Climate change: a real challenge and its impacts on Pakistan

Abstract

Pakistan’s contribution to the global warming and greenhouses gases is very miniscule yet it is among the ten most vulnerable countries affected by climate change. The factors responsible for environmental degradation in the country are numerous however combustion of fossil fuels and deforestation are the leading ones. While the areas in Himalayan and Karakorum ranges in the north suffer from the melting glaciers and recurrent floods, the southern parts of the country undergo severe rising temperature with heat waves and droughts, leaving no region behind of its extreme climate related consequences. The agriculture sector of the country is impacted the most leading to Food security in various regions, aided by the climatic impacts on the general health of the population. These impacts leads to climate induced migration throughout the country. In order to cope up with the challenges, ministry of climate change formulated the national climate change policy in 2012, which was assisted by a number of other initiatives with time. The current government in Pakistan led by Prime minister Imran Khan has taken the issue of climate change seriously and highlighted it in national and global forums. Clean and Green Pakistan and the Billion Tree Tsunami are among some of the most important initiatives taken by him in this regard. Moreover, the country has Various adaptation and mitigation plans with the assistance of national and international resources to enhance public awareness and cope up with the challenges of climate change. In this paper, the changing environment of Pakistan due to climate change and its potential impacts on the society are presented with the various adaptation and mitigation measures. Furthermore, it also presents recommendations for the implementation of policies to reduce the potential threats of climate change in the country.