climate change, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said that due to environmental changes, Sindh’s delta area has dried up, measures should be suggested to prevent forest fires, more melting of glaciers and the intensity of monsoon rains.
Earlier, immediately after the severe floods of 2010, the government and military authorities received information from the West about the predictions in Pakistan. There was fear of more destructive floods than seen in the past, and this was indeed witnessed this year.
These predictions based on scientific data were important because Pakistan is a major target of climate change due to its location at the junction of two climate systems. Scientists agree that Pakistan is located in a place that is forced to suffer the effects of two major weather systems.
These two systems are actually one of the reasons for high temperature and drought, which cause severe heat waves during March. There is additional fear that the monsoon rains will become more intense than Pakistanis experienced this year.
In the current era, the five major challenges that Pakistan may face due to climate change include floods, droughts and famines, sea levels rising, tropical cyclones and heat waves, which cause loss of life on a large scale.
The instructions given by the Prime Minister on Wednesday to make a national plan on climate change is welcome in the sense that the government is determined to deal with climate change. However, there is a lack of national coordination and consensus between the government and the opposition on this issue which must be addressed if any progress on the matter is to be made.
