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Saturday April 27, 2024

Climate change induces natural disasters

Islamabad: Apart from the droughts and heat waves, climate change also induces natural disasters that cause loss of life, damage infrastructure and further hurt food security by destroying thousands of hectares of crops. A report compiled by the Planning Commission's Task Force on Climate Change identified the pressing threats that

By our correspondents
January 26, 2015
Islamabad: Apart from the droughts and heat waves, climate change also induces natural disasters that cause loss of life, damage infrastructure and further hurt food security by destroying thousands of hectares of crops.
A report compiled by the Planning Commission's Task Force on Climate Change identified the pressing threats that Pakistan faces as a consequence of climate change and all of them need concerted efforts to be addressed on permanent basis.
The threats pointed out in the report included increased monsoon variability, recession of glaciers in the Hindu Kush-Karakoram-Himalayan (HKH) region, rising snowlines and glacial melt, loss in reservoir capacity from the increased siltation of large dams, reduction in agricultural productivity and power generation, adverse impact on coastal agriculture, higher risk of droughts and floods and increasing vulnerability of coastal areas.
Dr. Seeme Mallick, a climate change expert, said the marginalised segments lack climate defense infrastructure, have little insurance, few savings, and would have to cope with shocks by migrating, reducing consumption, selling productive assets and putting off nonessential expenditures such as preventive healthcare.