Tackling climate change

A petition filed before the Lahore High Court by an agriculturalist raises the extremely relevant question of what is being done to develop resilience to climatic changes. The LHC bench hearing the petition has ordered the government of Punjab to respond to what is being done to enforce the Framework for Implementation of National Climate Change Policy 2013, agreed upon after a meeting in 2012. At the latest hearing of the petition on Friday, Justice Mansoor Ali Shah asked the Pakistan Meteorological Department to present the 47-year record of climate change in the country. Government officials also told the court that wide ranging green policies are required to control changes in climate while the water and power ministry has said that the construction of 7 large dams and 36 smaller ones is necessary to control floods. Large dams also raise political and environmental questions. The petition points out that Pakistan is facing extreme weather conditions more frequently and has also suffered rains at unusual times. All this, it is argued, affects agricultural production and efficiency, in some cases depriving people of their livelihoods. The quality of life has also been hit by factors such as the depletion of forests and increased air pollution. Experts cite glacial melt, a consequence of global warming, as a factor in recent flooding while rapid soil erosion due to tree felling promotes the hill torrents that create so much rain havoc in mountainous areas.
Certainly, these are factors that need to be explored. The government has done too little to examine climate change or enforce the policies agreed on at international forums. As a result of the changing weather patterns, we annually suffer losses in crop production and other export items such as the mango crop which has been adversely hit by unexpected weather patterns. There is a need for much more expert advice on how we can combat these factors. We must also recognise that we will need a regional alliance

of some kind to be successful in our endeavours. Climate, after all, is oblivious to borders. However, within our own country, we can do a great deal to prevent environmental degradation and hold back the growing impact of pollution and unplanned development that has hit so many parts of the country and impacts those, such as farmers, who make their living off the earth and the produce that it delivers. These people, as well as others affected by the climate in a country which sees severe weather in many regions need to be protected in one way or the other. The issue of climate change is receiving greater attention now. The World Bank has offered Pakistan help in this sector while the federal government has advised provincial governments to include the topic in school curriculum, a step that – if done well – would certainly raise much-needed awareness.