Survival strategy?

The perverse climate change cannot and should not be relegated to the backburner anymore under the garb of benefit of doubt or second thought as it has not spared any boundaries far and near. It should be treated as survival strategy internationally and at national level. The scientists and experts including civil societies have been consistently urging the policy makers to take the challenge upfront preceded by rolling out the strategy with explicit road map to thwart the black tide that is being propelled in perpetuity by the massive gas emission in the atmosphere. This menace of the burning of the traditional fuel to increase industrial production needs to be rationalised before the ‘Mother Nature’ gets furious with vengeance. Treating it business as usual may be paid back disproportionately by to the utter disadvantage of all the inhabitants. Ex-secretary general Ban ki Moon’s comments sounded the alarm bell much earlier when he underscored the importance of taking urgent measures to address the climate change challenges, ‘it seems our foot is struck on the accelerator and we are heading to disaster’.

Since then not much heed has been paid by the international community to the threat except the Paris Agreement on Climate Change in 2015 adopted by about 200 countries. Unfortunately, US incumbent president struck the fatal blow to the collective global response by withdrawing from the Paris Climate agreement mainly because it was spearheaded by the then President Obama. He did not mince words in his resolve in effacing the footprints of his predecessor carrying huge endorsement and appreciation. New York Times published an article that comprehensively synchronized with his mindset in these word,’ Obama built it, I destroyed it, you {Admn} fix it’.

Indeed, development and improvement of the environment should be pursued in tandem to realise the sustainable development as the only viable alternative. The vast swathes of drought around the world, frequent fires burning forests right across, flooding of staggering proportion, melting of glaciers, rising tides, increased number of cyclones bearing down on numerous countries, are clear warning signs warranting urgent coarse correction or face the inevitable. It sends shiver to the spine even to imagine the scale of the ensuing horror not to speak of its actually stifling full throttle the whole spectrum of life.

Due to climate change, monsoons are threatened, agriculture productivity is on the wane, extreme weather patterns are on the rise, the Himalayan glaciers are melting imperiling water security, our coastlines are eroding, and our forests and wildlife are endangered. And that is not all. Climate change endangers our health and well-being of our children, as aptly stated in the Copenhagen Accord. Pakistan’s environmental degradation is costing the country equivalent to 6% of the GDP, according to the World Bank study in 2006. The situation may surely has been worsen in the country due to sprawl urbanisation, explosion of population, poverty, disappearing of swathes of forests by timber mafias with officials collusion, and above all the governments’ inertia not to assign the top priority to address the climate issues considering it as a ‘survival strategy’.

Exceptional development on the horizon is that the PPP-led government in the province of Sindh has been actively engaged in a consistent campaign of planting massive mangroves in the coastal areas since 2008, stated by Chairman Bilawal Bhutto on the occasion of the launching of the current monsoon tree plantation campaign. He said that the mangroves in Sindh had almost doubled since 2008 and had set three world records of maximum tree plantation. The minister for Forest of the province while launching the tree plantation campaign this year rightly claimed that more than two billion mangroves had been planted in various coastal areas that generated not only Rs10 billion revenue but also blocked flooding and seas intrusion to the fertile land thus saving the livelihood of the people of large number.

The billion tree ‘tsunami’ of the incumbent government sadly has not achieved even the minuscule of the target even after being in the saddle for more than two years. The full realization of the target of ‘tsunami’ may surely seem elusive during the rest of the tenure from whichever angel the people may look at it. The world appreciated the commitment of the (PTI) leadership but may get disappointed, if not already, because the ground realities may dissipate the rhetoric into the thin air. The platitudes after platitudes without follow up action may surely deplete the credibility of the political leadership along with its political capital. The government may therefore spring into action and catch up.

It was shocking to view the video containing the footage in which villagers were uprooting and destroying the newly planted saplings on the very day when the government was launching massive monsoon tree plantation campaign this year. The culmination of the lofty objective aimed at to contain the ominous threat of climate change is indeed yearning of the heart of the nation. The ‘black tide’ has been gaining momentum to wreak havoc in all forms and manifestations in this country alike in others. How unfortunate and condemnable was the rampage of the villagers who obviously must have been instigated by the vested interests to indulge in such activity equating with massacre of plants and thus throwing the worthwhile campaign to the wind. The culprits should be held accountable in order to make them example out of their misdemeanor. The certainty of the accountability would serve as an effective deterrence against the potential criminals who might be contemplating to take the plunge to make the campaign controversial. Reportedly, the villagers were uprooting the newly planted saplings as a token of protest because their land was used for the tree plantation without their consent. The administration of Bara should have anticipated the reaction of the people to preempt the occurrence of the ugly scene by taking the villagers into confidence. Now the local administration and the political leadership should move swiftly to control the damage by assuring the villagers that they would be assigned the ownership of the campaign that would be beneficial to them and the country. Its snowball impact may surely be of the liking of all.

The commencement of the tree plantation campaign this year should have begun with strident start instead of rocky one. The stakes are high those cannot be compromised at the altar of strong arms tactics leading to creating virulent environment against the very strong case in favour of sustainable development. The commitment of leaving behind a fertile, green, beautiful and sustainable landmass of the country, is laudable and indeed be followed by action plan without relying on rhetoric. In the absence of that level of commitment the country may, God forbid, look like a deserted territory with vast emptiness beyond retrieval. It may be understood fully that Pakistan has no other option but to rise up to the challenge and earnestly move without second thought to thwart the looming disaster that is unforgiving. It may be recalled that Pakistan is one of the ten top countries in the world those are most vulnerable to the climate change.

The veracity of the narrative of improving the ecosystem for the sake of sustainable development has caught the attention of the world at the level of the people but policy makers response remains victim of dilly dallying. The world cannot afford any more laxity in the face of predictable consequences of prohibitive nature if it continues to treat the existential threat with a degree of apathy. It demands the world should give it top priority before it is too little and too late. Undoubtedly, climate change affects the productivity, directly or indirectly, in all walks of life and more so in the agriculture sector.

Pakistan is an agrarian country with more than half of the country’s population’s livelihood is linked to this sector in a multiple ways. No doubt, it is the backbone of the country’s economy that needs the repair of its spine by addressing the climate change issues. The decline in the wheat and cotton production including other crops points to the scale of the environment degradation in the country that has been playing havoc to the agriculture sector.

Its accumulative inflictions in all forms and manifestations in the breadths and width of the country may not be difficult to imagine. The prevailing mismatch of public policy may cause irretrievable harm to the ecosystem if remedial measures are not taken with the sense of acute urgency. No doubt, if agriculture suffers Pakistani people will suffer badly, if agriculture develops nation will prosper proportionately with pleasing effects in all the sectors of the national life both in short terms and long terms. It may not be a bit of an aggregation that economic security is indeed equal to national security. It is the new paradigm that has been assuming the universal recognition since the collapse of the Soviet Union.

muhammadshaheedi@ yahoo.com